Intermittent fasting for women is an effective weight loss approach especially women over 40. As women age, losing weight becomes more and more challenging. Intermittent fasting provides an easy way for women to lose weight and achieve great health. This article will detail the specific benefits of intermittent fasting for women over 40.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting (IF) refers to an eating pattern which helps you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. It does not say much about the type of foods to include in your diet plan but focuses on when you should eat them.
There are different ways to perform intermittent fasting, all of which split the days into eating and fasting periods. Contrary to what people normally believe, intermittent fasting is actually easy to do.
Benefits of Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 40
The advantages of intermittent fasting for women are well-established and science-backed. But why is it specifically beneficial for women over 40?
- Weight Loss
Weight loss is among the top benefits of intermittent fasting for women over 40. There are testimonies everywhere about how intermittent fasting has helped people lose substantial amounts of weight. There are also academic studies that support this notion. [1]
- Lowering Cancer Risk
IF has proven to be an important prognostic tool against cancer. The initial evidence has found that the act of fasting inhibits certain pathways that may otherwise lead to the development and progression of cancer.
- Reducing Diabetes Risk
The risk of diabetes, which particularly heightens during middle age, can be successfully controlled through intermittent fasting. It does so by lowering insulin level and regulating insulin resistance in the body. [2]
- Anti-aging
IF has been reported to slow down the development of diseases that lead to death. Intermittent fasting for women over 40 can help them live a longer, healthier life as compared to those who follow a regular diet plan.
- Heart Health
It is normal for your cardiovascular health to start declining around age 40. IF can help slow down this deterioration and prevent certain cardiovascular diseases like hypertension by lowering LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. [3]
- Reduced Inflammation
Chronic inflammation damages your body, making it harder to lose weight. [4] Following intermittent fasting, however, reverses inflammation and may improve your overall wellbeing.
- Muscle Preservation
One of the benefits of following IF is that it helps you lose more weight while retaining muscle mass. A higher muscle mass, in turn, helps you burn more calories, even when you are not involved in physical activities. [5]
- Decreased Cravings
Another benefit of intermittent fasting for women over 40 is decreased cravings. Switching to this diet alters your eating habits and naturally help you eat lesser than usual. This decreases the number of calories consumed per day and consequently, decreases body weight.
- Improvement in Mental Health
IF in females have been liked to neurogenesis: the process in which new brain cells are produced. Neurogenesis ultimately increases your brain performance, focus, mood, and memory. [6]
Types of Intermittent Fasting
Now that you know about the advantages of intermittent fasting for women over 40, you might want to know about the different types of IF.
- 16/8 Daily Fasting
The 16/8 method includes fasting every day for 14 to 16 hours with an eating window of 8 to 10 hours. Within this eating window, you can easily fit 2 to 3 meals.
For example, if you eat your last meal at 8 pm and do not eat anything else until 12 pm the next morning, you are technically fasting for 16 hours straight. During the fasting hours, you are allowed to drink coffee, water, and non-caloric beverages.
Women are generally recommended to fast for 14 to 15 hours.
- 5:2 Fasting
The 5:2 diet includes eating normally for 5 days a week while restricting your caloric intake to 500-600 for the remaining two days. On the fasting days, it is recommended for women to eat 500 calories.
For instance, you can eat normally on all days except Mondays and Thursdays. On these two days, you can eat two small meals, each will 250 calories.
- Eat Stop Eat
The Eat-Stop-Eat approach requires you to observe a 24-hour long fast once or twice a week. You can start fasting from dinner on day one and keep it going till dinner time the following day.
For example, if you take your last meal on Monday at 7 pm and don’t eat anything until 7 pm Tuesday, you have just observed a full 24-hour fast. Similarly, you can also fast from breakfast to breakfast, or from lunch to lunch. The end result would not alter.
You can drink non-caloric beverages such as water and coffee during the fasting hours. However, no solid food is allowed.
Intermittent Fasting for Women: Balancing Hormones and Crescendo Fasting
Intermittent fasting is a significant change and could cause issues if not entered into properly. This is especially true if you jump in too aggressively at the beginning. Moreover, IF can sometimes cause hormonal imbalance in females if it is not observed properly.
This is because women tend to be extremely sensitive to the signals of starvation. If their body senses that it is in a state of starvation, it will increase the production of hunger hormone ghrelin and leptin leading to hunger pangs.
You may choose to ignore these hunger pangs but this will result in a vicious cycle that will throw your hormones off balance.
So, if you are a female over 40 who is trying IF for the first time, it is better to start with Crescendo Fasting.
Crescendo fasting requires you to fast for a few days per week instead of every single day. It is particularly helpful for women to lose weight without disturbing hormones. If done right, Crescendo IF can be a great way to shed body weight, gain energy, and improve inflammatory markers.
To follow Crescendo fasting, you need to fast on 2-3 non-consecutive days per week, for example, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is recommended to perform aerobic exercises or a light cardio on the fasting days.
On your strength training or more rigorous workout days, you must eat normally. Be sure that you drink plenty of water and any other beverage with no added milk or sugar. After following the Crescendo fasting for two weeks, you can add another fasting day to your weekly schedule.
Special Tips for Intermittent Fasting and Women Over 40
The advantages of intermittent fasting for women over 40 are numerous. Make sure you get the most of these benefits by following these additional tips.
- Prefer Salads
Raw vegetables are a great source of vitamins, phytonutrients, minerals, and other useful substances. Moreover, they are also naturally high in antioxidants that protect your body against free radical damage.
So, try breaking your fast with a big bowl of salad containing fresh green vegetables like kale, romaine lettuce, or Swiss chard. Throw in some cucumbers, tomatoes and some avocados to get healthy fats. Use olive oil as a dressing and voila, you have a delicious homemade salad right in front of you.
- During eating, window eat foods high in fiber
Fiber is a great substance for digestive health. When you eat foods high in fiber, for example, whole grains and beans, the sugar in these foods is absorbed into the blood in a slow manner. This ensures that your blood glucose levels do not rise too fast.
Why is this helpful? Because abrupt spikes in blood glucose tend to fall rapidly, making you feel hungry soon after you eaten. This eventually leads to overeating.
In addition to this, fiber also enhances your metabolic rate in order to promote weight loss. So don’t forget to include fiber-rich foods in your eating window.
- Start with Crescendo Fasting
As mentioned before, women are more sensitive to fasting because fasting has a direct impact on their body hormones. This can alter their body functions and lead to a number of menstrual problems.
Because Crescendo fasting is specially formulated to help women observe IF without causing hormonal imbalances, make sure you adopt this method of fasting as you begin your IF journey.
Learn more details about crescendo fasting here.
- Monitor your Hormones Closely
While following IF, be sure to pay a close attention to how your hormones are responding to the changes in diet. Some of the hormones that you must keep an eye on include:
- Insulin
- Ghrelin
- Leptin
- Estrogen
- Progesterone
- Know When to Stop
If you start feeling any abnormal symptoms, stop fasting immediately and contact your physician. Some of the symptoms to look out for include:
- Increased stress levels
- Hair loss
- Low energy
- Mood swings
- Depression or anxiety
- Muscle pain
- Loss of menstrual cycle
- Loss of libido
Additional Weight Loss Tips for Women Over 40
To make sure you lose the maximum amount of weight in the most efficient manner, follow these additional tips.
- Get Enough Sleep
Poor sleep has been linked to increased hunger and weight gain because it disturbs leptin and ghrelin- the two important hormones regulating hunger. So keep these hormones in check by making sure you sleep 8 hours a day.
- Strength Train
As you age, your body tends to lose muscle. The only way to get it back is to strength train. So gear up and sign up for a weight training session. The sooner you begin, the better.
- Eat Less Sugar
As you age, you tend to become more resistant to insulin i.e. you have trouble absorbing glucose. Consuming sugary foods in such circumstances leads to the accumulation of glucose in the body causing a lot of risks. So cut down on everything that has sugar in it.
- Keep a Food Journal
Keep a food journal to record your weekly eating habits. This will help you keep a track of what you are eating and may help you decide which foods are harming you.
- Take a Probiotic
Probiotics are healthy bacteria found in your gut. Taking these supplements will improve your digestion and improve overall health.
If you are ready to give intermittent fasting a try, check out our intermittent fasting book and journal for women here: