Posted on 04/19/2024 11:13:38 AM PDT by Red Badger
Despite the fact that fasting diets are all the rage, if you simply cut your daily caloric intake, weight loss will occur no matter when you eat, the study authors concluded. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News
A head-to-head trial of obese, pre-diabetic people who ate the same amount of daily calories -- with one group following a fasting schedule and the other eating freely -- found no difference in weight loss or other health indicators.
So, despite the fact that fasting diets are all the rage, if you simply cut your daily caloric intake, weight loss will occur no matter when you eat, the study authors concluded.
"Consuming most calories earlier in the day during 10-hour time-restricted eating did not decrease weight more than consuming them later in the day," wrote a team led by Dr. Nisa Maruthur, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.
Her team presented its findings Friday at the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians (ACP) in Boston. The study was published simultaneously in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Intermittent fasting has become very popular among weight-conscious Americans in recent years.
In an ACP news release, the researchers noted that "evidence shows that when adults with obesity limit their eating window to 4 to 10 hours, they naturally reduce caloric intake by approximately 200-550 calories per day and lose weight over 2-12 months."
But what if people simply cut their daily calories by the same amount, without shifting their eating schedules?
The new trial involved 41 people with obesity and pre-diabetes, mostly Black women averaging 59 years of age.
Participants were assigned to one of two eating regimens.
Twenty-one of them engaged in time-restricted eating, where they ate only between the hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and consumed most of their calories before 1 p.m.
The other 20 participants ate in more regular pattern, eating anytime between 8 a.m. and midnight and taking in most of their daily calories after 5 p.m.
However, all of the participants "received prepared meals with identical macronutrient and micronutrient compositions" and identical daily calorie counts.
The bottom line: After 12 weeks, there was no significant difference in weight loss between the two groups, the Hopkins researchers found.
Folks on the fasting regimen lost an average of just over 5 pounds, while folks who ate on a regular schedule lost a bit more, about 5.7 pounds.
The team also saw no significant difference in blood sugar changes between the two groups.
Their conclusion: Obese, pre-diabetic people may lose just as much weight by cutting daily calories without adhering to a fasting diet that cuts calories by the same amount.
Drs. Krista Varady and Vanessa Oddo, nutrition researchers at the University of Illinois, wrote an editorial accompanying the new study.
They applauded the new research, but believe there are still good reasons for overweight folks to try fasting regimens.
"The rising popularity of time-restricted eating is most likely due to its sheer simplicity -- it does not require a person to count calories to lose weight," they pointed out.
The Hopkins study shows that a fasting diet is "effective for weight loss, simply because it helps people eat less," they said.
So, if you find it a hassle to constantly track your calories each day, a fasting diet could still be right for you, since fasting naturally reduces calories to levels that can trigger weight loss, Varady and Oddo reasoned.
"Although time-restricted eating is no more effective than other diet interventions for weight reduction, it offers patients a simplified approach to treating obesity by omitting the need for calorie counting," they concluded.
More information
Find out more about intermittent fasting at Mass General Brigham.
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
If you dont eat food, you will lose weight.
Yes, there’s no magic pill.......
Move More
(buy my 2 page book on Amazon for $29.99)
“The Hopkins study shows that a fasting diet is “effective for weight loss, simply because it helps people eat less,” they said.”
I have found not snacking or eating anything after 5 pm or so until breakfast at about 6:30 am has helped me lose weight!
They make you nauseous, and sometimes throw up, and basically negates your desire to eat, so you eat less.
I always thought this was comparable to bulimia or anorexia.
When I feel the need to lose weight, keto and fasting works for me. Just keep the calorie count as low as you can and it's amazing how fast your body will consume its own fat to keep the books balanced.
I can sell you the Reader’s Digest version for the low, low price of $14.99. Just one page.
"Not if you eliminate the third, fifth, and sixth letters, then it's 'Red's Digest', Comrade."
...or being able to read minds.
Forty five seconds of Zoolander:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG6Jg17Ouus
48 hrs after I started Ozempic injections I remembered that I needed sustenance to maintain life at its current level. Then my stomach shrank to 1/4 its size. No one realizes “smaller portions” is a colloquialism for “if you eat more than a tablespoon, YOU WILL VOMIT harder than you can ever remember in your life”.
Instead of having 8 doughnuts for breakfast, cut it down to 6.
Right-wing fundamentalist tripe!
My book has rainbow colored/non-binary pages, made from used toilet paper.
It's unabridged and unbleached to help the environment.
(audio version with smell vision available also)
In what sense is “limiting” eating to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. a plausible “fast”? That is a TEN HOUR WINNDOW!
Further, most doing TRE also go Keto/Low Carb to stop the cravings. This DOES reduce calories over time. Using TRE & Keto, my total calorie intake has probably been cut 50% over a 6 year period - without hunger or cravings or WANTING to eat more.
But my test is this: I spent 45 years following the low fat diets, and I’d lose weight and then gain it back again. Yo-Yo diets for 45 years.
Now 6+ years of steady weight loss. Still have a little belly fat left to go. It took me 50 years to put it there so I don’t mind it needing more than 6 months to totally remove it. But I’m in my 60s and CAN run 4-5 miles a day, while also lifting weights and riding horses.
Couldn’t do that before IF and Low Carb.
“After tonight...every kid in America will wish he were me”
Many things happen during intermittent fasting that can protect organs against chronic diseases, heart disease, age-related neurodegenerative disorders, even inflammatory bowel disease and many cancers. It is not really about weight loss but even if that is the goal you need at least a 16-20 hour window.
LOL! There seems to be a lot of sassiness going around today.
sure if you only care about weight loss, not concerned whether bone, muscle, water, as long as scale goes down.
I could eat 1000 calories a day of candy and lose weight but I surely wouldn’t be healthy over time on a diet of candy.
Factor in a persons age, and sometimes precarious balance of nutrients/minerals etc in their body, and a lower calorie crappy food diet could be really detrimental.
I have increased calories and lost at times too, so in my experience its not just a calorie counting thing, but types of foods those calories are.
EENNNHHHHHHHH!!!! Wrong answer.
Exercise is the key to weight loss because it not only burns calories, it also builds muscle mass and raises the metabolic rate, both of which cause you to burn more calories even when at rest. The riders in the Tour de France consume +/- 8000 calories a day. Most if not all lose weight over the 21(+/-) day event.
Fasting causes the metabolic rate to slow. And breaking the fast causes insulin levels to spike, which increases fat storage. This is why competitive bodybuilders looking to strip all body fat interrupt their night's rest to have a meal in the middle of the night. Because small, frequent meals keep the insulin levels consistently lower, which minimizes fat storage.
Lost 20lbs over six months by not snacking, not having sweets, and getting zero calories from liquids.
Excellent results
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.