If you're in your 30s and you're interested in starting your Intermittent Fasting journey, there are a few things you'll want to consider in order to maximize your weight loss and wellness success. Today, I'm sharing 5 tips to help you tap into fat burning mechanisms and achieve your goals with Intermittent Fasting in your 30s.
#1: Eat 3 Meals During Your Eating Window
Many people believe that Intermittent Fasting means you simply "cut out" a meal. However, if you want long lasting results and to prevent yo-yo dieting, you'll want to steer clear of this ideology.
Women are particularly sensitive to the stress hormone cortisol and the hunger hormone ghrelin. Although short term severe calorie restriction might result in weight loss, it ultimately can lead to an imbalance of hormones, decreased metabolism and rapid weight re-gain. Plus, if you're looking to start a family soon, it's important to stay out of this state of "starvation mode" for fertility purposes.
With this in mind, I typically recommend to my female clients and AENpeeps in their 30s to stick with a 3 meal structure within their eating window (once the fast is broken). This allows enough nutrients to be eaten during the day to support lean body mass while also allowing the body to naturally shift into fat burning.
The types of meals you eat within your eating window will really matter and can make or break your results. In my Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle Programs, I recommend meals containing protein, fat and fiber to help stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent sugar cravings. This in combination with the daily Intermittent Fast is what thousands of women (like Karola, pictured above) around the world have used throughout their weight loss and wellness journey.
You can unlock the 100+ recipes, 8 weeks of meal planning and Intermittent Fasting tips with my Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle HERE.
Psssst... curious how long YOUR Intermittent Fast should be? Take my FREE Intermittent Fasting Schedule Quiz by clicking the button below!
#2: Break Your Fast Earlier, Not Later
Early in the Intermittent Fasting years, everyone was doing the 12pm-8pm eating window. In fact, many people thought that this was the only way to Intermittent Fast to see results. Not only is this untrue - there are a variety of eating windows and Intermittent Fasting schedules depending on one's goal - but it's actually not even the most ideal schedule if your goal is to help balance cortisol levels and achieve a weight loss goal.
Recent research has found that breaking and starting your fast earlier in the day yields better cortisol balancing and weight loss results than breaking your fast later in the day.(1) And considering women are particularly sensitive to the stress hormone cortisol, this is an important factor to consider. This means if possible, having an eating window such as 10am-6pm would be more ideal than a later eating window of 12pm-8pm.
However, this might not be possible for every single person and that's okay. The takeaway is to try and shift your eating to slightly earlier in the day rather than later - whatever that might look like for your schedule.
#3: Know How To Window Shift
In your thirties, you might find that your weekend schedules look a lot different than your weekday. Perhaps on the weekend you're waking up a bit later and therefore eating later than you usually would during the week. Does this mean your Intermittent Fasting schedule should stay the same every single day?
Not at all.
If you find that you have vastly different schedules from weekend to weekday, it's important to understand and master how to "window shift". This is a concept covered in the Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle, but you can also find the details with my video below.
#4: Invest In A Great Water Bottle
As you'll learn in the Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle, water and electrolytes are crucial when you are Intermittent Fasting. If you don't drink enough water or take in enough electrolytes to combat what is lost during the fast, you could experience issues such as headaches, low energy, muscle cramps and constipation.
So investing in a great (and preferably large) water bottle can be a lifesaver. I've tried quite a few over the years, but I have found that a 40 oz. insulated water bottle is ideal, whether that be a Stanley, Yeti or your other favorite brand. You'll want to make sure that this is always full and that you're hitting your daily fluid and electrolyte needs.
#5: Eat 30 Grams Of Protein At Each Meal
I can almost guarantee that you're hitting a fraction of your protein needs. I know this from experience of meeting with hundreds of clients one-on-one and thousands of AENpeeps around the world. Not eating enough protein can result in muscle loss, a lower metabolism and increased sugar cravings. Plus, eating more protein has been found to be better than simple calorie restriction at losing body fat and achieving a weight loss goal.(2) Each persons specific protein requirements will range, but aiming for 30 grams of complete protein at each meal is a good place to start for most people.
Thankfully, it's pretty easy to hit this amount with simple recipes like my low sugar, high protein smoothies in the Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle and by using my zero sugar, pasture-raised protein powder. You can even make protein pancakes that are packed with protein and taste AMAZING. However you get your protein in, just make sure you're getting enough and that you're consistently getting it at each meal.
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❤️ Autumn
Autumn Elle Nutrition