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Kelly Barratt's avatar

I intermittent fast intermittently. I skip breakfast if I wake up and am not hungry, and since I try to walk early in the morning, I do that in a fasted state. I’ve read that fasting is supposedly stressful for women, but I’ve never noticed any effect. It helps to be keto adapted before trying it because that takes ‘hangry’ out of the picture.

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Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

I’ve never heard that women need to be careful of fasting. I know that staying in ketosis during certain times in the hormone cycle isn’t helpful though.

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Kelly Barratt's avatar

I feel like I saw a lot of that "causes stress" messaging maybe 3-5 years ago. Here's an article from the Cleveland Clinic that still seems to indicate it can mess up women's hormones: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/intermittent-fasting-for-women.

But like I said, I think if you achieve nutritional ketosis, so that your body has re-learned how to run on fat, you would avoid the starvation signals that skipping meals might otherwise send.

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Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

Yeah, being metabolically flexible makes fasting a lot easier. Then we can avoid feeling like we are killing ourselves, and I’m sure being hangry can affect hormones lol.

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Philipp Maerzhaeuser's avatar

Great article, going deep on this topic, Tim.

Very relevant to me after almost 5 years of intermittent fasting. Makes getting in enough protein a little challenging, but doable with a protein based snack.

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Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

Yes the protein amounts can be a little tougher to get when we squeeze the eating window down. It makes protein prioritization even more important!

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

And it trains resilience/urge control! The Circadian Code is another good book to add to your list

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Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

True, I hadn’t considered that angle. I’ll look that book up.

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Kyle Shepard's avatar

Best book I’ve read on fasting

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AM Costanzo's avatar

Love it, Tim! It's also helpful when you skip breakfast and late-night snacking, as you're eliminating a lot of sugary carbs and processed treats - the things we tend to eat early am and late pm.

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Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

True enough, those are prime sugar trap times. I usually go straight for a real meal when I’m doing IF.

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Janine Agoglia's avatar

Great article, Tim! I have been intermittent fasting for about 7 or 8 years and I love it! It helps me keep late night snacking to a minimum. I do graze during the 8 hour eating window, but my choices are intentional. I do multiple small meals which suits me better. But I love the structure of IF.

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Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

That’s great to hear that you’ve found a good rhythm with it. I seem to naturally fit better with IF than any other eating frequency.

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Janine Agoglia's avatar

I agree. 16:8 is sustainable as your body gets used to the timing. I eat from 12-8pm, but I have had patients who do different 8 hours and it works for them too, like 10-6 or 8-4.

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Mac - The Porn Free Millennial's avatar

Great info. When I was consistently intermittent fasting a few years ago, I lost about 50 lbs. it’s a great way to cleanse the system and keep a check on urges.

Btw - you’ve got the best memes in the game. Always love to see them.

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Andee Scarantino's avatar

I do not like morning eating. Usually don't eat until noon or 1... just because. So I guess I just fell into this habit naturally. It certainly is beneficial, and I'm not sure how anyone eats six meals a day. That sounds like some bad 2000s advice they taught in poor public schools. Even Sweet Brown ain't got time for that

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