For years, intermittent fasting has been a go-to strategy in the fitness world. But what works for 25-year-old athletes doesn’t always apply to women in their 40s. In fact, traditional fasting protocols can backfire—disrupting hormones, draining energy, and stalling fat loss. That’s why Board Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner Dani Conway has been teaching a smarter, more personalized method for over 18 years: fuel before you fast.
As the founder of Nutrition the Natural Way, Expert Clinician Dani Conway specializes in helping women over 40 lose weight, balance hormones, and restore gut health through bioindividual nutrition, functional testing and cutting-edge protocols. Her clients include active women across Australia and the U.S. who are ready to optimize metabolism and rebalance hormones, without sacrificing strength or sanity.
What Makes Fasting Risky for Women Over 40?
Hormone shifts—especially those related to estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, and insulin—can make a woman’s body more sensitive to stress. And fasting, by nature, is a hormetic stressor, which can be a good thing OR a bad thing! And when done without proper preparation, it can spike cortisol and trigger a cascade of negative effects:
- Fatigue and poor recovery.
- Disrupted sleep.
- Increased anxiety, cravings and blood sugar crashes.
- Irregular cycles, worsening perimenopausal symptoms!
Imagine a 47-year-old woman named Claire living in Melbourne. She’s always been active—loves her weekend hikes and is meticulous about her diet. But lately, she’s been struggling with stubborn weight gain, energy crashes, and sleep that never quite feels restorative. Like many women in midlife, Claire is navigating the complex hormone shifts of perimenopause. When she attempted a popular intermittent fasting regimen, things got worse: increased irritability, cycles that were already irregular got worse, and a weight plateau in her progress.
Women in midlife are already under enough internal stress from changing hormone levels. Adding poorly timed fasting—especially without metabolic prep—only compounds that hormone chaos.
The Fuel-First Formula
Dani Conway’s approach flips the script. Instead of jumping into a 16:8 or OMAD fast, she ensures her clients are metabolically ready by “fueling before fasting.” This method includes:
- Fine tuning the right balance of high protein, good fats and customized carb intake levels to optimize daily performance; and implementing this for a period of time before doing any fasting!
- Fasting windows adjusted based on hormone status, never forced or fixed
- Optimizing meal timing to support workouts and recovery, ensuring they are no longer under-fueling
This “fueling-before-fasting” method supports stable blood sugar, enhances lean muscle preservation, and improves metabolic flexibility—all without sending the body into a negative stress response.
Real Results From Real Women
In Dani’s Weight Loss Accelerator Program, active women in their 40s and 50s are dropping fat, building muscle, and gaining long-term energy—without sacrificing their favorite foods or workouts. Her clients are runners, CrossFitters, yoga enthusiasts, and busy professionals who finally feel aligned with their bodies.
Consider a typical midlife woman who’s been dedicated to her fitness routine but notices that things she did in the past aren’t working anymore! After years of managing belly fat and low energy, she tries the ‘fueling-before-fasting’ method and begins to notice significant changes: her energy levels stabilize, afternoon crashes disappear, and fat loss resumes without sacrificing strength or well-being.
Why Customization Matters
“Test, don’t guess” is one of Conway’s core mantras, and she goes above and beyond with her one on one clients. She uses functional testing – comprehensive bloodwork, hormone and gut health panels to personalize every one on one clients’ plan. This includes identifying:
- Nutrient deficiencies (like B12, magnesium, and iron)
- Markers of insulin resistance or adrenal dysfunction
- Inflammatory triggers impacting fat loss… and so much more!
It’s this level of precision that sets her apart from generic fasting influencers. Her protocols are science-backed and results-driven, designed to optimize—not punish—the female metabolism.
Smarter Fasting = Sustainable Results
Intermittent fasting isn’t wrong—it just needs to be done differently. With the right strategy, women over 40 can tap into its fat-burning benefits without crashing their hormones.
Whether you’re training for your next comp or simply want to feel strong again, the key is metabolic preparation—not starvation. In fact, Conway’s mantra is, “STOP STARVING and start living!”
Want to learn more? Explore Dani Conway’s Accelerator Program and discover how to fast smarter, not harder.
M&F and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
