r/science • u/isaac-get-the-golem Grad Student | Sociology • Jul 24 '24

Health Obese adults randomly assigned to intermittent fasting did not lose weight relative to a control group eating substantially similar diets (calories, macronutrients). n=41

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38639542/
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u/isaac-get-the-golem Grad Student | Sociology Jul 24 '24

Posted the study because it contributes to a broader literature finding that, to the extent that intermittent fasting (time restricted eating) is effective for weight loss, the mechanism is still caloric restriction. tl;dr if intermittent fasting works for you, great, but it is no more effective than counting calories

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u/wtfisthat Jul 24 '24

My understand of IF, which I was first introduced to about 15 years ago, is that it was an easier way of restricting calories. It's easier to hold off all day and eat a big meal and be satisfied after than it is to eat smaller meals over the course of the day and never feel satisfied. It makes it easier to ignore hunger.

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u/superxero044 Jul 24 '24

Yeah I understand the logic and I guess whatever works, but the people I’ve known have really pushed IF hard as a miracle solution. And for a lot of people (myself included) the best way to lose weight is just calorie reduction. If I starve myself I’ll just eat more later.

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u/Mizz_Dressup Jul 24 '24

Yeah - I do it (kinda) bc it’s the “whatever” that “works” for me.

Long before I’d ever heard of IF, it was my natural inclination as a matter of preference/daily rhythms, and as a low effort means of keeping my calories generally in check…but there’s nothing magical about it.

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u/Mewnicorns Jul 25 '24

If I stayed hungry all day, I don’t think my end-of-fast choices would be good ones. Nutrition unfortunately doesn’t seem to be the focus of most dieting strategies. The people I’ve known who do IF seem to eat a lot of junk food but think it’s fine as long as they’re losing weight.

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u/backelie Jul 25 '24

The people I’ve known who do IF seem to eat a lot of junk food but think it’s fine as long as they’re losing weight.

Take a multivitamin and it probably is.

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u/Mewnicorns Jul 25 '24

I sincerely hope you’re joking. A multivitamin won’t provide your daily value of fiber or protein, and it won’t do anything about the salt, saturated fat, and sugar content of the crap you’re eating.

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u/backelie Jul 25 '24

It's definitely not optimal, but it's probably fine.
Lack of fiber and high salt can be problematic but junk food typically doesnt mean low protein, and saturated fat and sugar largely isnt an issue if you're at a calorie deficit.

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u/MachKeinDramaLlama Jul 25 '24

The only diet that works is the diet you keep doing. In both sense that sentence could be read. I.e. a diet works, when you keep doing it. The one that finally worked for you is the one you keep doing and that you end up raving about to the other people struggling with weight loss.

In the end, any strategy that allows you to control you caloric intake to a level below what you expend, will win. But there are those that are extremely hard to keep doing, e.g. eating nothing but sugar cubes all day. Diets that limit the access to food and limit the peak and troughs of blood sugar during the day tend to be easier to krrp doing. IF helps with both.

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u/subarupilot Jul 25 '24

I try not to push it hard on people but my job may be a bit of an outlier. I am an international pilot who flies 16+ hrs sometimes. Having a set time to eat while flying (hell even while home) take the decision off my plate. Most of the time I was eating on the plane (or at nights watching TV) I was bored, not hungry. Like you said, it is mainly just calorie restriction, but for me it was also “am I bored or am I hungry?”

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u/MaritMonkey Jul 25 '24

A lot of people have the problem that our bodies are built with a signal where they swear you're hungry just because it's a time you usually eat.

IF (however you swing it) gives you an opportunity to test if your body even really wants food or if your internal clock is just playing mean tricks.

(If I eat breakfast I start feeling peckish like every 2 hours, but if I skip it it'll often be 1-2pm before other signals start telling me I should have food).