Combining these two popular health strategies gets results, study suggests

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Doing high-intensity exercise while you’re on a time-restricted diet could just be the ticket to getting healthier, new international research has found.

A study, by Tunisian, French and German researchers, followed 64 women over 12 weeks, who were split into three groups.

In one group, the participants followed a time-restricted diet, eating only between 8am to 4pm.

Another group did high-intensity exercise, while a third group did both.

After 12 weeks, all three groups had significant weight loss and positive changes in their blood fat and sugar levels, the research, published today in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, found.

Participants in both of the groups that did high-intensity exercise saw an improvement in blood pressure and fat-free body mass, which did change for the time restricted diet only group.

Meanwhile, women in the diet and exercise group generally experienced more profound changes in body composition and cardiometabolic parameters than either diet or exercise alone.

While the study had a relatively small number of participants, it showed the potential of combining high-intensity exercise with a time-restricted diet, its authors said.

“Combining time-restricted eating with High Intensity Functional Training is a promising strategy to improve body composition and cardiometabolic health.”