Let’s talk about intermittent fasting…
Do you feel guilty for not eating breakfast?
Or do you feel it is a must so you rush and grab for whatever?
Well, I have some news for you…
You don’t have to eat breakfast. Especially, if you are reaching for something quick like a muffin…
You are doing more harm than good.
What does breakfast even mean?
It means, BREAK-FAST. You are breaking your fast since most of us don’t eat in our sleep. haha
So fueling yourself properly is important because your insulin levels will be very sensitive and as we get older… it becomes more sensitive as we get older. Have you noticed gaining weight even with the same old eating and workout habits? Well, that’s why.
It happen to me… I would have the same old breakfast… protein and carb and out of nowhere, I gained weight, felt super tired and had no motivation to work out. After gaining 15lbs, I decided this wasn’t for me anymore and chose to switch things up.
No breakfast in the morning. CRAZYYYY, Right?
I would weight train then do interval cardio right after. I dropped about 15lbs in one month. I went back to having amazing energy and flying through my workouts.
As I did more research, I understood why I felt better not eating as much. Fasting allows your body to detox, heal and cleanse since it isn’t constantly breaking down food. Most people eat about 16 hours a day so it doesn’t give your body a lot of time to do what it needs to do to perform at it’s best.
I switch up my eating windows depending on a few things and I recommend you do the same.
- Where I am in my hormonal cycle (important for menopause/post menopause too)
- The Seasons (yes, winter, fall, spring, summer)
- Stress Load
You guys hear me preach about working with your hormones all the time. That means syncing your fasting, meals and workouts with your hormonal cycle. Each phase is different and requires different things from us so don’t beat yourself when you feel like you ate way too many carbs and didn’t train enough right before your period starts… that is normal and needed to build up progesterone.
Next when it comes to seasons, this is important because obviously we have longer and shorter days. Most of us know not to eat before bed but don’t really know why… It’s because the body starts producing melatonin so you can get a good night sleep but once that starts happening, your body isn’t focused on breaking down food making it more likely to be stored. Melatonin will start being produced when the sun goes down so summer that can be 7/8 pm, winter it could be more like 4/5 pm so switching your eating windows according can help tremendously.
Now for everyone’s favorite topic… stress. Fasting is a stressor on the body, a good one.. just like working out is but this means we have to be mindful. If we are under an insane amount of stress then it is probably better to open up our eating windows a bit and not fast for as long. If we fast for too long and mix that with high amounts of stress then we can easily tank our hormones which will make us feel like crap, gain weight, lose muscle and even have our hair fall out so a lot of things, us ladies don’t want.
When fasting is done correctly and mindfully, there are endless benefits.
Benefits of fasting:
- Balances Hormones
- Burns More Stored Fat
- Anti-Aging
- Weight Loss
- Improved Performance
- Steady Energy Through the Day
- Detox
- Brain Health
- Internal Healing
Should you try Fasting?
If you are brand new to fitness, I would recommend easing into it. For example, go for a walk on an empty stomach then continue to advance. But you need to see how you feel on it. Everyone is different. Some people can’t do it because they get light headed and dizzy. Others completely thrive on it…so remember to play around with it for a few days and be mindful of how you respond to it.
A lot of people believe weight loss is easy. Run, reduce calories, lose weight but as many of us know, this isn’t always the case. Breaking your fast has to be strategic or it can back fire. Try breaking your fast with protein and a fat and avoid carbs with your first meal. Carbs will spike your insulin higher than fat or protein and we don’t want that.
Breaking your fast is just as important as your eating windows so if you aren’t seeing results from fasting then I recommend my free training. Just click here to get it.
During this free training, I will help you understand how to fast, how long to fast, the benefits of fasting with your hormones and how it helps with your gut health so you can lose weight with ease. Spots are limited so get yours now (here is link)
