Intermittent fasting is all the rage

All the cool kids are doing it. So is it right for you? Was it right for me? This is what I was on a quest to find out.

My husband and are traveling the world for a year and to be honest, it would just be more convenient to NOT eat every 2.5 hours. To give you some background, I eat ALWAYS. I wake up famished, and eat breakfast every morning, I am hungry every 2-2.5 hours and the more I workout, the more I eat. I am also THE BEST at being hangry. So ya girl needs to be fed when the hunger sets in. NOT convenient for travel.

First let me share with you want the experts say, because news flash, I am NOT an expert on nutrition. 

I will warn you, the information is all over the place. Not surprising I have to say. What I did find, is that if anyone tries to make long term claims, call their bull shit because there is NOT sufficient long term studies done on WOMEN and their hormones. Period.

Hormone shifts were my biggest concern. I am not trying to lose weight, I just wanted a way to eat more conveniently for my current lifestyle. And I needed it to NOT screw with my lady hormones. Like I said, I came up short with this. There does happen to be short term research that supports IF not screwing with women’s hormones.  Not to mention the research that shows that it DOES mess with female hormones also shows that it wasn’t from fasting, but from not intaking enough calories and specifically carbohydrates. Yes ladies, you need carbs (for healthy hormones anyway). And hey, I am not saying you need white bread, cookies and bon bons. Those are not the carbs I am referring to.

So did I give it a try after coming up short with scientific long term answers?

I sure did.

My Experience

I am writing this only five weeks into trying Intermittent fasting.  So event this post is not long term. But I share my findings nonetheless.

It does not work for me if I need to be active early in the day. My workouts SUCK if I am fasted. I am pissy, on edge and starving after the workout. Then I am watching the clock like a hawk until I can eat. It’s just no good. I like to feel FUELED during my lifts. And I lift to PUT ON size. So fasted was just terrible (for me).

Really the only way intermittent fasting works for me thus far is if I wake up and drink water, lounge around, and work on my laptop and MAYBE do some light activity like walking around town. Then I can eat, workout (workout HAS to come after food), and eat through the night until 9 pm.  So a fasted window from 9 or 10 pm to noon or 2pm the next day.  THAT, works for me. And I was super surprised that it did to be honest.  I was also surprised I was able to larger meals (two to three) because I am typically more of a smaller more frequent meal type of gal.

You can certainly train your hunger and stomach like any other part of your body. It just needs time to adjust.

Expert Resources

Now for the experts. This is where my findings were inconclusive. So I am simply passing the same info I found, onto you so you can make your own call. The two best forms of information came in a blog post (linked below) and a book called “The Complete Guide to Fasting” by Jason Fung.

Intermittent Fasting for Women: What We Know Now

In conclusion for this highly open ended blog post, you do you. What is most important to remember is that nutrition as ENDLESS purposes for our bodies. You need to find what works for you, your needs, your health, and your goals. There is no one size fits all. Intermittent fasting may work for me now, but won’t in the future when my workouts need to be early. Or maybe I freaking hate it. Guess what, I can stop. Either way, I am putting the same food in my pie hole.

Have you done it? Have a good science based article? Tell meh! Leave me a comment!