This conversation explores the concept of intermittent fasting, particularly its implications for women in perimenopause. Brooke Davis, women’s fitness and functional nutrition specialist, discusses the science behind intermittent fasting, its potential benefits, and the risks involved, especially concerning hormonal balance. Brooke shares her personal experiences with The Fasting Debate, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects. The conversation concludes with practical tips for those considering intermittent fasting and guidance on who might benefit from it.
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Contents
Today, we’re going to talk about intermittent fasting. It’s not new, but it seems like all of a sudden again everyone is talking about it. From celebrities to Nancy down the street, but is it really the game-changer for health & weight loss that it’s made out to be? And more importantly, is it actually the right choice for women in perimenopause?
I’m going to break it all down: the science behind intermittent fasting, its potential benefits, the risks you need to watch out for, and how it might affect your hormones, energy levels, and especially your fat loss journey.
If you’ve ever wondered whether skipping breakfast or sticking to an eating window could help you reach your goals. If you’re curious about why it might not work for everyone—this episode is for you. Let’s get to it.
Intermittent fasting, or IF, isn’t necessarily a diet in the traditional sense. It’s simply about when you eat and when you don’t eat. Technically, most of us use some variation of intermittent fasting simply because we have a period of time through the night where we don’t eat. It’s gotten popular for its potential to support fat loss, improve metabolic health, and even improve longevity and quality of life.
The 16:8 Method is one of the most popular forms of intermittent fasting. Basically you fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8-hour window. For example, you might finish dinner at 7 PM and then not eat again until 11 AM the next day.
During the fasting period, only non-caloric beverages like water, tea, or black coffee are “allowed”.
People will often use different time periods to define their eating / fasting windows, like some people might start out just doing a 12:12 eating / fasting window which is fairly common so you’d finish eating by 7 pm then eat again in the morning at 7am. While there are benefits to this – extending the fasting window even just by 4 hours has shown some slightly greater benefits.
Some people are pushing it longer and giving themselves a much smaller eating window like an 18:6, or a 20:4 – which may or may not be actually more detrimental depending on your hormones, lifestyle etc. but we’ll talk more about that in a minute.
While so far and in theory these mechanisms sound really promising, just remember that the impacts of intermittent fasting aren’t the same for everyone. Especially for women in perimenopause. Your unique hormonal shifts and metabolic needs will influence how effective or sustainable fasting is for you.
Intermittent fasting offers several potential benefits for women navigating the hormonal and metabolic changes of perimenopause. Let’s break down the key advantages, supported by research.
One of the most significant benefits of intermittent fasting was seen in A 2015 study published in Obesity. This found that a 16:8 time-restricted eating schedule improved insulin sensitivity in overweight adults. This is because of its ability to stabilize blood sugar levels as I mentioned earlier. During this fasting period, insulin levels drop, which can increase your body’s sensitivity to it.
This is especially beneficial during perimenopause, as the decline in estrogen and progesterone increase the risk of insulin resistance.
By reducing insulin resistance, fasting may also help curb cravings, prevent energy crashes, and support overall fat loss. Weight loss was seen in this study as well but it was noted that there was decreased caloric intake.
This shortened eating window naturally creates a caloric deficit just by limiting the hours in which you eat. This can potentially lead to weight loss or help prevent further weight gain during perimenopause.
A lot of women find that way of eating really simplifies their routine. It is making it easier to consume less calories without feeling deprived.
However, it’s important to note that weight loss results can vary depending on factors like your diet quality. Things like your activity level, and of course your hormones.
Fasting has been shown to lower inflammation markers in the body. This can be really helpful during perimenopause when inflammation levels tend to rise seemingly out of nowhere.
Chronic inflammation is linked to a variety of health concerns, including weight gain, joint pain, and even mood. This could help support many different facets. It’s thought that incorporating fasting may provide your body with the “rest” it needs to repair and reduce inflammatory pathways. Mainly because you’re not working to digest food.
Gut health is a very common complaint of women in perimenopause. It often seems like no matter what they do they’re struggling with being bloated.
Giving your digestive system a break during these longer fasting periods can benefit gut health in several ways.
Intermittent fasting isn’t just about physical health—it also has brain perks – literally. During these extended fasting periods, your body produces ketones, which are an alternative energy source to glycogen for the brain.
After hearing all of that you’re probably completely ready to jump on board…but while intermittent fasting can offer numerous benefits, it’s not without some downsides—particularly for women in perimenopause. Let’s explore some of the potential downsides, along with supporting research.
Perimenopausal women are already experiencing serious hormonal swings as estrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate. By adding intermittent fasting into the mix could place additional stress on the body. This is especially if other facets of your health & wellness routine are not already being implemented consistently.
A 2020 study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology cautioned that prolonged fasting in women with high cortisol. Also “adrenal fatigue” or HPA axis dysfunction could exacerbate hormonal imbalances. Which spoiler – this is MOST perimenopausal women.
Longer fasting periods can increase cortisol. This elevated cortisol can make weight loss more difficult, disrupt sleep, and worsen symptoms like mood swings and fatigue.
If you are someone already dealing with symptoms of chronic stress, fasting might not be the right approach for you.
I see this even when people aren’t intentionally doing intermittent fasting.
Women are trying to eat “healthy” or someone told them they should only be eating 1200 calories, and they can do that for a little bit – but then they get hungry and they have days where they feel like they could eat the kitchen and still not be full.
This happens because their body is STARVED of nutrients, and even more recent studies have shown that when protein needs are not being met (which most of you are undereating) then your ghrelin levels will be elevated until they are. And when you’re scouring the kitchen with ravenous hunger I’d be willing to bet you’re not reaching for a chicken breast but usually much faster sources of fuel like quick digesting carbs or processed foods.
So for some women limiting eating windows can actually backfire by later overeating or binge-like habits during eating periods.
Long story short, these longer fasts could lead to more hunger, which can make it hard to maintain a balanced, nutrient dense diet, especially if you’re not paying attention to calorie and macro intake.
This overeating during your eating window can counteract any potential caloric deficit, possibly leading to weight gain instead of fat loss, feeling out of control, being frustrated and ultimately leading to more of the vicious cycle that occurs with dieting in general.
Another thing to consider is that emotional eating or cravings, which are common in perimenopause, could also be made worse by longer fasting periods – so again ensuring you’re eating enough nutrient dense foods, the right macronutrient ratios and then have other ways to cope with stress is very important if you’re trying to implement intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting can sometimes disrupt your sleep patterns, especially if you’re one of those women who is already struggling with cortisol, then fasting raises your cortisol levels. This elevated cortisol downregulates melatonin (your circadian rhythm regulator) which makes it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep.
Another consideration is that eating large meals late in the day to “make up” for fasting hours can also interfere with restful sleep because your body is having to focus on digestion instead of recovery.
For women in perimenopause, who are likely already experiencing sleep disruptions due to hormonal changes, this can be an added challenge they don’t need.
The reality of it and something that we really try to get people to consider when adopting something for health or weight loss is that it’s not necessarily sustainable for everyone.
While intermittent fasting can simplify meal planning for some, if you’re working full time, you have a family schedule, and social obligations are probably going to have a hard time sticking to a restricted eating schedule while successfully nourishing their body and not being stressed about it all.
If you’re missing breakfast at home, then having to figure out what to eat later when you’re on the go – this can lead to low energy, irritability, making life harder than it needs to be, likely causing poor eating choices down the road. If you’re not eating a quality, balanced meal to break your fast – there’s blood sugar dysregulation that could mitigate the benefits of your fast later on.
Like I mentioned earlier, it’s actually quite hard, especially for women in perimenopause who have additional nutritional needs – to get them through diet alone to begin with.
We’re looking to support bone health, hormonal balance, and overall energy levels and skipping meals as part of this intermittent fasting process often leads to low intake of essential micro and macronutrients.
Over time, these nutrient deficiencies could actually worsen symptoms of perimenopause, such as fatigue, brain fog, mood swings, even weight loss resistance.
IF you are going to try it, here are some things I suggest you do or have in place.
Ease into fasting with a smaller fasting window like the 12:12 method—12 hours of fasting followed by a 12-hour eating window.
If that feels comfortable, gradually extend your fasting period to methods like 14:10 or 16:8.
This will allow your brain and body to adapt which will minimize potential side effects like hunger or irritability and it allows you to adjust your day and your meals as well.
Make sure each meal has a High-quality protein to support muscle and hormone health, Healthy fats for sustained energy and hormonal production and fibrous foods like vegetables, legumes, and whole grains to support digestion and blood sugar control.
Really try to avoid the temptation to overindulge in sugary, processed foods during your eating windows—which if you do the above, shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Pay attention to how fasting makes you feel.
If you’re more tired, irritable, dizzy, feeling really really hungry – these are signs your body might not be adjusting well.
Especially in perimenopause, don’t try to power through the discomfort—your well-being should always come first.
Intermittent fasting should feel like a manageable lifestyle change, not a source of stress.
If fasting feels unsustainable or makes you anxious about food, it may not be the right fit for you—and that’s okay.
Intermittent fasting isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, and it’s important to recognize if you’re someone who might benefit from it, if you should approach it with caution—or avoid it altogether.
You could potentially benefit from fasting if:
If you already know you have Insulin Resistance or Prediabetes and want some additional ways to help manage it.
You’re a snacker and like the idea of a simple more structured eating plan.
If you just have 10-15 lbs you’d like to lose, but don’t want it to be in a super strict way, maybe you don’t want to have to track consistently – again I’d still suggest tracking to make sure you’re getting enough food, but if you already have healthy established eating habits, intermittent fasting could be an effective tool.
I would absolutely recommend avoiding intermittent fasting if you are a woman that already has chronically high stress levels or known HPA axis dysfunction or “adrenal fatigue”.
If you are prone to disordered eating like binge eating or obsessive restrictive behaviors, do not do this.
If you have a history of low blood sugar, this could absolutely be unsafe for you.
Intermittent fasting can be a helpful strategy for weight management and improving insulin sensitivity, especially during perimenopause. However, it’s important to remember that this is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Your hormonal health, stress levels, and lifestyle all play a role in whether or not intermittent fasting is right for you.
If it aligns with your goals and feels sustainable, it might be a great tool. But if it feels stressful or causes negative side effects, there are plenty of other ways to support your health, balance your hormones, and support fat loss.
If you’re looking for more guidance with your health and hormones—I’ve got something to help. In the show notes I’ve linked our Healthy Hormone Blueprint and recipe guide for actionable tips on creating sustainable eating and lifestyle habits that work with your hormones, not against them.
If you want even more support you can Take our free hormone analysis, designed to help you uncover your unique hormonal needs and start making changes that truly support your health.
Coach Brooke Davis Links:
Website: elysianwomen.org
LinkedIn: Brooke Davis – Owner – Davis Fitness
Facebook: Brooke Davis, CPT
Instagram: Brooke Davis (@brooke_elysian)
Free Community: Women’s Fitness Simplified: Lean down, tone up, build confidence!
Take Our Free Hormone Analysis: https://brookedavis.typeform.com/to/quKUjmTI
Book a Discovery Call: https://scheduler.zoom.us/brooke-davis-mjzn71/discovery-call
Healthy Hormone Blueprint: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFt_zK0_tE/4f_12hrnlXr3g50zRyGjyg/view?utm_content=DAFt_zK0_tE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h68db7d676a
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Women’s Functional Nutritionist & Fitness Specialist along with CEO of Elysian Women’s Wellness.
God, family, fitness – in that order. Fitness isn’t my job, it’s my passion. My favorite things include traveling the world, being a mama and making a difference.
14 years of experience in the wellness industry has brought me to an understanding that when you’re ready – you’ll do it. So when you are, we’re here to keep you simply well.
The last “program” you’ll ever buy. Your individualized training & nutrition plan that teaches the why & how to create lasting changes with me by your side every step of the way!
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