Time to shed a few pounds?
A new study suggests that a “relatively simple” dieting approach can help people lose a “significant” amount of weight in just three months — and actually keep it off.
Even better, it doesn’t involve counting every calorie, so you can stop obsessing over every bite and start enjoying your meals again.
CDC data shows that in the US, 2 in 5 adults are obese, along with 1 in 5 children and adolescents — and that’s not even counting the millions more who fall into the overweight category.
Although restricting daily calories has long been a popular method for losing weight, research shows it’s a tough approach to maintain and for many, the lost pounds eventually creep back on.
In recent years, time-restricted eating (TRE) — a form of intermittent fasting that limits not what people eat but when — has emerged as an increasingly popular alternative.
Tick-tock, weight drop
In a previous study, a team of international researchers found that when people shortened their daily eating window from 12 hours or more to just 8 hours, they lost weight and saw improvements in their heart and metabolic health.
But it wasn’t clear whether the specific timing of that eating window made a difference when it came to maintaining those benefits long-term.
To dig deeper, the same research team ran a 12-month follow-up study in Spain with 99 adults. Half of them were women, the average age was 49, and the average BMI was 32.
They split the participants into four groups, each testing a different approach to meal timing:
- Habitual group: Ate whenever they wanted.
- Early TRE group: Ate within an 8-hour window starting before 10am.
- Late TRE group: Ate within an 8-hour window starting after 1pm.
- Self-selected TRE group: Picked when their 8-hour eating window started.
In addition, all of the groups took part in a Mediterranean diet education program to encourage them to eat healthier.
Researchers recorded their weight, waist, and hip measurements at the start of the study, after 12 weeks of following their respective meal timing plans and again a year later.
TRE’s 12-week triumph
After 12 weeks, the habitual eating group cut their weight by roughly 3 pounds on average.
In comparison, the early TRE group dropped just over 9 pounds on average, the late TRE group lost nearly 7 pounds, and the self-selected TRE group a little more than 8 pounds.
But the scale wasn’t the only thing that budged.
While the habitual eaters showed a slight dip in both their waist and hip circumference, the early TRE group saw significantly larger reductions in both areas.
The TRE group also had a notable drop in waist size, though their hip circumference didn’t change as much.
The self-selected TRE group also managed to trim down their waist and hip sizes, but the changes weren’t statistically significant.
TRE holds its ground
Flash forward a year after the 12-week intervention period wrapped, and the results were stark.
The habitual eating group put a bit of weight back on — about 0.5% on average. Meanwhile, all of the TRE groups kept it off.
The early TRE group maintained a 2.1% weight loss, the late TRE group stayed down by 2%, and the self-selected group held onto a 0.7% loss.
At the same time, the habitual eating group saw their waistlines and hips expand, while every TRE group experienced reductions, with the late TRE group showing the biggest drop.
Weight loss that sticks
Notably, there were no major differences between the TRE groups when it came to weight or body measurements — suggesting that this simple 3-month lifestyle tweak can help keep the pounds off long-term, no matter when you eat.
“Our study found that restricting the eating window to 8 hours at any time of the day for 3 months can result in significant weight loss for at least a year,” said lead author Dr. Alba Camacho-Cardenosa, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Granada in Spain.
“These benefits can be attributed to the 16-hour fasting window rather than the time of eating,” she added.
Also important: participants took to the TRE approach surprisingly well, with adherence rates holding steady between 85% and 88% across all three groups.
“This kind of intermittent fasting appears feasible for adults with overweight or obesity who wish to have a relatively simple way of losing and maintaining weight loss that is less tedious and more time efficient compared with daily calorie counting,” said study coordinator Dr. Jonatan R Ruiz, a professor at the University of Granada in Spain.
Still, he noted that more research is needed in larger, longer-term studies to fully understand the potential benefits and drawbacks of the approach.
