By: Parisa Yan
Typically, counting how many calories you eat every day can help you lose weight. The point is just to burn more calories than you eat. But surely that is annoying, right? Luckily, scientists have found another way to lose weight. It’s easy, and you don’t have to spend time counting the number of calories in every meal. Instead, just limit the hours during which you eat. For example, instead of eating over the whole day, you can limit yourself by only eating from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., and fasting the rest of the day(You can drink water, of course.)
To prove this theory, scientists conducted an experiment. They took 90 obese people and randomly separated them into three groups.
Group one was told to count calories. Group two was told to do time-restricted eating. Group three was the control and was told to continue their regular eating habits.
After six months, group one lost 8.8 pounds (4 kg) on average. Group two lost 11.2 pounds (5.1 kg)on average.
Then, they were told to maintain their weight loss for the next six months. Group one maintained 7.7 pounds (3.5kg) of weight loss. Group two maintained 9.5 pounds(3.5kg) of weight loss. Meanwhile, group three, or the control group, actually gained an average of 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg) of weight.
This proves that time-restricted eating (TRE) and calorie-counting diets achieve similar results.
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