Imagine you’re trying to clean your room. You could either spend a few hours in the morning and power through, or you could spread it out over the whole day, taking breaks and ultimately getting less done. Well, it turns out that the same idea applies to weight loss! A recent study found that reducing the total number of calories you consume throughout the day is a more effective strategy for shedding pounds than restricting yourself to eating within a specific window of time (like with intermittent fasting). In fact, the study followed over 500 adults for six years and found no association between the timing of meals and weight change. So instead of focusing on when you eat, it might be more beneficial to focus on how much you eat overall. By eating fewer large meals and cutting back on total calories, you can kickstart your weight loss journey.
Now, this doesn’t mean that intermittent fasting is completely useless. There may still be other benefits to giving your body periods of rest from digestion, such as improving insulin sensitivity or promoting autophagy (a cellular recycling process). However, when it comes to shedding pounds, it seems like cutting back on calories takes the top spot.
