Fasting

How to Start Intermittent Fasting in Perimenopause

Fasting is how we were made to live. Here is the slow, steady way I began at 46, and how you can too.

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For most of human history, people did not eat every three hours. There were gaps, long ones, and our bodies are built for them. When I started fasting in perimenopause I didn’t jump into three-day fasts. I started with an overnight gap and built from there. This is the ladder I followed.

Step 1: Stop grazing

Before you shorten your eating window, stop snacking. Three real meals with protein, nothing in between. This alone tamed my 3pm slump. If you’re eating a granola bar at 10am and crackers at 4, the first job is to fill your plate properly at meals so you aren’t hungry between them. More on that in my high-protein breakfast.

Step 2: 12 hours, then 14, then 16

If you finish dinner at 7pm and eat breakfast at 7am, you have already fasted twelve hours. Push breakfast to 9am for a week. Then 11am. Then noon. That is 16:8, a sixteen hour fast and an eight hour eating window. Go slowly. There is no prize for speed.

Step 3: Salt and water in the morning

Skip the juice. I drink a big glass of water with a pinch of good unrefined salt. If you get a headache or feel shaky early on, this is usually why. I wrote the whole recipe in the best salt for fasting. Black coffee after that is fine for me.

Step 4: Break the fast with protein

When my window opens, I eat eggs, beef or fish first. Not toast, not fruit alone. Protein first keeps my blood sugar steady and keeps me full until the next meal. I explain the mistakes I made in how to break a fast without the crash.

Step 5: Go longer, if you want to

Once 16:8 feels easy, I will do a 24-hour fast once a week, dinner to dinner. Later I tried a 48-hour fast, and a 72-hour once, with salt and electrolytes throughout. Those are bigger steps and I took each one only after the one before felt easy. You don’t have to go there. 16:8 alone is a good place to live.

What perimenopause changes

Sleep comes first. If a fast wrecks your sleep, shorten it. I take magnesium at night to wind down, and I covered my routine in this post.
Eat enough when you eat. A small eating window needs a real amount of protein inside it. Under-eating at meals is the biggest mistake I see.
Lift something heavy a couple of times a week and walk after dinner.
Listen. Dizzy, weak or panicky means eat and try a shorter window tomorrow.

A practical point: if you take medication, have a medical condition, or are pregnant or nursing, set your fasting plan with your own clinician. Everything here is my personal routine.

My simple day

Sunlight and salt water on waking. Black coffee mid-morning. Break the fast around noon with eggs and beef. A ripe piece of fruit with a little raw honey after that protein in the afternoon. Early dinner. Magnesium at night. That is it.

Want a gentler start to your evenings while you build this? Grab the free 7-Night Wind-Down below. Everything I use is on the Pantry page.

Questions I get

Is 16:8 fasting okay in perimenopause?

It is what I do and it works well for me. I started slowly, ate plenty of protein inside my window, and shortened it any time my sleep suffered.

Can I drink coffee while fasting?

I drink black coffee after my morning salt water. Cream and sugar are off the table until my window opens.

What should I eat first when I break my fast?

Protein first for me: eggs, beef or fish. I add fruit or honey after the protein, not before.

How long until it feels easy?

For me, about two to three weeks of the 16:8 ladder before it felt natural.

Want help winding down at night? Get my free 7-Night Wind-Down. Sign up here. You can also see everything I use on the Pantry page.

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Supplements and products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. This is my personal routine shared as education, not medical advice.