Women who menstruate and IF

Would love to hear from women who menstruate and how where you are in your cycle impacts the scale / how your clothes fit during your IF journey. I am currently doing 23:1 OMAD. My first few weeks of IF, I saw results right away- clothes fit better and the scale went down. For the last week and a half, which has been the second half of my cycle, I haven't seen or felt a change. At one point, the scale went up. In this week and a half time frame, I've done 22-23 hour fasts daily + CICO + one 48-hour fast. I have eaten low carb most days, and have tracked my water intake to ensure I am drinking enough. I know our cycle impacts water weight / bloat and the scale but this has still left me feeling so defeated. I think I just want to hear that this is normal, that if I continue to stick with it through the "no results" days that I WILL see results on the other side. Or maybe I need to hear that OMAD isn't working for me and I need to make a change? Any thoughts or advice welcome!

Answer

Started my period last night and the scale jumped up 2.2 lbs this morning. I use Happy scale to track my weight and it helps me to focus on the moving average rather than daily weight. I don’t see a lot of movement during my period but I try to focus on that as the why and focus on the scale moving the rest of the month

Answer

I’m about to start my first cycle on IF. I’ve been IF for a week and a half. My body already looks like it’s shed 5 pounds but my scale says I’ve lost only 1 pound. I run an hour on the treadmill each day and take a karate class two days a week so I’m doing cardio everyday during my fast. I’m curious to see if I see a major change on the scale during/after my period. Usually I gain like 5-10 pounds of water weight then towards the end of my cycle it all falls off

Answer

Also doing Omad, also low carb, as unprocessed as possible, avoid added sugars. For me, the scale barely budges or I even gain some about 1 week prior to and then the week of menstruation. Thereafter it’s back to usual weigh loss assuming all else are maintained. After understanding this about myself, it’s a lot less frustrating. Track your omad and weigh yourself and add those menstruation days to your calendar, see if there’s some kind of trend. It might make you understand your body better.

Answer

I menstruate and IF. (18:6 with 1400 calorie limit) I actually just ended my cycle today (7 day cycle) and last week I was losing about .4-.6 a day so that was good. It was harder to see the physical differences tho because i was so bloated. Now that it’s over I’m down like a pound and a half from yesterday

Answer

I’m doing rolling 3 day fasts right now and am holding steady a week before my projected period. My last meal was on Friday night and I’ll eat again tonight. I know to expect that I’ll stay about even with some potential gain on the scale until a few days into my period. Makes me crazy, but at least I know the reason. Before I realized how much our cycles impact the scale I would have quit in frustration.

I second Happy Scale. There’s always something encouraging to look at, even during a plateau.

Best of luck winning the mental game!