Eating only on certain days or within a short daily window might help people with extra weight lose more body fat than eating the same number of calories every day, but we only have a couple of studies to back this up.

If you're an adult with extra weight, cutting calories by either fasting some days or eating less every day leads to similar weight loss and health improvements — neither method works much better than the other if you eat the same total amount of food.

People who try intermittent fasting tend to lose a little more weight than those who just cut calories continuously, according to several studies.

Both skipping meals now and then (intermittent fasting) and eating fewer calories can help overweight adults lose weight and body fat over several months, according to several studies.

Some people think that skipping meals on certain days (like the 4:3 or 5:2 plans) could help the body use insulin better than just eating fewer calories every day, but we only have a couple of small studies to back that up.

If you're trying to lose weight and are overweight or obese, cutting calories just two days a week doesn’t work much better than cutting them every day — the difference is pretty small.