Yes

Fasting, the practice of abstaining from food and calorie-containing drinks, has long been lauded to promote weight loss and metabolic health. The most common fasting patterns are time-restricted eating (TRE) – eating within a set window, typically six to 10 hours a day – and intermittent regimes such as the 5:2 diet (two low-calorie days per week). At the more strenuous end are fasts lasting more than 24 hours.

“In excluding food for specific hours in the day, it follows that people who eat fewer calories lose weight,” says Dr Maria Chondronikola, a professor in nutritional physiology at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Metabolic Science. According to Krista Varady, a professor in kinesiology and nutrition at the University of Illinois, TRE “can reduce caloric intake by 200 to 500 kcal per day”.