Intermittent fasting plus exercise cuts more fat, Granada trial finds

Eating all meals within an eight-hour window each day, combined with supervised exercise, led to more weight and body-fat loss and better fitness than standard care in adults with obesity, a randomised trial led by the University of Granada in Spain has found. The trial, called TEMPUS, was published in the journal Nature Communications, and its results were reported on October 22, 2026. But the main goal of the trial, a bigger drop in fat stored in the liver, was not met overall.

Time-restricted eating is a form of intermittent fasting. Instead of cutting specific foods, a person limits the hours in which they eat, for example from 10 am to 6 pm, and eats nothing in the remaining 16 hours. It has become popular because it is simple to follow. Many Indian households also keep fasts, or vrat, for religious reasons, according to tradition, on fixed days of the week or the lunar calendar. The Granada trial did not study religious fasting, and its findings should not be read as a verdict on it, but it adds hard evidence to a conversation about meal timing that many readers already have at home.

The key finding is that timing meals and exercising worked best together. Neither change alone matched the combined group on body fat and fitness. This matters because people often try one change in isolation and expect large results. The trial suggests that a narrower eating window helps with weight, while regular, supervised exercise adds gains in fitness that diet timing cannot provide on its own.

The trial also shows the limits of fasting. Its main aim was to see whether these approaches could reduce fat inside the liver more than standard advice. Fat building up in the liver is commonly linked with obesity, which is why the researchers chose it as their main measure. On that measure, none of the three approaches beat standard care across the whole group. The extra liver benefit appeared only in men who combined fasting with exercise, and not in women. The researchers did not report a reason, and a single trial cannot settle it.

The standard care group itself received useful support: guidance on the Mediterranean diet and on being active. That makes the 2.2 kg extra weight loss in the fasting groups a fairer test of what meal timing adds.

For readers, the results are a guide to what research shows, not personal medical advice. People with diabetes, those on regular medicines, pregnant women and anyone with a health condition should speak to a doctor before changing meal times or starting a fasting routine.

Short-term: The trial gives doctors and dietitians clearer evidence that pairing a daily eating window with supervised exercise can produce extra weight and fat loss compared with standard advice, at least in adults with obesity.

Long-term: The mixed liver results, and the difference between men and women, are likely to shape future research. Larger and longer studies will be needed to show whether these approaches protect the liver and whether women need a different plan.

Who is affected: Adults living with obesity, people who already practise or are considering intermittent fasting, doctors and dietitians who advise them, and researchers studying obesity and fatty liver.

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