Intermittent fasting 'doesn't help you lose weight quicker', experts claim - Daily Mail

Diets that involve intermittent fasting – switching between periods of fasting and periods of eating normally – don't help you lose weight quicker, a study reveals. .

Intermittent fasting involves switching between days of fasting and days of eating normally. One variation is the 5:2 diet - eating normally for five days then fasting for two.

Intermittent fasting involves switching between days of fasting and days of eating normally. .

Intermittent fasting diets fall generally into two categories - daily time-restricted feeding, which narrows eating times to 6-8 hours per day, and 5:2 intermittent fasting. .

5:2 involves eating normally for five days and then reducing calorie intake to a quarter of your daily needs.

'But intermittent fasting is no magic bullet and the findings of our experiment suggest that there is nothing special about fasting when compared with more traditional, standard diets people might follow.'  .

One of the most well-known intermittent fasting diets is the 5:2, which involves eating normally for five days and then reducing calorie intake to a quarter of your daily needs – typically 600 for men or 500 for women for each of the two days

• Group 1 fasted on alternate days with their fast day followed by a day of eating 50 per cent more than usual

• Group 3 which fasted on alternate days (in the same way as Group 1) but followed their fast day with one day eating 100 per cent more than usual. 

Meanwhile, group 3 fasted on alternate days (in the same way as group 1) but followed their fast day with one day eating 100 per cent more than they usually would in their everyday lives

By contrast, the first fasting group (group 1) who experienced the same reduced calorie intake by fasting on alternate days and eating 50 per cent more on non-fasting days, lost almost as much body weight (1.6 kg)

Intermittent fasting diets, fall generally into two categories - daily time-restricted feeding, which narrows eating times to 6-8 hours per day, and the so-called 5:2 intermittent fasting, in which people limit themselves to one moderate-sized meal two days each week.