Eureka Moment #1
YOU CAN LOSE WEIGHT AND REALLY ENJOY YOURSELF!
We’ve recently completed the world’s longest-ever study into time-restricted eating: our study lasted for 12 months!
THE OBJECTIVE: To see if time-restricted eating (TRE) is better for weight loss and weight-loss maintenance versus daily calorie restriction (CR).
THE EXPERIMENT: Participants with obesity were randomly assigned to a group that would follow a traditional, calorie-restriction method of dieting; a part-day style of dieting (time-restricted eating); and a control group that didn’t change their diet at all. For simplicity, let’s call the groups ‘traditional’, ‘part-time’ and ‘control’.
The traditional group reduced their intake by 500 calories each day and they could eat at any time. The part-time group could consume any food or drink between 12 pm and 8 pm without counting calories, but could only have water the rest of the time. (This is called ‘water fasting’.) Of course, we encouraged eating a healthy diet, but for the study, no food restrictions or calorie restrictions were placed on the part-time group during the eating window.
The control group didn’t change their diet at all, so that we can be sure that any weight loss seen in other groups didn’t occur under ‘normal’ or ‘control’ conditions. The year of research was divided into six months of weight loss (the first half) and six months of maintenance. It’s also the first study to examine the effect of timerestricted eating on weight-loss maintenance.
THE RESULTS: Weight loss in both dieting groups was between 5 and 23 kg but the most interesting and exciting finding is that those who did IF really enjoyed the whole process! They lost weight AND they reported that they would definitely be continuing this way of life.
In contrast, the majority who were on traditional every-day-lowcalorie dieting couldn’t wait for the 12 months to end and stated they would definitely NOT be continuing, even though they had lost weight. It was too hard and too sad!
Some participants asked if they could switch methods during the study (unfortunately not permitted), and many said they would be switching to the part-day method at the end of the study.
Eureka! In short, this research indicated that IF using timerestricted eating is not only effective for weight loss, but it is also sustainable (and likeable) in the long term.