Women should avoid exercising in a fasted state and should always consume a light snack (such as a small amount of protein) before physical activity. Unlike men, exercising on an empty stomach purportedly disrupts the female hormonal balance, increases stress hormones, and blocks muscle recovery signals.

noli's read

The concept of low energy availability mentioned by researcher Stacy Sims (expert opinion) is validated by sports science: insufficient total daily energy intake does indeed harm women's vitality and hormonal balance. Furthermore, a randomized controlled trial (Jurov et al., 2022) shows that the male body better tolerates acute, short-term energy deficits. However, Mark Hyman's assertion conflates this overall daily caloric threshold with the simple act of skipping the meal preceding a workout. Several meta-analyses (Schoenfeld et al., 2014; Aird et al., 2018) prove that fasted training does not impair body composition or recovery, as long as the day's meals cover overall requirements. Additionally, for moderate sessions of less than 60 minutes, training in a fasted state remains entirely possible and well-tolerated by women. Stating that a single fasted morning session blocks recovery or disrupts female physiology is therefore an extrapolation lacking direct evidence.

the sources

1. 1Hackett D, Hagstrom AD 2017
2. 2Vieira AF, Costa RR, Macedo RCO, Coconcelli L, Kruel LFM 2016