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.

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

People with metabolic syndrome who try intermittent fasting lose about 4 pounds on average after a few months, even without counting calories.

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.

Intermittent fasting might help people lose a little more weight than cutting calories the usual way, but the difference is so small it could just be due to chance — overall, both methods work about the same for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.

People with metabolic syndrome who follow intermittent fasting see their body mass index drop by a small but measurable amount, meaning they’re losing fat relative to their height.