If you’re a woman over the age of forty and wondering if intermittent fasting is for you, you’ve come to the right place! Turning forty can come with some changes that you didn’t have to worry about in your thirties.
Since you turned forty, you’ve probably felt your metabolism start slowing down. Maybe you don’t have as much energy as you used to. You’re surprised to see the scale start creeping up and your hormones seem to have gone haywire.
I get it. As I’ve aged I’ve worried about my weight and health. I see the wrinkles around my eyes and worry about those hints of silver in my hair. Some days I feel like I don’t have enough energy and wonder:
Where’s that fun, energetic girl I use to be?
If you’re asking yourself these same questions, the good news is, you can get that girl back. You can have more energy to get through your day. You can get your metabolism moving and take control of your weight. You can start feeling balanced and happy again. And you can accomplish all of this with some simple changes that are very easy to implement into your already hectic life.
But you need a plan.
Intermittent Fasting for Women Over Forty: A Strategy
Let’s face it. Continuous calorie restriction and over-exercising is not the answer. You’re already burned out anyway. Intermittent fasting is your answer; your new plan. It’s your answer to all of those struggles that have suddenly appeared in your life.
On the surface, intermittent fasting seems pretty easy and straightforward. But if you’re a woman, and especially a woman over forty years old, it’s best to have a strategy when intermittent fasting.
Your body changes with each decade that you age. You can’t expect to use the same strategy for health and weight loss that you did when you were twenty. As you get older, your body has different needs for nutrition, exercise, and sleep.
That being said, what strategy should a woman over forty use for intermittent fasting? It’s helpful to have an intermittent fasting coach to help you build a strategy that is unique to you.
Let’s talk about some of the main areas where you can use an intermittent fasting strategy to create lasting and healthy change.
Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 40 and Exercise
Fasting is good for you. Exercise is good for you. And when you learn how to combine the two, you’ll see incredible results.
Intermittent fasting can be combined with exercise to help increase fat-burning, but you have to know how to do it effectively. When you fast, your body first uses all the glucose from your food, then it turns to your fat storage for fuel and energy. Exercising in a fasted state allows you to continue to burn that stored body fat.
When Is the Best Time to Exercise While Intermittent Fasting?
It’s all about timing. When you fast, your blood sugar levels go down. The low levels of blood sugar encourage your body to go find glycogen for fuel. Glycogen is glucose (or sugar) that’s stored in your liver, fat, and skeletal muscle.
If you have extra weight to lose, exercising in a fasted state is a great way to help your body access that stored energy in your fat cells. You’ll burn more fat and get leaner.
When you eat before you work out, your body uses the glucose from your meal for energy instead of the glycogen stored in your fat. And that’s not what you want, you want to burn stored fat.
How to Build Muscle While Fasting
What if you want to build some muscle? The best way to build muscle is through a process called metabolic switching. Metabolic switching is where your body switches from burning sugar for fuel to burning stored fat for fuel. Switching in and out of these two metabolic states is where the magic happens.
So how do you do it?
On day one, you fast for at least seventeen hours – this is sometimes called an autophagy fast. You exercise before you break your fast. Plan to have an easier workout for this day, like a walk or light yoga. This helps lean your body out because your body will use stored fat for energy.
On day two, you fast for only about thirteen hours. On this day plan for a heavier weight workout in a fasted state. When you break your fast after your workout, break it with a meal of mostly protein. Throughout the rest of the day, focus on including a serving of protein with each meal. It’s called a protein-building day.
On day three, you might switch back to a longer fast and an easier workout. Switching in and out of these two metabolic states is how you build muscle while intermittent fasting. If you’re not sure how to best implement metabolic switching, an intermittent fasting coach can help you find the best routine for you and your specific goals.
Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 40: Your Cycle
Every month your hormones fluctuate up and down. These fluctuations can have a negative impact on your emotions, moods, and weight. We have a name for this: it’s the dreaded PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome).
It also comes with a whole host of uncomfortable symptoms that we wish we could do without. Symptoms like bloating, retaining water, tender breasts, food cravings, and roller-coaster emotions. Intermittent fasting can help alleviate some of those symptoms.
Let’s take a look at how our female hormones fluctuate each month and how intermittent fasting can help us sail through the most challenging times.
Estrogen
The first hormone to spike each month is estrogen. Estrogen is an important hormone that helps control your menstrual cycle. About twelve days into your cycle estrogen levels start to rise as an egg prepares to release from the ovary. As an egg is released, estrogen peaks for a few days, and then it drops back down.
Progesterone
Progesterone is the second hormone to peak during your cycle. If you have a normal twenty-eight-day cycle, it peaks at about day twenty-one. During ovulation, an egg is released. If the egg is not fertilized, progesterone decreases.
How to Practice Intermittent Fasting During Your Cycle
A strictly regimented fasting schedule isn’t helpful when it comes to balancing hormones. You need healthy levels of insulin and glucose in order to produce healthy levels of estrogen and progesterone.
When practicing intermittent fasting, work with your fluctuating hormone levels by changing your intermittent fasting schedule during your cycle. During hormone spikes, your body needs more nutrients and more calories. Giving your body the nutrients it needs during these times will help ease symptoms.
Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 40 and Perimenopause
Perimenopause means “around menopause.” It’s the time in your life when your body makes the natural change into menopause, which is the end of your reproductive years. Women start this natural biological process at different ages, but generally, you’ll start seeing signs of menopause in your forties.
You may suffer from many different symptoms as your body changes. You might experience:
- hot flashes
- irregular periods
- mood changes
- weight gain
All of these are due in part to your changing levels of estrogen. Instead of rising and falling regularly throughout your cycle, estrogen levels start to become more irregular and erratic.
Unfortunately, weight gain in your forties is extremely common. Lower estrogen levels may play a role in weight gain by decreasing metabolism. The rise of insulin resistance might also cause you to add a few pounds.
It’s frustrating to see the scale go up when your diet and lifestyle haven’t changed – especially when you’re doing all you can to stay lean and healthy.
Intermittent fasting is one of the best ways to help improve your perimenopausal symptoms. Studies show that intermittent fasting helps with both weight loss and insulin resistance.
It’s an ideal tool to help you combat the weight gain you might experience. Fasting increases your insulin sensitivity, making it easier for your body to process carbohydrates and curb cravings.
It’s important to pay attention to how you feel throughout the day while fasting and from week to week. If you start feeling very hungry or very tired, your body is telling you to give it some fuel. Choose healthy, nutritious foods to make sure you’re getting the nutrients you need.
Intermittent Fasting Is Beneficial for Women Over 40
If you’re a woman over forty, intermittent fasting can be a very helpful tool. It helps to fight and control the extra weight gain you often encounter. It helps reduce insulin resistance and inflammation. It helps you make it through perimenopause while dealing with fluctuating hormones.
But it’s easier said than done. You need to have a plan for intermittent fasting to get the best results. An intermittent fasting coach can help you put together the right strategy for your current level of health and for your goals.
That’s where I come in. I help women just like you, struggling to make sense of all the physical changes happening in this decade of their lives. I’m in your corner, ready to create a personalized plan just for you. When you work with me, you get one-on-one customized support.
Are you still wondering if intermittent fasting is right for you? Click the link below to schedule your free 20-minute consultation.
Let’s see if we can’t find that fun, energetic girl again!
Sign up for a free 20-minute consultation using the link below.
Sources:
- Intermittent Fasting: What is it and could it be the key to weight loss for the over forties
- Dr. Mindy Pelz can you work out when fasting
- Understanding PMS and Your Cycle
- Metabolic switching may be the key to weight loss and good health
- 7 Useful Reminders for Every Woman Going Through Menopause
- Intermittent Fasting And Menopause
- Perimenopause
