New study finds intermittent fasting is as effective as counting calories

Intermittent fasting has become popular in recent years as an alternative to traditional weight loss advice such as calorie counting, which can be cumbersome and difficult for some to follow.

There are various forms of intermittent fasting. One approach, called timed eating, is to limit the time people eat to a specific time period, usually around 6-8 hours.

Several research This suggests that it is possible success It does help with weight loss in the short term because you end up eating less, but it’s less clear how well it works over the long term.

A study released Monday may have the answer.

“We really wanted to know if people could lose weight over a year with this. Will they be able to maintain their weight loss?” Christa Valadaa professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has studied intermittent fasting for the past 20 years and is leading a new study.

Varady’s research has found that intermittent fasting can be as effective as tracking calories, actually helping you lose weight and keep it off for a year. Clinical trial results published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The amount of weight loss wasn’t dramatic — equating to about 5% of body weight — but the findings highlight that people can maintain this habit over time, in part because It is reassuring for researchers in this field.

“It’s so exciting,” he says courtney petersonA professor of nutrition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who was not involved in the study. “This study provides the most compelling results to suggest that people can stick to it, and that it’s not a fad diet, in the sense that if people stick with it for three months, it will ruin a year. brought.”

“Natural Calorie Restriction”

Varady’s team recruited 90 obese adults (meaning a body mass index of 30 or higher) from the Chicago area and randomly assigned them to one of three groups. One group could only eat from noon to 8:00 pm, the other had to count calories and cut back on their daily energy intake. did not make any changes to the .

After losing weight for six months, participants underwent a “weight maintenance phase.” This was achieved by extending the intermittent fasting group’s meal time from his 8 hours to his 10 hours and increasing the caloric intake of the calorie restriction group.

Varady said he designed the study that way because “most people who go on a diet lose weight for about six months, after which they usually plateau.”

The study found that the timed eating group lost an average of about 10 pounds more than the control group, and the calorie counting group lost about 12 pounds more. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.

“The point is that you can achieve essentially the same amount of energy restriction by counting time instead of counting calories,” says Varady.

Before research A study of intermittent fasting found that people who restricted their meals for no more than eight hours and intentionally restricted their calories achieved yearly weight loss similar to those who restricted their calories alone but did not restrict their eating at specific times. I understand.

What’s different about this new study is that people in the intermittent fasting group weren’t told to watch their calories, but they ended up eating about 400 fewer calories a day (the same amount as the calorie counting group). It means that it happened.

The results suggest that time-restricted eating may lead to a kind of “natural calorie restriction,” Varady said. She says this could be largely a result of people eating less, especially in the post-dinner hours.

“People typically eat within 12 to 14 hours, so all we’re doing is cutting about six hours off,” she says. “Mainly, I think I’m eating less after-dinner snacks.”

Peterson says that limiting the time you eat can have an “anti-snacking effect” and help you avoid binge eating late at night. She says data from her own lab also shows that intermittent fasting affects hormones and helps regulate appetite.

This study found no significant differences in cardiovascular and metabolic health between the two weight loss groups. eat fast Daytime hours can be beneficial for metabolic health, but I chose noon to 8pm because they reflect the real-world tendency of people to eat on time limits. says Varady.

“From a feasibility standpoint, I don’t know anyone who would stop eating before 4 p.m. every day,” she says. “If you can do it, or if it fits your lifestyle, go for it.”

Support and counseling can make weight loss more sustainable

Another feature of the study was that both weight loss groups received regular counseling with a nutritionist, learned about healthy food choices, and learned cognitive-behavioral strategies to prevent weight gain.

Such “focused support” is important, he said. Doctor.Adam Gilden. Gilden, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado who wrote an editorial that said, “Most people who do this don’t get any kind of dietary or behavioral support. I’m doing it with the power of published with new research.

Because of this, he says, patients often complain that trying to eat on time limits doesn’t work.

Gilden cites the following results: another The study found that restricted eating did not lead to significant weight loss over 12 weeks. There was no dietary counseling or support in that study, he notes.

In a new study, in which participants gained such support, “time-restricted eating is about as effective as traditional calorie restriction,” he says. However, I am skeptical that these techniques would yield the same results in the real world without support.

In this study, people who restricted their time to eat and count calories had “moderately high adherence” throughout the one-year study period.

But Peterson said previous research suggests that the leg work that accompanies calorie counting—which tends to be standard advice when seeking weight-loss counseling—makes it harder to stick with. It has said. People need to be educated about the portion sizes and calorie counts of different foods, and track and record their meals.

“For many people, it can be a huge pain,” she says.

Peterson said the study, which compared time-restricted eating to standard calorie counting, suggests that “you can cut calories by the same amount with much less effort.”

The study doesn’t suggest that intermittent fasting is somehow “a pretext for poor eating habits,” he said. Dorothy SearsProfessor of Nutrition and Executive Director of Clinical and Community Translational Sciences at Arizona State University College of Health Solutions.

“We’re designed to process nutrients most optimally during the day,” Sears says. “So let’s start by getting people to eat during the day and avoid eating at night, which in itself is detrimental to your health.”

There’s no need to “arm-wrestle” whether calorie counting is good or bad, she says. “But we need to test whether time-restricted diets are just as effective, and this study shows that they certainly are.”

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