Browse the evidence

Intermittent Energy Restriction (IER) using a 5:2 diet pattern is equally effective as Continuous Energy Restriction (CER) for reducing body weight and blood pressure in overweight and obese patients with hypertension over a 6-month period.

If you have high blood pressure and are overweight, trying a 5:2 diet (eating very little, around 500-600 calories, on two non-consecutive days a week and eating normally the other five days) can lower your blood pressure and help you lose weight just as well as eating slightly less every single day. You should consult your doctor to adjust any blood pressure or diabetes medications, as your needs may change with weight loss.

A 6-month low-calorie, high-protein diet (35% of total calories from protein) improves glucose metabolism, body composition, and cardiometabolic profiles in subjects with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes and overweight/obesity, regardless of whether the protein source is primarily animal or plant-based.

If you have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes and are overweight, switching to a diet where 35% of your calories come from protein (whether from meat, fish, eggs, beans, nuts, or soy) and restricting your total calories by 30% can significantly improve your blood sugar, weight, and heart health markers. It does not matter if you choose animal or plant proteins; the key is the high-protein, low-calorie pattern itself. Stick to this for at least 6 months for best results.

Increasing physical activity level (PAL) from 1.7 to 1.9 through moderate-to-vigorous exercise for 8 weeks creates a sustained negative energy balance and reduces adipose tissue mass in normal-weight and overweight men, despite ad libitum food intake remaining unchanged.

If you are a normal-weight or overweight man, increasing your daily activity to burn an extra ~500 calories (2092 kJ) daily, 5 days a week, through moderate-to-vigorous exercise (like brisk walking, jogging, or cycling) for 8 weeks will likely result in fat loss, even if you eat whatever you want. Your body does not automatically compensate by making you eat more, creating a sustainable energy deficit.

Alternate-day modified fasting (ADMF) produces greater weight loss and BMI reduction compared to daily calorie restriction (CR) in overweight/obese women over 8 weeks.

If you are an overweight woman looking to lose weight, try Alternate-Day Modified Fasting. On fasting days, eat only 25% of your calculated daily calories (mostly lunch). On feeding days, eat 100% of your daily calories. Keep your macronutrient ratio at 15% protein, 30% fat, and 55% carbs. This method may help you lose more weight and stick to the diet better than eating less every day.

An intensive start with combined diet and supervised circuit weight training (0-3 months) significantly enhances long-term waist circumference reduction compared to delayed exercise or behavioral modification alone.

If you are starting a weight loss journey, especially if you have obesity, start with an intensive program that includes both diet and supervised exercise from day one. This study suggests that adding structured exercise (like circuit training) in the first 3 months leads to significantly better long-term reduction in waist circumference than starting exercise later or doing diet alone. The early success helps maintain motivation and adherence over the next few years.

Intensive behavioral modification (diet and counseling) alone results in clinically significant long-term weight loss and maintenance, even without added exercise.

You can achieve significant long-term weight loss through intensive behavioral modification alone, without needing to add structured exercise. This involves regular counseling, self-monitoring with food/activity diaries, and a moderate caloric deficit (500-1000 kcal/day). This approach resulted in an average 6.8% weight loss maintained over 3 years.

Intermittent fasting significantly reduces body weight and BMI in overweight and obese adults compared to control diets, with alternate-day fasting showing superior weight loss effects compared to time-restricted eating.

Intermittent fasting is an effective strategy for weight loss in overweight and obese individuals. Alternate-day fasting appears to offer greater weight loss benefits than time-restricted eating. To implement, choose a method (like ADF, TRE, or 5:2) that fits your lifestyle, ensuring you maintain a caloric deficit during fasting periods. Consistency over 12+ weeks yields the best results for body composition.

A eucaloric ketogenic diet (KD) induces significant weight loss primarily through visceral fat reduction while preserving muscle and bone mass, without adverse metabolic changes, over a period of up to three months.

If you are overweight or even normal weight, a ketogenic diet can help you lose fat without losing muscle, provided you eat enough to maintain your weight (eucaloric) and monitor your ketone levels to ensure you are in ketosis. This approach also appears to improve quality of life and reduce fatigue, particularly in those with overweight. You should aim for very low carbohydrate intake (around 33-35g/day) and monitor blood ketones to confirm adherence.

Combining time-restricted eating (8-hour window) with concurrent aerobic and resistance training significantly improves body weight, BMI, fat mass, and functional capacity in overweight/obese women compared to control or TRE-only groups, with no significant difference between early (4pm-8am) and late (12pm-8pm) eating windows.

To lose weight and improve fitness, combine an 8-hour eating window with 3 days per week of exercise (mix of cardio and weights). You can choose to eat early (e.g., 8am-4pm) or late (e.g., 12pm-8pm); both work equally well when you exercise. Ensure you eat enough calories (1200-1500 kcal) within that window and do not snack outside it. Consistency in both diet timing and exercise is key.

In individuals with type 2 diabetes, combining caloric restriction with high-dose exercise (300-330 minutes/week) significantly reduces fat mass percentage more than caloric restriction alone, while preserving fat-free mass.

For people with type 2 diabetes, dieting alone causes muscle loss along with fat. To maximize fat loss and keep muscle, you must add exercise. Aim for 6 sessions a week (300-330 mins total) mixing cardio and weights. If that is too much, start with 3 sessions (150-165 mins), which still burns more fat than dieting alone without losing muscle.

High-dose exercise (300-330 min/week) preserves fat-free mass during caloric restriction in type 2 diabetes, whereas moderate exercise (150-165 min/week) and diet-only interventions result in fat-free mass loss.

If you have type 2 diabetes and are dieting, you risk losing muscle. To stop this, you need high-volume exercise (at least 5 hours a week) including weights. Standard '150 minutes of exercise' guidelines are not enough to protect your muscle mass during weight loss.

Combined exercise and dietary interventions produce significantly greater body weight loss than exercise alone in adults with overweight or obesity, but do not significantly reduce ectopic fat (liver fat, visceral fat area, or intramuscular triglycerides) compared to exercise alone.

If your goal is simply to lose body weight, adding exercise to your diet will help you lose more weight than dieting alone. However, if your specific goal is to reduce ectopic fat (fat in your liver, visceral area, or muscles), simply combining diet and exercise may not be more effective than exercise alone. You may need to focus on specific types of exercise or longer durations (>12 weeks) to target these specific fat depots, as general weight loss does not guarantee ectopic fat reduction.

Long-term interventions (>12 weeks) involving either exercise or caloric restriction are successful in decreasing visceral fat area (VFA) in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas short-term interventions may not be.

To reduce visceral fat, you need to stick with your exercise or diet plan for more than 12 weeks. Short-term efforts may not be enough to target this specific type of fat. Consistency over time is key.

High-protein isocaloric diets (HPD) preserve or increase muscle mass during weight loss, whereas very low-energy diets (VLED) significantly decrease muscle mass.

If you are losing weight, ensure your protein intake is high (around 1.8g per kg of body weight). This helps you keep your muscle while losing fat. Very low-calorie diets without high protein will cause you to lose muscle mass.

Ketogenic diets (KD) significantly reduce waist circumference compared to other dietary interventions, indicating superior reduction in central adiposity.

If you want to specifically target belly fat (waist circumference), a ketogenic diet (very low carb, high fat) is effective. It significantly reduces waist size compared to other diets, even when calories are not restricted.

Isocaloric diets with macronutrient distribution (LCD, KD, HPD) result in greater weight loss than caloric restriction diets (LED, VLED) in obese women over 12 weeks.

You can lose weight without counting calories if you focus on macronutrients. Diets that adjust carbs, protein, or fat ratios (like Keto, Low-Carb, or High-Protein) can lead to greater weight loss than simple calorie restriction over 12 weeks.

A hypocaloric diet leads to statistically significant weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity regardless of whether the macronutrient composition is high-protein or high-carbohydrate.

To lose weight, you must create a caloric deficit. This study shows that whether you get those calories from protein or carbohydrates matters less than the total calorie reduction. A daily reduction of 500 kcal led to significant weight loss regardless of the macronutrient split. Choose the diet composition you can sustain best while maintaining this deficit.

Providing personalized biofeedback on resting energy expenditure (REE) and respiratory quotient (RQ) via portable indirect calorimetry significantly enhances weight loss outcomes compared to standard care alone in individuals with obesity.

If you have obesity, asking for a metabolic test (indirect calorimetry) during your weight loss program can help you lose more weight than standard advice alone. This test measures how you burn fat vs. carbs and your resting energy needs. Share these results with your dietitian so they can tailor your calorie and exercise goals to your specific biology, rather than using generic formulas. This personalized approach led to significantly greater weight loss and waist circumference reduction in this study.

A 12-month 4:3 intermittent fasting protocol significantly reduces binge eating and uncontrolled eating behaviors compared to daily caloric restriction, and these behavioral improvements are associated with greater weight loss.

If you struggle with binge eating or losing control over food intake, try a 4:3 intermittent fasting schedule (fasting for 3 non-consecutive days a week with significant calorie restriction, and eating normally for the other 4 days) combined with behavioral support. This approach may help reduce binge eating tendencies more effectively than strict daily calorie counting, potentially leading to better long-term weight loss.

Sibutramine (15 mg daily) combined with lifestyle interventions produces significant weight reduction and improves metabolic risk factors in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

If you have PCOS and are overweight, sibutramine (15mg daily) combined with standard diet and exercise advice can help you lose significantly more weight than lifestyle changes alone. It also improves metabolic markers like triglycerides. Discuss this option with your doctor, especially since other common PCOS drugs like Metformin are not primarily effective for weight loss.

A modest reduced-calorie diet (75% of energy requirements) for two months significantly improves lipid profiles, blood pressure, and specific inflammatory markers (ICAM-1, MCP-1) in overweight/obese adults with cardiovascular risk factors.

If you are overweight or obese and have high blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood sugar, cutting your daily calories to 75% of what your body normally burns (a 25% reduction) for two months can significantly lower your bad cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. It also reduces specific markers of blood vessel inflammation. You do not need to change your exercise routine, but you should avoid omega-3 supplements during this period. Focus on filling your reduced calories with vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins to stay full.

A daily caloric deficit of 500-1,000 kcal (low-calorie diet) produces a weight loss of 0.5-1.0 kg per week and up to 10% body weight over 6 months.

To lose weight steadily, reduce your daily calorie intake by 500 to 1,000 calories compared to what you normally eat. This moderate deficit typically results in losing 0.5 to 1.0 kg per week. Over six months, this approach can help you lose about 10% of your body weight. Focus on sustainable habits rather than extreme restriction.

Very Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet (VLCKD) produces superior weight loss compared to low-carbohydrate diets and is recommended for severe obesity and specific metabolic conditions.

VLCKD is a very strict, low-calorie (<800 kcal) ketogenic diet that produces superior weight loss compared to standard low-carb diets. It is recommended for severe obesity and specific metabolic conditions under medical supervision. It is not suitable for everyone and has strict contraindications.

In well-trained males, full-body resistance training routines produce significantly greater fat mass loss than split-body routines when weekly training volume is matched.

If you are an experienced male lifter trying to lose fat, switch to a full-body routine (training all major muscle groups 5 days a week) instead of splitting body parts across the week. Keep your total weekly sets the same (around 75 sets). This approach will likely help you lose more fat because you will feel less sore and move more during the rest of your day, burning more calories overall.