I do a 14/10 instead of the typical 16/8. Even Martin of LeanGains has recognized that women seem to do better with a 10 hour feeding window--maybe try that?

Source: http://www.leighpeele.com/martin-berkhan-and-intermittent-fasting-interview

Leigh Peele: Have you found a difference between men and women using this program?

Martin Berkhan: Due to differences in body weight, body composition and calorie needs, very few women, especially those already within a ‘normal’ weight range, get away with an unstructured approach to dieting. That goes for all diet approaches, not just IF. Sure, a lifestyle approach to IF will likely get a few pounds of you, but it won’t work all the way down to getting really lean for most women. The female body is very adept in protecting against fat loss below a certain body fat percentage and spontaneous eating without logging calories will often set people up for failure, unless they have a very solid track record of dieting in the past (i.e very attuned to their bodies caloric needs).

As we’re on the subject, I’ll also mention that I’ve revamped the diet guidelines I use for my female clients. For example, the fasted phase is now 14 hours by default, not 16 hours which is the case for men. This has brought about much greater diet compliance and less negative symptoms among women. The rationale for changing the guidlines makes a lot of sense based on the amount of feedback I’ve been getting, as well as my research on the topic. It turns out that women has lower plasma glucose concentrations than men after the same time spent fasting. In practical terms, this means that women in general are more likely to get moody and hungry if they go too long without feeding, while men can go longer without experiencing any negative effects, and this is exactly what I’ve been seeing. Men can do 16 hours quite easily, not so with women; for them, 14 hours is the sweet spot.

I’ve also made some other dietary alterations that increased has diet compliance for women, but I think I’ll save that part for the book. For now, I’ll just say that moving towards an isocaloric approach, with a healthy dose of carbs from fruit, has worked very well. Thus, I believe the optimal diet on this regime will depend on gender, which makes logical sense if you look at the differences in substrate metabolism between the sexes.

While everyone is different, I can say for myself that intermittent fasting (in combination with a fairly low carb, strict paleo diet) sent my hormones into a complete tailspin. Lost my period, symptoms of PCOS returned, dizziness and water retention were all side effects of my little journey into IF. Granted I should probably not have been tinkering with a potentially stressful activity while I was dealing with hormonal issues. However, I was only doing 14-16 hour fasts and did not feel that I was particularly stressed at the time but after a few weeks it became very apparent that I was not functioning 100%.

Clearly many people have experienced positive results with it, but I think for some it can be like throwing gasoline on a fire. I do feel that intermittent fasting is treated too lightly in the paleosphere-- if an individual is attempting to regain optimal health I think recovery should be emphasized rather than the potential benefits of autophagy/leaning out, etc. Women especially it seems need to be very careful about keeping their bodies nourished, stress free and well balanced (damn ovaries!). Again though, if it works for you, go for it. Just be aware of potential red flags-- if you are irritable/starving/obsessing over food porn and your "eating window" maybe consider just eating when you are hungry and moving on. A healthy diet should never have masochistic elements.

I found no benefit nor was there any suffering. It made no difference in how I felt, it did not help in my weight loss efforts or body composition.

Actually I found IF'ing extremely helpful to get those last few pounds off, but I did it differently than you, my schedule was:

wake up, have breakfast around 10am, lunch around 2-3pm, snack if needed around 4pm then IF until next morning. I tried not to eat after 4pm. (LC, high fat balanced)

I never saw a need to go beyond the 18 hour mark for fasting (on purpose), it was working so perfectly....and I never felt the need to 'binge' eat because I never felt like I was starving either. It felt very normal and natural to me and I had a calmer digestive system as well.

My routine was pretty much this every day, when the weekend rolled around or had dinner invites out I just ate the extra meal and went back to my routine again the next possible day. I still continued to shed fat and weight and it never phased me. I have had to fast for up to 48 hours before, and I don't do that unless I'm traveling and can't get food...I don't recommend it, you start to feel weak and groggy.

I still follow this routine but I tend to eat more and have a few more evening snacks as I'm trying to maintain and I keep loosing if not. (I'm HC now).

Your issue is the migraines being provoked by something/lack something, I'd look into that and see what you body is asking for and see if you can figure it out.

I believe for benefits of IF'ing you need to go at least 18 hours, so 6 hours is not really considered a fast.,..your body is telling you to listen!

I tried IF for a while going from breakfast Wednesday to breakfast Thursday. I would feel very cold on Wednesday night to the point that I found it hard to sleep and would have to take hot showers to warm up. I gave it up because I was so cold, but I do think it helped me during the weight loss phase. I also attempted Fast-5 but it made me crazy obsessed with food and I would eat out of control due to obscene hunger so I gave it up. Now I just eat 3 meals a day, often my lunch is more snack-like than an actual meal, and I feel great. I have already lost the weight. I only fast now if I am not hungry at all for some reason.

Hmm... aren't rats prey? Meaning, they eat like prey... snacking all day? Then of course fasting wouldn't be good for them. But humans are not prey, are they? So I imagine they're meant to eat like the other predators.

I don't fast on purpose, just do what feels right to me.
When I started eating Paleo I naturally fell in a routine, eating a big meal at 7AM, and a smaller meal around 1PM.
After a while it evolved into occasional days where I didn't eat at all.

Note, if I'm hungry, I do eat! I only fast because I'm not hungry.
I did notice I have a problem actually getting hungry, so I ended up eating very little calories. (600-800 per day) After I noticed that I started cooking my eggs with 3-4 tablespoons of fat, eat fattier cuts of meat, and sneak in fat (calories) whenever I can. I'd rather do that than eat smaller meals throughout the day, that's how much I like to IF. I feel much better when I IF (specially the 2nd day).

• Best fat loss when I fast.
• My mind is clear (I think better) when I fast.
• For some reason I have more physical endurance when I fast.
• I'm not as susceptible to snacking when I fast. If I eat smaller meals throughout the day, that generally leads into more and more snacking... and eventually snacking on junk... not sure why...
• Better and predictable poops.
• Happier mood, probably because my mind feels so clear.
• The link says "they masculinize", but for me... my cycle is more regular than ever.
• I have adrenal issues, but feel much better when fasting.
• And most important of all to me... much easier to sleep! I actually get sleepy, AND I fall asleep!

I DO need to eat breakfast-lunch. If I eat lunch-dinner instead, all these benefits go away. I find it interesting.

I'm not low-carb, I eat all vegetables under the sun. Starchier stuff in the winter, since that's what's in season then. In the Summer, about 60-100 carbs. In the winter, more.

I'm not sure how I feel about fasting when you're starving, sounds silly to me. It seems when IFing you already eat less calories, how big a meal would you need to compensate for the missed calories AND nutrients?

I've never been pregnant so I don't know what it would be like to fast in that situation. I'll find out what my body feels like doing when I get there.

I think we should just all shut up and do what feels good.

I love IFing and do it every day. I eat anytime after 11:30 and done by 7:30 p.m. I work out fasted first thing in the morning. I've been doing it since January and LOVE it. Once my "feeding window" opens I eat strict Paleo. I was Paleo for over a year before I started doing daily fastings. I did also lose those stubborn last few pounds by doing this. I am so use to eating this way that I don't ever see the need to add breakfast back in. Less stress always worrying about food. I noticed there are days I don't even eat my first meal till 2. Then once I start eating watch out!! HAHA

I try to do a 24 hour IF every Monday and Friday, plus eat within a 12 hour window the other days of the week. I started off experimenting with IF to help with weight loss and to become reacquainted with hunger, so to speak. However, recently my reason for IF'ing has changed since I've just found out I have cancerous cervical cells again (this is round #2 for me) and am trying to starve them off, so I've gotten much more serious about IF and nutrition.

I don't have any adverse reactions or side effects to IF'ing. In fact, for the most part, I enjoy not thinking about food and find it pretty liberating. I don't really find it helps much with weight loss though. I typically might lose .5 lbs after a 24 hour fast.

I think everyone is different.

I also think nutrient density can make a big difference. I eat liver, eggs, oysters and gelatin on a regular basis, as well as lots of beef. No big-ass salads for me!

I've happily done 16/8 IF for over a year. 49, 5'6" 125 lbs.

What works for me is 10-6 or 11-7 for my eating window. In the winter, I seem to want to eat earlier, so I eat from 9-5 or 8-4.

Eggs are a common migraine trigger. Since going paleo in January, my worst migraine was after reintroducing eggs on Easter (deviled eggs made with homemade mayonnaise). Otherwise, the frequency of migraine has been reduced by more than half. The "bulletproof" coffee you mentioned in your previous post isn't your friend. My other known food triggers are onions, raw garlic, and pineapple. Maybe try eliminating eggs and coffee for 6 weeks and then IF to see if you still get the migraine. The other thing that occurs to me is that you might still have residual blood sugar instabilities. You don't say how long you've been paleo, but given the degree of dysfunction, it can take months or even years to heal the damage wrought by two decades of carbs, wheat, etc, especially if you've been rendered borderline celiac (as I believe myself to be). IF may just not be in the cards for you right now. Focus on healing and good luck with the migraines.

After eating mostly paleo for some months, I realized I wasn't hungry until around 10 or 11am, so I delay breakfast until then, most days. I'll eat earlier if I'm hungry, but I never make it to 3pm, so I can't tell you if I'd have a headache or not.. Sorry! But I find that little bit of fasting helps me feel better, and keep a few pounds off.

I liked IF in theory, but after a while I started to realize that it made my binge eating much harder to control. So I started eating without any time restrictions and I operate on a much more even keel now. I started IF for weightlifting, so maybe my gains will be a little slower but it's worth it to me.

I had a lot of success with IF and still do it occasionally, although I've pretty much done the weightloss I set out to do. I tend to do a 20-24-hour fast starting in the evening after dinner - so I skip breakfast and lunch the next day. I made sure before attempting it that I'd been low-carb and keto-adapted for a while, and I've never had any migraines or issues with it at all. Each time I did it for weightloss purposes, it broke a stall.

I do it now to let my system rest a bit if I've been eating on the "20" side of 80/20 and am feeling less than wonderful, or I might fast a shorter period if sleep was bad and I don't want to get up early enough to do breakfast. I like the flexibility that being able to fast gives me.

I have lost 50lbs in 18 months, without hunger and without exercising (although I am more active than before I lost the weight).

The most important factor has been low carb, the second has been calorie-counting and the third has been IF.

I had a metabolic syndrome-type condition and I monitor blood sugar levels, too. These show me that it has to be low carb for me, of about 50g per day.

I started counting calories because after several months my weight loss slowed down. Limiting calories to about 1500 got the weight loss going again (before I ate about 2000 calories a day).

After a few more months I found out about IF. For me, it just means skipping breakfast. I find it easy to do, because I have never liked breakfast but I do like to eat in the evening. I have lunch at about 1:00 pm and dinner at about 7:00 pm and the rest of the time I don't eat, although I have a couple of decaff coffees with cream.

The IF helped the weight loss get going again. Breakfast, even a protein breakfast, made me hungry, so doing without it has helped the weight loss continue.

I am sure that my metabolism has learned how to burn fat again, and that's what enables me to fast for those hours without hunger; I still have a good supply of fat and that gives me plenty of energy. Low carb means low insulin and that helps me release the fat to burn.

If I eat too many carbs I get into sugar-burning metabolism again, and I get hungry every two hours or so, as my sugar stores are much smaller than my fat stores. If I ate too many carbs, it would not be possible for me to fast.

I should also say that reducing PUFAs and gluten and increasing saturated fats, and various other paleo measures have also, I am sure, helped heal my metabolism, although the effects are a bit more subtle than lower blood sugars and weight loss.

I got weight loss benefits from some 36 hour fasts in April. That put me into a "normal" range. I have done 2 24 hour fasts since and not seen weight loss but I don't get headaches or other issues. In fact, I still feel pretty good when fasting but I have higher body fat - about 28% estimated so maybe my body is still burning fat whereas your bodyfat comp is in the low to healthy range. My waist to height ratio is very good but I store my fat in other areas. But if I started getting migraines that wouldn't go away after I'd eaten, I would change the IF or skip it all together. n=1

I've been doing the 16/8 fast for 10 days now. It's really helped my metabolism as I have not lost any weight in more than 3 years regardless of calorie counting and exercise. Before IF, I could fast and jog every day and literally would put on weight. After ten days of IF I have lost 5 pounds without even trying, didn't even jog.

I eat organic veggies, meat fish and eggs, and a few carbs, but gluten-free. Overall I feel great on IF and am not hungry during my fast time 8:30 pm - 12:30 pm. For the last 2 days I got a bloated stomachache feeling in the evening after my last meal. Then today I got an incredibly painful migraine after eating lunch. Two hours later it is gone, but for a few moments I was wondering if I was going to faint.

I did have eggs for lunch, so not sure that had anything to do with it though. My theory is different -- I think when the body is burning fat, all the chemicals that were stored in the fat are being detoxed; I think that the symptoms are a result of these chemicals being deposited in the blood stream to detox. I'd be curious to hear if anyone else has been on IF longer and if these "detox" symptoms go away over time.

I do the 14/10 and its been working out well. Eating window is 8am-6pm. I feel better going to bed on an empty stomach. Havent been doing it long enough to notice hormonal changes (2nd week in) I have to make sure to have a higher calorie day during the week otherwise eat more starches during the week. My calorie intake is a little lower when Im fasting.

I have celiac and leaky gut and fasting is the only thing that gives me relief. I eat at 10 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. I find this gives my digestive system time. I have lost the last few pounds I wanted and also do not suffer the pain I did previously.