It’s a diet trend endorsed by everyone from Hollywood celebrities to Rishi Sunak, but fasting doesn’t work for everyone.
Now scientists say they have found a way to boost its effects: a specific type of exercise.
Combining high-intensity aerobic and resistance exercise with intermittent fasting could help you lose nearly 30 percent more weight, research suggests.
Obese women who followed the strict strategy for 12 weeks lost 25.6 pounds (11.6 kg) on average.
For comparison, volunteers who were asked to simply follow a time-restricted diet, where all daily meals could only be consumed within an 8-hour period, lost 9 kg (19.8 pounds).
Jennifer Aniston, Chris Pratt and Kourtney Kardashian are among the Hollywood celebrities who have jumped on this trend since it rose to fame in the early 2010s. But despite a slew of studies suggesting it works , experts remain divided over its effectiveness and possible long-term health impacts.
Participants who only participated in the exercise regimen, which can include push-ups, burpees and squats, lost 5.4 kg (11.9 pounds).
A Tunisian academic behind the research said the results show that combining exercise with a diet has “the greatest benefits” for both weight loss and heart health.
Dr. Rami Maaloul, sports science expert at the University of Sfax, said: “We can highlight in this study that time-restricted eating is a good solution to combat obesity, easy to implement as it does not require people to limit their overall diet. Eat or count the total number of daily calories.
“Clearly, changing your diet or engaging in physical activity are effective weight loss strategies, but combining diet change with exercise has the greatest benefits for cardiometabolic health and weight loss.”
He added: “Future research on time-restricted eating should determine what type of exercise is most relevant to improving cardiometabolic health in women with obesity.”
Jennifer Aniston, Chris Pratt and Kourtney Kardashian are among the Hollywood celebrities who have jumped on the fasting trend since it rose to fame in the early 2010s.
But despite a slew of studies suggesting it works, experts remain divided over its effectiveness and potential long-term health impacts.
Some argue that fasters usually end up consuming a relatively large amount of food in one sitting, meaning they don’t reduce their calories, a known way to combat excess weight.
They They warn that it may increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks or premature death.
The researchers analyzed data from 64 women, aged 32 years and with a BMI of 35, on average.
Twenty-four were assigned to the high-intensity functional training (HIFT) and time-restricted feeding group.
The other two groups consisted of 20 participants.
The training sessions, led by instructors, included eight sets of eight exercises. Each lasted between 45 and 55 minutes and volunteers participated three times a week.
Those who were asked to eat within an 8-hour period only ate between 8 am and 4 pm and did not need to reduce what they consumed.
The team then compared health markers between the participants, including waist circumference, blood pressure, and glucose, cholesterol, and lipid levels.
In addition to losing the most weight, the combined group also experienced the biggest drop in waist circumference, at 10.5cm.
In comparison, the intermittent fasting group alone saw a decrease of 6.7 cm and the HIFT group of 7.6 cm.
The reduction in total cholesterol and glucose levels was also greater among the combination group, with a drop of 1.5 mmol/L and 1.23 mmol/L respectively.
The time-restricted feeding group experienced a drop of 0.6 mmol/L and 0.96 mmol/L, while HIFT reported a drop of 0.7 mmol/L and 0.75 mmol/L.
According to the NHS, total cholesterol levels should be below 5 mmol/L.
Meanwhile, glucose should be between 4 and 7 mmol/L before meals and below 9 mmol/L when tested two hours after meals.
writing in the diary PLUS ONEThe researchers said: ‘Although in our study the time-restricted eating group did not impose restrictions on total calorie intake or macronutrient composition of foods, weight loss may be related in part to voluntary reduction of calorie intake.
“It has been reported that people who followed this diet often spontaneously reduced their energy intake, resulting in a slight loss of body weight.”
However, they also acknowledged that the study did not take into account variations in the menstrual cycle and the small sample size.
They also admitted that the dietary intake records submitted by the volunteerscan lead to inaccurate estimates of nutrient intake.”