Weight Loss Helper: Regular Eating Schedules

According to new research your snaking is making you fat… I thought this was common knowledge, but whatever.

Researchers gave two groups of mice a fatty diet, with a key difference: Members of one group were allowed to eat when they felt like it, while mice in the other group were only allowed to eat eight hours a day. Both groups consumed the same number of calories—but those in the time-constrained group managed to avoid obesity, MyHealthNewsDaily reports.

That suggests that a set meal schedule could help humans prevent extra pounds. All our organs operate on a “clock,” the study’s lead author says, meaning they work better at certain times of day. “For the last 50 years, we have been told to reduce our calories from fat and to eat smaller meals and snacks throughout the day,” a researcher says in a Salk Institute press release. “Our findings, however, suggest that regular eating times and fasting for a significant number of hours a day might be beneficial to our health,” says the lead author.