Weight loss is intimidating. All the calorie counting, the meal prepping, and the daily workouts. It’s a lot. But luckily, if you don’t want to watch how much you eat, there’s another viable option: watching when you eat.
Obesity is a problem in America. Over 40% of Americans are obese. And on top of that, another 32% percent of the population is overweight. Obesity is also dangerous. It can cause all sorts of issues, including health-related ones. Obesity cranks up the likelihood of developing serious health conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer.
Now, almost half of the population is interested in dieting. That includes 56% of women and 42% of men. However, the traditional way of losing weight is not only harder than expected, but it’s also expensive. Meal prepping low-calorie meals and burning calories is also time consuming. Furthermore, it requires an abundance of self-control – it isn’t exactly the easiest to pass up dessert or a snack.
In the past few years, researchers have developed a new strategy: TRE, also known as Time-Restricted Eating. Based on a study that lasted a year, researchers have learned that TRE works comparably well to calorie burning. This works because by compressing the amount of time of eating, your body produces less insulin, a molecule that baits your body into storing fat.
In the study, Krista Varady, a nutrition researcher at the University of Illinois Chicago, had 90 participants separated into 3 groups. The first group tried TRE for a year, the second dieted traditionally, and the third group went on with their normal lives.
The group using TRE was limited to eating whatever they wanted, under the condition that it was inside the window of 12 pm-8 pm. The second group was required to cut off 25% of their calorie intake, that being on average around 500 calories daily.
This resulted in both the first and second groups acquiring significant results. After 6 months, the first group lost 8.8 pounds, while the second lost 11.2 pounds. Then, for the remaining 6 months, all the groups were to switch to maintaining their weight, whether that was opening a larger time window or consuming marginally more calories to accommodate for their new weight.
At the end of the experiment, the first group had lost 7.7 pounds, and the second group had lost 9.5 pounds. Overall, the results from both groups were not significantly different from each other. In the end, TRE is a great alternative to weight loss.
“It is a simple diet,” said Varady. “You don’t need to buy expensive products or change things out in your pantry. You just have to decide on a time window and stick to it for as long as you can.”
Obesity is a problem in America. Over 40% of Americans are obese. And on top of that, another 32% percent of the population is overweight. Obesity is also dangerous. It can cause all sorts of issues, including health-related ones. Obesity cranks up the likelihood of developing serious health conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer.
Now, almost half of the population is interested in dieting. That includes 56% of women and 42% of men. However, the traditional way of losing weight is not only harder than expected, but it’s also expensive. Meal prepping low-calorie meals and burning calories is also time consuming. Furthermore, it requires an abundance of self-control – it isn’t exactly the easiest to pass up dessert or a snack.
In the past few years, researchers have developed a new strategy: TRE, also known as Time-Restricted Eating. Based on a study that lasted a year, researchers have learned that TRE works comparably well to calorie burning. This works because by compressing the amount of time of eating, your body produces less insulin, a molecule that baits your body into storing fat.
In the study, Krista Varady, a nutrition researcher at the University of Illinois Chicago, had 90 participants separated into 3 groups. The first group tried TRE for a year, the second dieted traditionally, and the third group went on with their normal lives.
The group using TRE was limited to eating whatever they wanted, under the condition that it was inside the window of 12 pm-8 pm. The second group was required to cut off 25% of their calorie intake, that being on average around 500 calories daily.
This resulted in both the first and second groups acquiring significant results. After 6 months, the first group lost 8.8 pounds, while the second lost 11.2 pounds. Then, for the remaining 6 months, all the groups were to switch to maintaining their weight, whether that was opening a larger time window or consuming marginally more calories to accommodate for their new weight.
At the end of the experiment, the first group had lost 7.7 pounds, and the second group had lost 9.5 pounds. Overall, the results from both groups were not significantly different from each other. In the end, TRE is a great alternative to weight loss.
“It is a simple diet,” said Varady. “You don’t need to buy expensive products or change things out in your pantry. You just have to decide on a time window and stick to it for as long as you can.”
