Intermittent Fasting Aids Weight Loss, With a Surprising Psychological Benefit

Researchers compared intermittent fasting with calorie counting and found that people following fasting protocols thought about food less often. Anchiy/Getty Images. A recent study found that people who bounce from one diet to another — or “yo-yo dieters” — may have better results following an intermittent fasting diet plan. The study compared intermittent fasting to traditional calorie counting for weight loss. The results suggest that people following intermittent fasting experienced psychological benefits related to food. Over the last few years, intermittent fasting (IF) has become a popular diet plan for people looking to lose weight. During intermittent fasting, you eat for a set number of hours or days, and then fast for the remainder. For example, if following the 16/8 Method, you would eat for 8 hours and fast for the remaining 16 hours of the day. A new study found that following an intermittent fasting dietary plan may be more beneficial for people who tend to “yo-yo diet” — those who jump from one diet to another rather than following a lifelong healthy eating plan. The study compared intermittent fasting to traditional calorie counting. The findings showed that people following either diet lost about the same amount of weight. However, those who adhered to fasting protocols experienced psychological and behavioral benefits, feeling they didn’t need to monitor overeating or count calories to lose weight. The study was published on July 16 in Clinical Nutrition. “Many chronic dieters become trapped in a cycle of constantly tracking, counting, restricting, and thinking about food,” said Monique Richard, MS, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Nutrition-In-Sight, who wasn’t involved in the study. “If a structured eating window helps simplify decisions and reduce decision fatigue, that may improve long-term adherence for some people,” Richard told Healthline. Intermittent fasting led to fewer thoughts abo