With this variant of intermittent fasting, strength athletes maximize their fat loss

Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

08.05.2025

If strength athletes engage in part-time fasting, they can lose body fat without compromising their muscle growth. If they eat only at the beginning of the day, their fat loss is optimal, according to a small Japanese trial. And even then, their ability to build muscle remains intact.

With this variant of intermittent fasting, strength athletes maximize their fat loss

Study

Zifu Yu and Takeshi Ueda, two researchers from Hiroshima University, divided 24 healthy young women into three groups. All women worked out a basic push-up workout 3 times a week for 8 weeks. This workout consisted of 4 sets of 10 repetitions.

All women were allowed to eat as much as they wanted during these 8 weeks, but the two experimental groups did part-time fasting.

One experimental group ate exclusively between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. [early Time-Restricted Eating or eTRE], the other experimental group ate exclusively between 12 noon to 6 p.m. [delayed Time-Restricted Eating or dTRE].

Results
The women in the three groups made equal progress in their push-up workouts. The researchers detected no differences between the three groups in the increase in the number of reps or the growth of their triceps.

There were differences in terms of body weight loss, however. The women who did part-time fasting lost more body weight than the women in the control group.

The women who ate at the beginning of the day lost the most pounds [eTRE]. This group lost an average of 2.6 pounds, while the women in the group who ate at noon [dTRE] lost an average of 1.4 pounds. The women in the control group lost an average of 0.4 kilograms.

Click on the figure below for a larger version.

Conclusion
"These findings suggest that optimizing meal timing in alignment with circadian rhythms may enhance weight control without hindering muscle adaptations, providing a practical approach for individuals seeking to lose weight while preserving or increasing their muscular fitness", summarize the researchers.

Source:
Nutrients. 2025 Mar 14;17(6):1022.

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