Intermittent fasting more effective than calorie restriction

“More effective” in what capacity? Adherence.<p>&gt; The mean (SD) reduction in energy intake was -313 (509) kcal&#x2F;d for TRE, -197 (426) kcal&#x2F;d for CR, and -16 (439) kcal&#x2F;d for controls<p>So — the time restricted eating group reduced calories more than the group that counted calories; but the resulting weight loss has the same cause: reduced calorie intake compared to before.<p>If there’s a take away here, it’s possibly that adherence to a calorie deficit using a time restricted eating plan is easier than adherence to the same calorie deficit by explicitly tracking calories.<p>If you can adhere to a calorie deficit through other means, you won’t lose weight faster by adding intermittent fasting while maintaining the same calorie intake.

Not surprised.<p>I have been doing intermittent fasting combined with increased cardio activity, significantly reducing sugar intake (only source is from fruits and occasional&#x2F;once a month indulgences) , and mild increase in fish consumption while reducing beef consumption.<p>So far, 20 lb weight loss in 3-4 month period. Cholesterol levels were “borderline” prior to weight loss (no statins Rx’d). Fasting glucose normal.<p>Anecdotally, reducing intake works!<p>side note: the sugar addiction was real and “retraining” my body and mind was the real effort. The mental fortitude to ignore the usual junk I grab at the grocery store is well understated.

In my experience and observations, calorie restricted diets are pretty easy to adhere to until sometime between dinner and bed time. This is where people typically go off the rails and eat far in excess of satiation, negating any success of the day.<p>Intermittent fasting typically has people shift their eating times towards the end of the day which should significantly reduce the chances of falling into a pre-bedtime eating habit. Especially if you also shift your sleep window earlier. So if you stop eating at 8PM and make sure you&#x27;re asleep by 10PM, you&#x27;re less likely to get hunger pangs.

Important to note that all participants in the study had Type 2 diabetes, a mean age of 55 years, and a mean BMI of 39.

The intermittent fasting group adhered to the prescribed eating interval 6.1 days per week. In the calorie restriction group, 68 percent achieved the calorie reduction target over six months. The intermittent fasting group lost more weight, reducing body weight by an average of 3.56 percent in six months, which was significant. Under calorie restriction, body weight fell by an average of 1.78 percent, which was not significant.

I do intermittent fasting. Its basically structured dieting. I fast upto 12 noon, eat no later than 8 pm.<p>But it works only if junk food and processed foods are stopped.

My tldr: intermittent fasting is easier to adhere to than calorie restriction.<p>Or in plain English: it’s easier to get someone to eat less by getting them to limit windows in which they eat than to ask them to eat less and keep the same routine.<p>Tre = intermittent fasting Cr = calorie restriction<p>The TRE group reported being adherent with their eating window a mean (SD) of 6.1 (0.8) days per week (87% of days) over 6 months (eFigure 2 in Supplement 2). In the CR group, 17 participants (68%) reported being adherent with their prescribed calorie goals during the 6-month trial (eFigure 2 in Supplement 2). Participants in the TRE group reported finding their diet intervention easier to adhere to compared with CR group participants (eFigure 3 in Supplement 2<p>Full text: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jamanetwork.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;jamanetworkopen&#x2F;fullarticle&#x2F;2811116" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jamanetwork.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;jamanetworkopen&#x2F;fullarticle...</a>

The most recent critiques I&#x27;ve seen for intermittent fasting have to do with how it may not preserve lean body mass unless you are extremely conscientious about getting enough protein (and probably resistance training). That is, if you don&#x27;t get enough protein during your feeding windows, you&#x27;ll lose lean body mass along with fat mass, which harms body composition. I&#x27;d expect to see the TRE arm losing more lean body mass.<p>Table 2 seems to show this effect. The TRE arm lost more lean body mass <i>and</i> fat mass, although without a difference in visceral fat. If compliance is the issue, I&#x27;d be curious to understand what regime can help TRE participants comply with a minimum protein threshold in their diet to minimize the risk of lean body mass loss.

Latest I&#x27;ve heard is that it all boils down to calories and that intermittent fasting (time restricted eating or 8&#x2F;16)makes you lose muscle faster due to low protein during the fasting period.<p>Better to eat less calories and consume small amounts of protein throughout the day.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;G3-EW7nWCbU" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;G3-EW7nWCbU</a><p>I tried IF a couple times in my life. First time, coupled with lots of endurance exercise, worked great but I was constantly fighting to retain muscle. Second time I didn&#x27;t exercise as much but also didn&#x27;t lose any weight. I did develop extreme post-meal fatigue though, and that has persisted for years since stopping IF.

After reading Benjamin Bikman’s book (Why we Get Sick) I think the other benefit of IF&#x2F;TRF besides caloric restriction is that you’re also reducing your “insulin abuse”, I.e you are avoiding having elevated insulin levels for a longer period, which helps with improving insulin sensitivity. This book (highly, highly recommend) makes the case that insulin resistance is at the root of many metabolic and other disorders. I think there’s too much focus on weight loss in these threads, but even those with normal weight and BMI can have issues due to insulin resistance.

Calorie restricting for a long time will let your body adapt to live with that.<p>I&#x27;m curious what the result would be if you add a cheatmeal every 3-4 days.<p>Note: This is regulated by leptin as far as I know - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;my.clevelandclinic.org&#x2F;health&#x2F;articles&#x2F;22446-leptin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;my.clevelandclinic.org&#x2F;health&#x2F;articles&#x2F;22446-leptin</a><p>&gt; Leptin’s main function is to help regulate the long-term balance between your body’s food intake and energy use (expenditure). Leptin helps inhibit (prevent) hunger and regulate energy balance so that your body doesn’t trigger a hunger response when it doesn’t need energy (calories).<p>As far as I&#x27;m aware. Eating less for a longer time and you&#x27;re body will reduce energy expenditure and etc..<p>PS. If you want to lose weight, you want your energy expenditure to be as high as possible ;)<p>PS2. Not an expert. Read a lot about it and this seemed to theory seemed to fit my practical experience with losing weight ( -25 kg. in about 6 months. | from &gt; 100 kg to ~ 77kg )<p>I think I found the original source: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bodyrecomposition.com&#x2F;fat-loss&#x2F;bodyweight-regulation-leptin-and-more" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bodyrecomposition.com&#x2F;fat-loss&#x2F;bodyweight-regulation...</a>

Intermittent fasting is a form of calorie restriction

I restrict myself to a 4 hour eating window, and vary that window daily based on what&#x27;s convenient to me. So some days I&#x27;ll go 24 hours between windows if that&#x27;s how things line up.<p>There are a bunch of advantages for me. I have 3 kids and I always start my window after 10am. Without the restriction I&#x27;ll end up finishing off their breakfasts and snacking when I&#x27;m making their school lunches. Or late at night it&#x27;s easy to resist the temptation of hot milk and cookies as it&#x27;s outside of the window.<p>By myself I&#x27;m actually a pretty disciplined eater, but with kids and a partner who is a chronic feeder I need the window as a barrier against lazy eating.

If you&#x27;re a diabetic like me I&#x27;d recommend don&#x27;t do intermittent fasting. I almost died. My blood sugar goes from 300+ to 50ish some days and when I tried this I never felt hunger. I felt like I was about to slip in a coma all day.

Imo it&#x27;s still hard to stick to after a while. You&#x27;re out with friends and want to eat&#x2F;drink, or you get depressed and want to eat&#x2F;drink during your fasting window, or you end up eating later than you should due to the time window. I&#x27;ve been struggling with keeping on track lately because I don&#x27;t have a goal I&#x27;m working towards to keep me accountable. I lost a bunch of weight, but then had no real reason to keep it off other than &quot;for health&quot;, and now the weight&#x27;s coming back.

Interesting to know that you don&#x27;t need to become a dull and boring person without social live if you want to do TRE :-)<p>The interesting bit for me: &quot;Participants in the TRE group were adherent with their eating window on a mean (SD) of 6.1 (0.8) days per week&quot;<p>I like TRE, but I don&#x27;t follow it religiously. Some day of the week I will drink a wine with my partner or drink a beer with my friends. The night I drink I also eat a breakfast the morning after. Nice to know that it works if sometimes you fail to follow.

Anyone tried intermittent fasting while working out regularly? How did your schedule look?

I tried 15h fasting (8pm-11am). It was fairly easy to maintain but it absolutely killed my ability to focus and concentrate while working from home. Then one day I had a nice breakfast and it was like night and day.

Tangential, are there benefits not caused by calorie restriction? I was convinced my body was repairing itself while fasting, and that my body generates no extra hunger pangs.

&quot;Participants were aged 18 to 80 years with obesity and T2D.&quot;<p>Do the results apply to people who have no obesity and no T2D ?

intermittent fasting always leads to calorie restriction in the mid and long run. due to secondary effects like increased insulin sensitivity, less time to eat, more conscious relationship towards food, different food preferences etc.

In my homeless youth I intermittently fasted out of no choice. I was really skinny.

&gt; Interventions: Participants were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: 8-hour TRE (eating 12 to 8 pm only, without calorie counting), CR (25% energy restriction daily), or control.<p>Longer fasting periods, including 16&#x2F;8 TRE and alternate-day fasting, have been shown to cause a disproportionate amount of lean body mass loss: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jamanetwork.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;jamainternalmedicine&#x2F;fullarticle&#x2F;2771095" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jamanetwork.com&#x2F;journals&#x2F;jamainternalmedicine&#x2F;fullar...</a><p>&gt;In this RCT, a prescription of TRE did not result in weight loss when compared with a control prescription of 3 meals per day. Time-restricted eating did not change any relevant metabolic markers. Finally, there was a decrease in ALM in the TRE group compared with CMT. Together, the results of this study (1) do not support the efficacy of TRE for weight loss, (2) highlight the importance of control interventions, and (3) offer caution about the potential effects of TRE on ALM. Future studies should be aimed at understanding the effects of early vs late TRE and protein intake or timing as a means to offset the loss in ALM.<p>ALM = Appendicular (i.e., limb) Lean Mass.<p>One of the authors of this study, Ethan Weiss, is a cardiologist and was a big proponent of TRE, but after the results of his own study came in showing drastic loss of LBM in TRE group (to the point that most of the weight lost was LBM) and no added benefit, he completely stopped doing TRE, stopped recommending it, and went to Twitter and the news media to publicize the harm, eg: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.insider.com&#x2F;new-research-finds-intermittent-fasting-may-not-boost-weight-loss-2020-9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.insider.com&#x2F;new-research-finds-intermittent-fast...</a><p>X isn&#x27;t showing his Twitter thread, but there&#x27;s a copy of it here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;ScientificNutrition&#x2F;comments&#x2F;j1fav8&#x2F;effects_of_timerestricted_eating_on_weight_loss&#x2F;g71eria&#x2F;?context=3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;old.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;ScientificNutrition&#x2F;comments&#x2F;j1fav8...</a><p>&gt;In the in-person cohort, the average weight loss in the TRE group was 1.70 kg. Of this, 1.10 kg <i>(~ 65% wt lost) was lean mass</i>; only 0.51 kg of weight lost was fat mass. Loss of lean mass during weight loss is normal but typically accounts for 20% to 30% of total weight loss<p>&gt;So in summary: 1) no matter how you slice it, prescription of TRE is not a very effective weight loss strategy; 2) There was no advantage to TRE when compared to a proper control group; 3) What weight was lost looked to come more from muscle mass than fat mass