The Fasting and Shifted Timing (FAST) of Eating Study (FAST)

Fasting and time-restricted feeding (TRF) have become increasingly popular in nutrition research due to the potential health benefits they may provide. Several animal studies, and more recently some human studies, have indicated regular meal-timing (i.e. eating mostly in the day) or fasting have been beneficial for controlling weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, and insulin sensitivity.

These types of eating patterns may offer the same "anti-aging" health benefits as traditional caloric restriction (i.e. consistent and routine adherence to a very low-calorie diet).While caloric restriction is considered the gold standard for weight management, weight regain often limits the long-term effectiveness of this approach. People often experience increases in hunger, which make it difficult to sustain this type of behavior.Therefore, researchers are turning to these dietary approaches as alternatives to low-calorie diets in an effort to obtain the same benefits, but with less burden on participants.

However, it is not clear if the adherence to these types of diet protocols are any better than a low-calorie diet. Would people be more satisfied with meal-timing or fasting over a traditional very low-calorie diet? That is the main research question of this study.