My clients (and friends + family!) ask me questions about intermittent fasting ALL the time, so I wanted to share a few thoughts on it.

I’m going to break this into a 2-part series because there are a few different layers to the topic. Next week I want to talk about intermittent fasting for women specifically (hot topic!).

So the question is: does intermittent fasting actually lead to more weight loss?

What is intermittent fasting?

Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that focuses on when you eat rather than what you eat.

Instead of eating across the entire day, food is limited to a specific time window. Some of the most common approaches include:

• Time-restricted eating - eating within a set window each day (e.g. 8 hours of eating and 16 hours of fasting)
• Alternate-day fasting - alternating between normal eating days and very low calorie days
• Periodic fasting - eating normally most days and significantly restricting calories one or two days per week

Recently, intermittent fasting has become extremely popular. It’s often promoted as a way to improve metabolism, increase fat burning and support weight loss.

So what does the research actually show?

What the research shows

A recent Cochrane review looked at 22 randomized clinical trials including nearly 2,000 adults. Researchers compared several forms of intermittent fasting - alternate-day fasting, periodic fasting, and time-restricted eating - with standard dietary advice or no dietary changes.

The overall finding was fairly straightforward (and a little underwhelming): intermittent fasting did not lead to meaningfully greater weight loss compared to conventional nutrition guidance.

In other words, when researchers compare fasting protocols with just improving diet quality or following basic nutrition advice, the results tend to be similar.

Why intermittent fasting can still “work”

This doesn’t mean intermittent fasting never works! Many people do lose weight while practicing time-restricted eating.

But the mechanism is usually much simpler than people assume.

When someone shortens their eating window, they often end up eating fewer total calories without intentionally trying to restrict them. Fewer meals and fewer opportunities to snack naturally lead to lower overall calorie intake.

So in many cases, intermittent fasting works because it simplifies eating patterns and indirectly reduces calories - not because compressing the eating window has a unique metabolic advantage.

If someone practices intermittent fasting but eats the same total amount of food they would have eaten otherwise, the research suggests weight loss would not improve.

So is intermittent fasting a bad idea?

Not necessarily!

If intermittent fasting is a pattern that feels sustainable and helps someone eat in a way that works for their lifestyle, there’s no reason it can’t be part of their routine.

The more important question is whether it actually helps support a pattern of eating that someone can maintain long-term.

In the end, I much prefer that someone focuses on quality of diet rather than timing. But if timing is the more approachable first step, I’m ok with that being a starting point on a wellness journey.

I do have thoughts on WHEN the fast should occur… but more on that next week!

Plus, this study was done on those who are overweight or obese - these are situations where calorie restriction is necessary to lose weight. If you are at a healthy weight and wanting to maintain, the research is not going to be as applicable to you!

Next week: fasting for women

There’s another important layer to this topic that rarely gets discussed.

Most fasting research has been conducted in mixed populations or primarily in men, and women tend to respond differently to energy restriction and fasting protocols.

In the next newsletter I want to talk about fasting specifically in women, and why some of the most common fasting advice may not work as well for the female body...

And I think it will be surprising :)

In health,

-Daina

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