That’s not to say meal frequency doesn’t matter; it does, as you’ve seen throughout this article. Under a low-calorie diet, people eating two meals per day lost more weight than those eating six per day. But without an energy deficit, neither high or low-frequency eating groups lose weight.

Eating one meal a day is unlikely to give you the calories and nutrients your body needs to thrive unless carefully planned. Choosing to eat within a longer time period may help you increase your nutrient intake. If you do choose to try out eating one meal a day, you probably shouldn’t do it 7 days a week.

“While people on this restrictive OMAD diet will initially lose weight, it’s not very sustainable,” Friedman emphasizes. “In fact, research shows it may even cause you to gain weight in the long run — skipping meals puts your body into a feast or famine survival mode, which makes your cells crave more food.

Research shows that fasting produces benefits for disease prevention, metabolic health, weight loss and even life extension. Some find it less work to fast rather than to plan for several small meals. During eating periods you get to eat whatever you want.

Fast for 12 hours a day A person needs to decide on and adhere to a 12-hour fasting window every day. According to some researchers, fasting for 10–16 hours can cause the body to turn its fat stores into energy, which releases ketones into the bloodstream. This should encourage weight loss.

Eat an early dinner and see if you can comfortably go 13 hours until you eat breakfast. Research shows extended fasting during the night may improve a breast cancer prognosis and lower cancer risk in general. Fasting has also been shown to decrease the risk for other types of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Fasting in the evening and overnight, then eating early in the day is the pattern that has the most profound benefits. The research is clear that people who eat in the morning and afternoon have healthier blood lipid profiles and better blood sugar control and tend to weigh less than those who eat late in the day.

The minimum amount of time it takes to make fasting efficacious hasn’t been proven via study, but the prevailing notion is it’s somewhere between 12 and 18 hours. But it can take a few days — sometimes weeks — of fasting regularly for your body to start burning fat for fuel.

Fasting means you don’t eat or drink anything but water usually for 8 to 12 hours beforehand. If your appointment is at 8 a.m. and you’re told to fast for 8 hours, only water is OK after midnight.

In addition to enhancing weight loss, 16/8 intermittent fasting is also believed to improve blood sugar control, boost brain function and enhance longevity. 16/8 intermittent fasting involves eating only during an eight-hour window during the day and fasting for the remaining 16 hours.

Fasting for a certain number of hours each day or eating just one meal a couple days a week, can help your body burn fat.