New research studies the effect of time-restricted eating on calorie restriction. Cécile Fourcade/Stocksy A new study compared calorie restriction with and without time-restricted eating.
The study followed participants with obesity for 1 year. At the end of the study, both groups of participants lost weight, but the researchers found that neither weight loss method was significantly more effective than the other.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States obesity rate among adults is 42.4%Trusted Source. With that in mind, people are constantly on the lookout for the best way to reduce calorie intake.
Two popular methods of weight loss are time-restricted eating, a type of daily intermittent fasting, and calorie restriction. Since there is much debate about the effectiveness of intermittent fasting and the long-term effectiveness of calorie restriction, researchers designed a trial to compare the two.The authors published the study in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Weight loss strategies Time-restricted eating is a form of daily intermittent fasting. Under this form of fasting, people consume all of their food in a set window of time.
For example, some people practice 16:8 fasting, where they would go 16 hours without eating and then eat in an 8-hour window, such as eating from 12:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Other people use a more restricted window and practice 20:4 fasting.
The idea with time-restricted eating is that people will limit how many calories they take in if they restrict eating to a certain amount of time. As the study authors note, “The method has gained popularity because it is a weight-loss strategy that is simple to follow, which may enhance adherence.”
Some studies show that time-restricted eating helps not only to reduce calorie intake but also helps improve cognitionTrusted Source and has anti-inflammatory effects.
Limiting calorie intake is another way to lose weight. Using this method, people pick a set number of calories they want to stay under each day.
It takes creating a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound. If someone were to take in 500 fewer daily calories than the number of calories they need to maintain their weight, then they would lose 1 pound per week.
Dieting study The goal of this study was to determine if time-restricted eating offered any further benefits to a calorie-restricted diet.
