HIIT and Intermittent Fasting Best for Weight Loss

By limiting the amount of time you spend eating each day, intermittent fasting can help you lose weight. Through its brief but intense bursts of work, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can assist you in shedding fat, lowering blood sugar, and increasing your aerobic capacity. What if a weight-loss regimen included both of these approaches?

A recent study in Cell Metabolism included 131 women with an average body mass index (BMI) of 32 and divided them into four groups. One group had a 10-hour eating window, while another engaged in 35 minutes of HIIT three times each week. Another group acted as the control, while a third group limited their eating to 10 hours each day and engaged in HIIT three times per week. The individuals were initially measured for glucose levels, body fat, and VO2 peak. Seven weeks later, the measurements were repeated.

The group that paired HIIT with time-restricted meals decreased their blood glucose levels in comparison to the control group. In comparison to the HIIT and time-restricted eating groups, this group also dropped twice as much body weight and fat mass. The HIIT groups also saw improvements in their cardiovascular health.

Combining HIIT with time-restricted eating works best

The time-restricted eaters consumed less food during the day, according to the researchers. They reduced their daily caloric intake by 200 calories on average by delaying their first meal by two hours. No groups altered their eating habits, including the kinds of macronutrients they consumed.

According to Trine Moholdt, senior author of the study and director of the Exercise, Cardiometabolic Health, and Reproduction Research Group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the findings demonstrate that combining diet and exercise is the quickest and most straightforward way to improve general health.

"[Time-restricted eating] is a less tedious and time-efficient method to lose weight compared with daily calorie counting, and HIIT is tolerable and safe for previously sedentary individuals and can be completed within 30-40 minutes," Moholdt added.

HIIT can boost your metabolism for hours after your workout and can start working its magic in as little as 10 minutes. Exercise at a moderate intensity produces the same results as HIIT, but it takes more time. Time-restricted eating helps you break bad behaviors like late-night snacking.