The trial is small and the conclusion that participants lost weight because they consumed fewer calories misses the mark a little. But, at least scientists are beginning to look at what we’ve known anecdotally for a long time now.
If you’re not eating all the time there are things that happen with your hormones that help you lose weight. It’s not just the calorie reduction but also the reduction of insulin constantly getting pumped through your system. Yes, people tend to eat less if you’re limiting the number of meals per day because you can only eat so much at one sitting. But you’re also stopping the pumping of insulin that begins the process of fat storage. During the times that you’re not eating your body doesn’t have the fuel to use in your stomach so it has to start looking to your fat stores. This is the beginning of becoming fat adapted and has many beneficial health consequences.
In both of the groups that practiced time-restricted fasting, participants consumed an average of 550 fewer calories a day and lost about 3 percent of their body weight. Compared with the controls, both groups had significantly reduced fat mass, reductions in oxidative stress, and reductions in both fasting insulin and insulin resistance, which suggest a reduced risk for diabetes. Blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol and triglyceride levels were unaffected.
New York Times
If you think you can’t do it start with cutting your snacks. Just don’t eat snacks. Next knock out one meal. Most people find breakfast the easiest to cut. Once you do that and get yourself to a eating window of just a few hours you’ll find that it was much easier to get there than you imagined.
Leave a Reply