A simple trick — spend less time near food — may help you cut calories and lose weight, an international team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. found.
The researchers say the less often we go into the kitchen, the longer our fasting periods will be during the day.
How the Study Was Conducted
During the study, the team compared time-restricted eating (TRE) with a conventional eating pattern (UEP).
The study involved 41 adults with obesity and diabetes or prediabetes who closely monitored their diets. The volunteers were divided into two groups based on their eating patterns—TRE or UEP. Each participant followed an isocaloric diet, a meal plan with controlled fat content that keeps daily calories consistent.
The TRE group ate only at 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM, creating a 12-hour window between meals. In contrast, the UEP group could eat any time between 8 AM and midnight, as reported by Science Alert. Regardless of group, everyone lost some weight because of the isocaloric diet, but the TRE group saw larger results.
The timing of meals did not significantly affect the final outcomes; the intervals between eating mattered more because they led participants to consume fewer calories.
“It can be suggested that the impact of TRE on weight may be related to reduced calorie intake,” the report said.
Although the sample size was relatively small and the experiment lasted only 12 weeks, the results support this approach as an effective weight-loss method. While sticking to specific time windows alone may not directly cause weight loss, it does help limit excess daily calories.
The researchers say many people may find it easier to track meal times than to count calories, and that could be a usable recommendation for healthcare providers helping patients with excess weight, the team suggested.
The findings could help shape strategies to combat obesity, a growing global problem.
The results were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
In a related editorial, dietitian Krista Varady and epidemiologist Vanessa Oddo of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who were not involved in the study, wrote that TRE is “effective for weight loss simply because it helps people eat less.”
Varady and Oddo added, “TRE offers patients a simplified approach to obesity treatment, eliminating the need to count calories.”
