Research

Energy balance

Time-Restricted Eating (TRE) results in greater reductions in body weight, fat mass, and fat-free mass compared to Continuous Energy Restriction (CER).

If you choose to use Time-Restricted Eating, you may see slightly better weight loss than with standard calorie counting. However, be aware that this also leads to greater loss of fat-free mass (muscle), which may not be desirable for everyone.

GoodSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Further, TRE reduced body weight, FM, and fat-free mass more than CER
Maite M. Schroor et al. · Advances in Nutrition · 2023

Why this rating

Based on subgroup analysis of RCTs within a meta-analysis.

Source

Effects of Intermittent Energy Restriction Compared with Those of Continuous Energy Restriction on Body Composition and Cardiometabolic Risk Markers – A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials in Adults

Maite M. Schroor et al. · Advances in Nutrition · 2023

DOI 10.1016/j.advnut.2023.10.003

Meta-analysis · 28 studiesCited 50×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →