Looking to accelerate your weight loss goals?

New research findings that intermittent fastingEating fewer meals throughout the day and concentrating your calorie intake earlier in the day for at least 12 weeks can help you lose more weight than following standard care and receiving nutritional counseling.

Researchers at Bond University in Australia analyzed 29 clinical trials involving a total of 2,485 participants to see whether it is better to change when you eat rather than what you eat.

Intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating – limiting eating to a certain window of the day – has produced mixed results in previous studies.

Some research has linked this method to weight loss, a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, reduced inflammation and improved immune function.

But a major study this year I discovered that those who limit their diet less than eight hours a day are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than people who eat in a 12 to 16 hour window.

The new study, published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open, reported that sticking to an eating window of eight hours a day or less resulted in the greatest weight loss.

Bond researchers also determined that intermittent fasting participants with a higher body mass index (BMI) lost more weight than those with a lower BMI.

“For years, I dragged my feet against time-restricted eating because I thought it seemed a bit trendy and I didn’t really trust it,” Stephanie Schiff, a registered dietitian nutritionist at Northwell Huntington Hospitaltold the Post. “But as the years go by and I read more and more studies, I recommend it pretty regularly.”

Schiff, who was not involved in the new research, said she sticks to a 12-hour window, but you should tailor your plan to your lifestyle and nutritional needs.

Whether or not you practice intermittent fasting, Schiff recommends do not eat after 6 or 7 p.m.

“What happens is your cortisol levels go up the more you eat,” Schiff explained. “If you stop eating at 7 a.m., you have time to digest your food, your metabolism starts to slow down and a few hours later when you are ready to fall asleep, your melatonin has time to increase and help you to fall asleep.”

Schiff said that if an earlier dinner isn’t possible, you should try to eat a larger meal in the middle of the day and reduce your meals at the end of the day.

“You can always have this small, healthy snack a few hours after eating your big meals,” Schiff advised.

In their analysis, the Bond researchers also found that consuming calories earlier rather than later in the day led to greater weight loss.

Meanwhile, eating fewer meals throughout the day was linked to “small weight reductions.”

The study authors acknowledged “major concerns” about the quality of 22 of the 29 studies and said trials with larger numbers of participants followed for longer periods should be conducted.