The Fasting and Shifted Timing (FAST) of Eating Study

Fasting and time-restricted feeding (TRF) have become increasingly popular in nutrition research due to the potential health benefits they may provide. Several animal studies, and more recently some human studies, have indicated regular meal-timing (i.e. eating mostly in the day) or fasting have been beneficial for controlling weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, and insulin sensitivity.

These types of eating patterns may offer the same "anti-aging" health benefits as traditional caloric restriction (i.e. consistent and routine adherence to a very low-calorie diet).While caloric restriction is considered the gold standard for weight management, weight regain often limits the long-term effectiveness of this approach. People often experience increases in hunger, which make it difficult to sustain this type of behavior.Therefore, researchers are turning to these dietary approaches as alternatives to low-calorie diets in an effort to obtain the same benefits, but with less burden on participants.

However, it is not clear if the adherence to these types of diet protocols are any better than a low-calorie diet. Would people be more satisfied with meal-timing or fasting over a traditional very low-calorie diet? That is the main research question of this study.

Inclusion criteria

• Be 18 years or older.
• Have a BMI between 25 - 49.9 kg/m2.
• Have a scale at home, or some way of weighing yourself regularly, so that you can report your body weight to the research staff.
• Be able to check emails regularly, because all of the surveys need to be completed online.

Exclusion criteria

• NOT be already practicing any of these fasting approaches.
• NOT currently diagnosed with diabetes.
• NOT taking any appetite suppressants or prescription weight loss medications.
• NOT planning on getting pregnant within the next 6 weeks.
• Do NOT currently have any eating disorders.
• Have NOT lost or gained a significant amount of weight (i.e. 10 pounds or more) within the last 6 months.