When You Eat, Not What You Eat, Could Help You Lose Weight

We've heard time and time again that eating fewer calories, changing our diet and exercising more are the lifestyle changes that can help us lose weight, but new research suggests there may be a simpler solution. Restricting when you eat to an 8 to 12 hour timeframe, no matter what your diet is, could help you stay trim and healthy, a new study finds.

In the study, recently published in Cell Metabolism, researchers tested about 400 mice on different feeding schedules; some were given free access to food while others were placed on a time-restricted schedule. The mice ate normal chow or had diets high in fat and/or sugar. Regardless of what they ate, mice placed on time-restricted feeding schedules stayed lean; even mice allowed to binge eat two days of the week, much like typical human behavior, stayed trim.

So what does a time-restricted eating schedule look like? If you start your day eating breakfast at 7:00 in the morning, you'll need to finish the last meal of the day before 3:00 in the afternoon or as late as 7:00 in the evening, depending on the duration of the fasting you choose. That means no late-night dinners or midnight snacking.

Watch the video above to learn more about how restricting when you eat could impact your weight and health. Then, check out the slideshow below to find out which comfort foods can help you lose weight!

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