The Midlife Reset You Didn’t Know You Needed—Until Now

Hello again! If you’d like more context about me beyond fasting, you can find that here.

This was actually the foundational blog on Fast Your Cake & Eat It Too — a space I created to show midlife women that intermittent fasting can be simple, sustainable, and definitely life-changing.

If you’re looking for support along the way, I also offer guided programs for women who want extra structure or encouragement. As a Master Certified Health Coach, I’ve helped many women find a fasting rhythm that truly fits their lives.

Busting the Myth: Menopausal Weight Gain Isn’t Inevitable

I’ve mentioned the weight-loss benefit straight away because most women are interested in losing weight, but there are many other benefits that come with intermittent fasting, which I’ll get into later. But I’m sure you’ve heard that menopausal weight gain is inevitable, that it happens to everyone, and maybe you’ve even resigned yourself to this notion. Well, I’m here to debunk this myth. You’re definitely not doomed to gain weight during peri menopause or menopause, but if you have gained weight, intermittent fasting can definitely help you get back on track. Case in point: after gaining 10 pounds and being told it was “just part of menopause” at her annual physical, one of my friends came to me for help. By her fourth week of intermittent fasting, the scale had already started moving in the right direction—and now she can’t wait to go back to her doctor to show her what’s possible.

I Didn’t Start Intermittent Fasting to Lose Weight

Like I mentioned on my About page, I didn’t start intermittent fasting to lose weight. I thought I was already at my set point—the body’s natural weight range that tends to settle and stay put, no matter what. I was never technically overweight, but like so many women, I tried my share of diets because haven’t most of us wished we weighed a little less? Sure, losing weight was in the back of my mind, but what really pushed me toward intermittent fasting was being tired of trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast. I kept cycling through options, trying to find something healthy that would actually keep me full longer than a few hours, but nothing seemed to work. And then—boom! The idea of trying intermittent fasting popped into my head, probably after reading something about it months earlier. This was in late January 2017.

Exploring Different Fasting Styles

Back then, I hadn’t heard of all the different fasting methods. Now I know there’s the 5:2 plan, alternate day fasting, OMAD (one meal a day), and more. But I kept it simple; I started postponing breakfast, and right away, I noticed two things.

Reframing Hunger

On the one hand, I felt so free and relieved not being mentally bogged down with having to come up with, buy the foods for, and prepare breakfast anymore. But on the other hand, I wanted to eat! At that point, I had to reframe my thinking. I shifted my mindset to a positive, that in just a few hours I’d be eating lunch. I focused on what I was going to eat, not what I was missing. And since breakfast foods weren’t my favorite anyway, it felt easier.

My Early Fasting Trick: Cream, Calories, and a Little Debate

Another perk I thought I noticed early on was that skipping breakfast meant I could enjoy a bigger lunch, at least in theory. But in reality, I didn’t actually eat more. I just ate what I normally would, which is part of why intermittent fasting can lead to weight loss: you’re usually not making up for those skipped calories.

At first, I used heavy cream as a kind of crutch. Yes, it technically broke my fast because cream is full of calories, and I was definitely using more than 50. (Some say anything under 50 calories is still “fasting,” while others claim any food breaks it. And Valter Longo says it’s not about the calories but the nutrients. I’m still on the fence with that one.)

I tried ghee and MCT oil too, but they were way too greasy. Eventually, I weaned myself off everything and now take my coffee black. But cream got me through those early weeks. It also got me through an awesome trip to Italy! (I write about being in the land of pasta and gelato here and still being able to fast without feeling like I was missing out on anything.)

Settling Into the 18:6 Fasting Ratio

After several weeks of bumping breakfast, I was at a 16:8 fasting ratio — 16 hours fasting, 8 hours eating. Once the hunger subsided, I started noticing how good I felt! My mind was really clear and sharp, I had energy galore, and I no longer woke up with stiff, puffy fingers. After a month of eating this way, I stepped on the scale, and I was down three pounds, effortlessly. This, to me, was amazing! In the past, it would require a lot of deprivation to lose this amount of weight, but at this point, this new way of eating felt effortless. This motivated me to extend my fasting window until I eventually settled on 18:6. To my surprise and delight, I eventually lost way more pounds than I ever thought possible. While I can’t say intermittent fasting was the only reason (exercise has always been part of my life), it was a major piece of the puzzle.

The Spillover Effect

Ever since I was 18, I’ve always made it a point to exercise on a regular basis, but the fact that I was seeing weight loss with intermittent fasting could have motivated me to exercise harder, longer, or more often. This is a well-known phenomenon called the “spillover effect,” where initiating one positive behavior (like intermittent fasting) leads to making improvements in other areas of one’s life (like exercising with more purpose or enthusiasm).

Since 2022, I’ve been loving a new workout method called Pvolve—it’s low-impact but super effective, and it’s given me a renewed excitement around exercise. (I’ve become obsessed with it!) After seven years of intermittent fasting, I didn’t think I needed a new workout, so I’m not sure if it was the energy, confidence, or clarity I’d built through fasting—or the spillover effect—but something made me say yes to trying it. And I’m so glad I did! (You can learn more about Pvolve in this post.)

Like I already said, I can’t say for sure that intermittent fasting was the only factor in my weight loss, but since regular exercise has always been part of my routine, any changes I made, whether in intensity, duration, or frequency, didn’t feel significant enough to account for the difference. Could the spillover effect have affected my food choices?

Tightening Up My Diet—Just a Little

In the beginning, I would say ‘not really’ because I’ve always been pretty careful about choosing healthy foods and making balanced meals, and like I said, I wasn’t even trying to lose weight when I first started IF. However, at some point, I was so inspired by seeing the pounds just drop away with hardly any effort that I made one small shift to see if I could lose even more weight: limiting starchy carbs to once a day. If I had a sandwich with bread for lunch (my favorite thing to eat), dinner would feature veggie-based carbs with a main. If I ate a huge salad for lunch (my other favorite thing to eat), I’d go ahead and have pasta, potatoes, whole grains, or legumes with a non starchy vegetable and a main for dinner. This is still how I eat, although I’m more relaxed about it now thanks to one game-changer: ROYO Bread.

Sandwiches, Upgraded

ROYO is seriously a dream come true for me. Like I mentioned before, sandwiches are hands-down one of my favorite meals—especially for lunch—but I used to limit myself to just one (maybe two) a week because of the calories and carbs in most breads. Now, with ROYO, I eat sandwiches 4—5 times  a week with no guilt and no weight gain. You can read more about ROYO in this post. But it’s not just the bread that’s gotten a glow-up. My go-to drinks have, too.

What I Drink

Iced tea has been a daily staple for me ever since I was 16, thanks to my grandma. (It was her only other drink besides black coffee.) I’ve always taken it unsweetened, and it’s still my go-to lunch drink. But since iced tea is what I drink with lunch, I found myself wanting something different after coffee and before lunch, something a little filling that felt like a treat. That’s when I came across Humm, a lightly sparkling probiotic drink I’ve been drinking for years now. And their tagline, “Absurdly Tasty,” totally lives up to the hype—even in the zero sugar, 10-calorie flavors that I drink. Plus, each can contains 2 billion probiotics and vitamin B12.

Here, I’m going to admit that I actually felt great and still lost all that weight even while drinking, roughly, two glasses of wine a night for many years. I’m not suggesting that you do this, and I have recently quit this habit, but giving up nightly wine, I wanted something to drink while making and eating dinner. Over the past year or so, I’ve tried a couple of different hop waters and flavored, zero calorie mixers, and I finally settled on a hop water that I really like. So, my nightly beverages are currently hop waters and homemade hibiscus iced tea (which can almost mimic red wine when poured into a wine glass 😉).

Still Learning: Why I Love Valter Longo’s Book

Even though I had my food, drinks, and exercise pretty dialed in, I’m always curious to learn more. About a year into intermittent fasting, I came across *The Longevity Diet by Valter Longo. (I talk more about the book in this post.) His main focus is the five-day Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), which he developed to keep the body under the radar of nutrient-sensing pathways, basically tricking it into a fasting state. He also created the Longevity Diet which was inspired by the eating patterns of centenarians around the world. I’ve always been fascinated by Longo’s book, and I was finally motivated enough to try his 5-day FMD called Prolon recently. Longo claims that the benefits of intermittent fasting don’t compare to those of his method—and maybe this is true—but I’ve definitely noticed some positives with IF.

Sorting Through the Headlines

However, last year I stumbled upon that fasting study making waves, the one claiming intermittent fasting was linked to a 91% increase in cardiovascular deaths. Yikes, right? Even with all the benefits I’d experienced, that headline had me questioning everything. I was even considering giving up fasting for a minute. Before making any big decision, I knew I had to read the study myself and see how they actually arrived at that alarming statistic. You can learn more about what I found in this blog, but I wasn’t ready to give up the positives I’d experienced without good reason!

Unexpected Benefits That Keep Me Going

One powerful benefit I’ve seen firsthand is that I no longer wake up with stiff or puffy fingers, which is a clear sign to me that inflammation has gone down. I also experience clearer thinking, all-day energy, and I notice that food tastes so much better. These upgrades are reason enough to stick with the 18:6 pattern that’s been working so well for me.

Wrapping It All Up

So there you have it—the how, the why, and some of the details of what keeps me going with intermittent fasting. From ditching breakfast stress to discovering ROYO Bread and sipping on Humm and hop waters, this lifestyle has become second nature, and it’s one I really enjoy. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been fasting for a while, I hope this gave you a helpful, honest glimpse into what’s possible.

If you’re curious to keep learning, I’d love for you to stick around and explore more. And if you need a little guidance or encouragement, you can always check out my support plans. Wherever you are in your journey, I’m cheering you on.

Happy fasting—and yes, you can absolutely fast your cake and eat it too.

* I receive a small commission if you purchase this book, so thank you in advance!