Intermittent fasting has been hyped as a kind of miracle weight loss solution for a few years now. It’s been around for much longer than that, but the last couple of years have given it quite a lot of attention. That said, according to recently published research, this technique – like many others that have gone before it – is mostly hype.
Does Intermittent Fasting Work? Here’s What the Science Says
The claims from celebrities that have used intermittent fasting have included everything from weight loss to intermittent fasting. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Anniston and Jack Dorsey have been among the big-name celebs that have sworn by time restricted eating as a way to keep their weight where they want it.
However, according to researchers who recently published their study findings in the New England Journal of Medicine, this trend provides no advantage over traditional calorie counting. They determined that intermittent fasting – sometimes for as many as 18 hours per day – did not lead to any more weight loss or to a faster metabolic rate than was recorded among people with obesity who stuck to a daily calorie limit.
What the Study Showed
“A regimen of time-restricted eating was not more beneficial with regard to reduction in body weight, body fat or metabolic risk factors than daily calorie restriction,” said the authors in the study.
Moreover, this isn’t the first study to indicate that intermittent fasting isn’t everything the hype suggested.
In 2020, a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, conducted by a team at the University of California at San Francisco showed that people adhering to an intermittent fasting strategy for 12 weeks lost only one half pound more than people who ate normally for the same length of time.
The newer study from the New England Journal of Medicine followed two groups across a full year. What they found was that both the group using intermittent fasting (permitted to eat only from 8am to 4pm) and the group using calorie restriction (1,500 to 1,800 calories per day for men and 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day for women) both lost about the same amount of weight.
They both lost an average of 14 to 18 pounds. Moreover, there also wasn’t much difference between the two groups’ difference in waist circumference, body fat or metabolic risk factors.
Once again, the lesson is that no single diet is the key for everyone. Instead, it’s important to find the strategy that works for you and that includes healthy components such as nutritious food, regular exercise, and metabolism support.
[…] will carry you over time. As a result, it is the primary determining factor regarding how many pounds you will lose and how long they will stay gone. This sounds easy, but for many of us, it is the most challenging […]