Research
Adherence
Adherence to intermittent fasting regimens is generally high (>80%) in short-term studies (≤3 months) but drops significantly in long-term studies (>3 months).
Intermittent fasting is easy to stick to for the first 3 months, but adherence drops significantly thereafter. If you plan to fast long-term, expect a drop in adherence and consider modified approaches (like MADF) to sustain it.
GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Compliance was generally high (>80%) in trials shorter than 3 months. In the longer-term studies (>3 months), adherence was generally lower than for the short-term studies, ranging from 8% [16] to 73% [28].
Why this rating
Data extracted from 12 studies reporting adherence.
Source
A meta‐analysis comparing the effectiveness of alternate day fasting, the 5:2 diet, and time‐restricted eating for weight loss
Paloma Elortegui Pascual et al. · Obesity · 2022
DOI 10.1002/oby.23568
Meta-analysis · 24 studiesCited 129×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Alternate day fasting (ADF) and modified ADF (MADF) are the most effective intermittent fasting regimens for weight loss, ranking higher than caloric energy restriction (CER) and time-restricted eating (TRE).Good
- Intermittent fasting (IF) regimens produce weight loss results statistically similar to traditional Caloric Energy Restriction (CER).Good
Related findings · Adherence
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- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
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