How to Get Started with Intermittent Fasting

Learn how to get started with intermittent fasting in an easy, realistic way. Simple steps, benefits, and tips for women over 50 who want more energy and better health.

In this post, you’ll learn:

• Why intermittent fasting works for women over 50
• The benefits you can expect (beyond weight loss)
• How to start fasting gently with a 12-hour window
• How to extend to 14–18 hours without discomfort
• What to eat so fasting feels easier—not miserable
• The most common mistakes and how to avoid them

If you’ve been wondering how to get started with intermittent fasting or whether it’s even realistic for a woman over 50, let me reassure you: it’s simpler, gentler, and more powerful than you think.

Intermittent fasting became one of the most life-changing tools I’ve ever used, not because it was extreme, but because it worked with my body instead of against it.

I didn’t set out to “try a fasting plan.” I stumbled into this way of eating long before it had a name. And for the first time in my adult life, my weight began to shift without dieting, depriving myself, or obsessing over food. My energy improved, my cravings calmed down, and I felt like myself again.

Eight years later, I still practice intermittent fasting because it continues to be one of the simplest ways to support weight management, lower insulin, and feel more in control of your eating.

If you’re curious how to begin, this guide will show you exactly how to get started with intermittent fasting in a way that feels doable, nourishing, and sustainable

Here are two posts where I write in further detail how I use it in an overall eating plan:

10 Powerful Tips to Lose Weight After 50

3 Things You Can do to Stop Gaining Weight

With a foundation in counseling and years of experience as a life coach, my focus is on helping women understand their bodies and feel alive again. What I share here is inspired by both personal experience and research from trusted sources such as The Obesity Code, The Diabetes Code The Big Fat Surprise, and Fast, Feast, Repeat.

Questions About Intermittent Fasting

1. Is intermittent fasting safe for women over 50?
Yes, for most women it’s very safe, but check with your doctor if you are pregnant, nursing, underweight, have blood sugar issues, or have a history of disordered eating.

2. Will I feel hungry when I start intermittent fasting?
A little hunger is normal, but it should not feel extreme. Balanced meals with protein, vegetables, and healthy fats make fasting surprisingly comfortable.

3. What can I drink during my fast?
Black coffee, plain tea, and water are all fine. Adding cream, milk, sugar, or artificial sweeteners will break your fast.

4. How long should my fast be?
Start with 12 hours and slowly work up to 14–19 hours daily if it feels good. You don’t need long fasts to see benefits.

5. Do I need to count calories or track macros?
No. Fasting works best when paired with real, satisfying meals, not restriction.

6. Can intermittent fasting help with weight loss?
Yes. It supports lower insulin levels, reduces cravings, and helps your body use stored fat for fuel.

The Real Benefits of Intermittent Fasting for Women

If you’re curious why intermittent fasting works so well, here’s the truth: it gives your body the break it’s been begging for.

When you stop eating for a period of time, several powerful things happen behind the scenes:

• Blood sugar naturally drops to healthier levels
• Appetite decreases because your hunger hormones rebalance
• Mental clarity improves, this was one of the biggest benefits for me
• Digestion gets a break, allowing your body to burn stored fat more efficiently
• Inflammation decreases
• Weight loss becomes easier (not magic, but easier)
• Key hormones like insulin, ghrelin, and leptin regulate more effectively, which supports fat metabolism and steady energy

Just to be clear, intermittent fasting isn’t a magic way to “get skinny.” It won’t override your genetics or erase a lifetime of habits overnight.

But it can help you lose weight, maintain a comfortable weight, and most importantly reduce blood sugar and begin healing insulin resistance.

How I Discovered IF (Before I Even Knew What It Was)

I’ve been using intermittent fasting for almost eight years, and I actually stumbled into it long before I knew it had a name.

Back then, I simply wasn’t eating at night, and I waited until I felt hungry the next morning.
I didn’t think anything of it until my clothes started getting loose.

I lost weight without trying, and when I dug into the research I realized what I had been doing naturally was intermittent fasting.

And honestly? My body felt better than it had in years.

I had more focus, more energy, and my cravings dropped dramatically.

Once your body begins using stored fat for fuel, hunger feels different: calmer, steadier, and much more manageable.

IF Isn’t a diet It’s a lifestyle for life

The beauty of intermittent fasting is that it’s not about restriction or perfection.
It simply builds a period of “not eating” into your day so your body can catch up, clean up, and reset.

You already fast every night while you sleep. IF just makes that fast intentional.

Most women get great results by:

• Not eating after dinner
• Waiting until they feel hungry the next morning
• Creating a daily 12–16 hour fast that feels easy and natural

IF or time-restricted eating can deliver many of the same benefits without feeling deprived or hungry.

Who Should Avoid Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting isn’t right for everyone.
Avoid it or talk to your doctor if you:

• Are underweight
• Are pregnant or nursing
• Have a history of disordered eating
• Do intense endurance or high-volume physical activity
• Are under extreme stress
• Have a diagnosed heart condition
• Experience blood sugar crashes, dizziness, or hypoglycemia

IF is powerful, but it needs to be used wisely.

I talk more about hunger in this post. But in general, hunger is NOT a problem with this type of fasting.

How I Discovered Intermittent Fasting By Accident

10 years ago, I lost quite a bit of weight without really trying. I was on my own, newly divorced, and not cooking a lot.

About a year after I lost the weight, I wrote about the experience here and I thought I had figured out the reason why I lost the pounds effortlessly. I knew it had something to do with not eating at night until late the next morning.

At that time, I didn’t have a name for it, but I’ve referred to it in every post I’ve written since about losing weight. Now I know it’s called intermittent fasting or time restricted eating.

If you are like me, anything with the word fasting in it sounds scary. But I started doing it without knowing what it was, much less that it was healthy too. As it turns out, fasting is actually great for your health.

While, I didn’t know it this at first, fasting is good for you. Most people eat way too often, all day long.

However, I really didn’t understand how healthy, not eating for longer periods daily was. At first, I was just happy that it helped me manage my weight because I also knew that diets simply did not work.

Does Intermittent Fasting Make You Hungry? What to Expect

Here’s the honest answer: you’ll feel some hunger and that’s actually a good thing.

Natural hunger (the kind that comes on gently, not the panicked “hangry” kind) is simply your body saying, “I’m ready for my next meal.”

Most women haven’t felt that kind of clean hunger in years because constant snacking keeps insulin high and hunger signals confused.

With intermittent fasting, here’s what you can expect:

You won’t feel uncomfortable hunger if you’re eating well

When your meals are balanced with protein, vegetables, and healthy fats, your body stays satisfied longer.

That awful, shaky, desperate hunger usually comes from low-calorie meals, low-fat foods, or eating mostly processed carbs not from fasting.

Once your body begins using its own fat for fuel, hunger becomes:

• steadier
• calmer
• easier to handle
• and surprisingly enjoyable

This comes as a surprise for many people.

Eating enough at meals is the real secret

Most women are chronically under-eating protein and healthy fats. When you fix your meals, fasting becomes almost effortless.

I tell my clients to:

• Add extra vegetables
• Add a tablespoon or two of healthy fats
• Make lunch and dinner substantial enough to carry them for hours

When you do this, your blood sugar stays stable and cravings drop.

A little hunger will start to feel GOOD

This is the part no one expects. Once your hunger cues normalize, that gentle “it’s time to eat” feeling becomes reassuring not scary.

You feel more in tune with your body.
More grounded.
More clear-headed.

And yes… healthier skin, steady energy, and fewer cravings are very real benefits. People ask me all the time what I’m doing and fasting is always part of the answer.

Intermittent Fasting vs Dieting: Why Diets Fail

Diets really don’t work in the long-term, though most can facilitate short-term weight loss. Most people I know attempt to eat healthy. But most are still eating with bad information.

Low-fat, high carb eating is really bad. Eating, ultra processed and fast food is bad for you. Sugar and foods that act like sugar are bad for you. Artificial sweeteners are bad for you.

These types of food are not good in any quantity. Yet, these are still recommended for weight loss and health.

I feel confident that you will never ever suffer any type of health problem by giving up any of those foods.

Why? Because they are horrible foods that cause horrible consequences.

Yet, eating the right kinds of foods isn’t always enough to reverse our weight gain and fat storage.

It is a step in the right direction and eating good food that nourishes the body is necessary. However, there is a piece to the puzzle that is overlooked.

It’s not a diet; it is a way of timing the eating of your meals and it is about as easy a way to manage your eating as anything I’ve ever tried. It’s called intermittent fasting or time restricted eating.

Here’s the exciting thing. Restricting calories slows your metabolism and you will have trouble losing after a while. Fasting does not slow your metabolism down. In fact, your body begins to tap into your fat stores so you lose what you really want to lose, FAT.

What Intermittent Fasting Is and How It Works

Don’t let the name scare you. All intermittent fasting means is that you are going for a period of time without eating.

In simple terms, think of it this way. You finish dinner at 7PM. If you don’t eat until 7 AM, you’ve fasted for 12 hours.

That is why breakfast is BREAK-FAST. You have fasted, and you are breaking it in the morning. Going 12 hours is pretty simple and easy. Most of us do that without even trying.

What research and real-life anecdotal stories are telling us, is that fasting used consistently and on a regular basis works.

Not only that, but it appears that the weight lost with intermittent fasting is fat and not muscle. Instead of making us weaker, intermittent fasting makes us stronger and leaner.

Top Reasons Women Love Intermittent Fasting

• It’s much easier than trying to diet
• You feel better, improve your health and lose weight
• It is backed by solid research
• It helps reverse health problems related to high blood sugar and inflamation

How to Get Started with Intermittent Fasting (Step-by-Step)

First of all, we fast all the time when we sleep. Sleeping seems to be the only thing that keeps us from eating these days! If you don’t eat in the evening, then your fast is even longer and that’s a good thing.

To get started, don’t eat for 12 hours. Don’t eat after dinner! If you finish eating at 6PM, then don’t eat until 6AM. If you are used to snacking at night, that’s the first thing to work on. Quit snacking!!!

If you find yourself getting hungry in the evening, you probably are not eating enough of the right kinds of food at dinner or not eating enough. Good quality proteins, vegetables, and plenty of healthy fats will get you through the evening and night.

If you eat a lot of ultra processed carbs you may find yourself craving more in the evening. Learn to eat real food that keeps you full and satisfied.

I’ve found it’s very easy to do a basic 12-hour fast. Even if I finish eating at eight PM, it’s easy to make it to eight AM.

However, most recommendations are for 14 to 19-hour fasts. So, I work at eating earlier and pushing my first meal of the day back.

If I finish eating at 7PM, then I don’t eat until 10 AM. I do have coffee, black to not break the fast.

If you drink black coffee or tea—then that’s perfect. You can have those in the morning.

Is Intermittent Fasting Safe? What Women Need to Know

Your body needs this break in eating. It allows so many healthy things to take place. Fasting during the night and morning actually allows your body to heal much more effectively than by medication or even diet.

It helps heal insulin resistance. When you fast on a regular basis, you lower your insulin levels, and this improves your insulin sensitivity.

Insulin is THE hormone that regulates our weight and fat storage. It is critical that it be able to work well in your body.

What kills your insulin sensitivity? Eating the wrong kinds of food, all day long, day after day.

If you eat every few hours, your insulin is always up. Eventually, it is unable to do its job correctly and you get fat and even worse, you may get diabetes.

Unexpected Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

There are several things that I like about fasting. I feel more alert in the morning and I have more time since I’m not worried about trying to fix and eat a meal first thing.

I often get up, have coffee, do a little reading or working on the computer before I go to work.

If I’m doing a longer fast, then I don’t have to worry about lunch either. I’ve found that I am more energetic and alert when I’m not eating. Even healthy foods can cause that energetic slump we often feel in the afternoon.

Is it Hard to do Intermittent Fasting?

Not at all, especially if you are doing 12 or 14-hour fasts. These are easy because a very natural schedule for our bodies. Finish eating by 6PM and you can eat breakfast at 8AM.

You might feel a little hunger, but it shouldn’t be out-of-control, and it will come and go. In fact, feeling a little hunger feels good. It helps you appreciate your first meal of the day.

Is Intermittent Fasting Safe?

From everything I have read, it seems very safe. Like I said before, we naturally fast at night. But if you have any doubts about whether is is safe for you–check with your doctor.

Most of us who are eating in the so-called normal way are:

• eating too much
• have health conditions from our diet
• have insulin resistance to some extent
• weigh more than we want
• are tired, sluggish, not feeling great

My point is that what you are doing now is for sure not healthy if you have any of the above.

With fasting, you can improve your fat-burning and body healing functions. And longer fasts are required to do this. Most of the magic happens after the 18 hour mark. Don’t worry, you don’t have to start there. Really, get used to not eating after dinner and establishing a 12-hour fast EVERY day.

Consistency is key here.

Ideally, you are still eating plenty of healthy nourishing foods during the period of day when you are eating.

While I discovered intermittent fasting by accident, I have stuck to it by intention.

Now mainstream doctors and health studies are praising its benefits. It might seem to be the newest diet fad of the day, but I believe that it is more than just a fad. In fact just this past week, the Wall Street Journal had a big article claiming that it was REAL not a fad.

One of my favorite books, the Obesity Code and this book claims that intermittent fasting might be the only way to reverse obesity too.

But as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, intermittent fasting is not safe for every person, so check with your doctor first.

How to Get Started with Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting doesn’t require perfection, willpower, or a rigid list of “good” and “bad” foods. It asks for something much more powerful: consistency, curiosity, and a willingness to work with your body instead of fighting it.

If you start with a simple 12-hour fast and gradually extend as it feels good, you’ll quickly learn that fasting isn’t uncomfortable; it’s actually freeing. You feel lighter, clearer, and more in tune with your own hunger and fullness signals.

And if you want support as you create eating habits that feel peaceful and sustainable, I’d love to help you.

You don’t have to figure this out alone.

Book a free consult and we’ll look at what’s going on with your eating, your cravings, and your body—and what will make the biggest difference right now.