Wonder about intermittent fasting and exercise ? This is for you. Today’s question about intermittent fasting from Elizabeth “I get the 16/8 thing, but can I drink coffee before my fast ends? What about matcha latte with coconut milk? I’d be fine to exercise fasted if I could do a pre-workout matcha latte. Can I/should I intermittent fast every day or how often? Should I try to fit 3 meals into the 8-hour eating window? She goes on to say, I’m thinking I should because with just 2 meals I’m pretty sure I’d be quite hungry.” Points in this episode:  Fasting and eating The 16:8 she’s referring to is 16 hours of fasting and an 8-hour eating window. For example, you could eat dinner by 6pm and eat breakfast at 10am. What I’ve been doing is eating closer to 11am and having dinner around 5 on most days, that’s not always possible. Breaking fast Anything with calories, or otherwise changes your blood sugar, breaks your fast so technically a matcha latte with coconut milk is breaking fast. Combining keto However, if you’re seeking fat burning, the next closest thing is to remain ketogenic by having high fat and not carb. You’d be doing that with the coconut milk latte as long as you don’t sweeten it. The question of three meals is one you’ll have to assess yourself. You also want to prioritize your goals for fasting. More on that in a minute. The goal is not restricted eating during your window, but if you have adequate protein and fiber within your window you may find you’re less hungry than you anticipate. Cravings seem to disappear not increase for people who fast. You want the highest quality foods all the time. A forever practice The 16:8 is a fairly easy fasting practice for many. So doing it most days is fine… as long as it’s working. You only know by monitoring weight, body composition, energy, other intangibles like sleep, skin. Activity needs If you are being active for good health intermittent fasting regularly can work wonderfully. If you’re an athlete who trains or is an exercise enthusiast, you may need to fuel around your workouts carefully, so you don’t lose muscle mass. Intermittent fasting and exercise can co-exist as long as you plan and monitor carefully. Monitor muscle and fat Track your progress during workouts – you don’t ever want to be doing random workouts. There should be some level of assessing from one week to the next, the weight you lifted, the number of repetitions you were able to do, the speed or distance you were able to reach or the difficulty of the same measurable exercise. If you find you’re not able to exert as much and you’re not expending as much energy, the quality of exercise is suffering. You want to reconsider the timing of your fasting and exercise. Make it Right Fasting has such a wide continuum and done wrong can backfire on a woman in menopause already under stress and at risk for loss of muscle and bone. Done properly with a plan to change and monitor your personal plan as needed it can be an amazing health & longevity tool. If you have a history of chronic dieting, disordered eating, over exercise, body image challenges, proceed with caution. I don’t recommend intermittent fasting for anyone with disordered eating history. Become a fat burner Fasting can be a good time to shift from being a sugar burner to a fat burner with lower intensity exercise. Gradually you increase your level of intensity while fasting. The body naturally wants to burn carbohydrates. This shift takes time. And there’s never been a better time while you’re quarantined. If you’d like to talk about a “Fast Flip” opportunity available right now for a limited number of women. You can work with me on your own fast + exercise for 12 weeks… respond now before spots are taken. This is usually reserved for current program participants and coaching clients. I’m opening up a limited number of spots for others right now. There’s never been a better time to work on your health habits, including intermittent fasting and ex