Every year there are new diet plans and trends. Some are dreamed up by celebrity trainers, while others are invented in the lab following new research into human nutrition. The latest diet to be talked about is the TRF diet, which is one of those that come straight from the scientific journals.
What Is TRF?
TRF stands for Time Restrictive Feeding – it sounds unpleasant, but really is just a way of telling you when to eat, and when to fast. The main principal of TRF is that you can eat as much as you like, but only within a small eating window. This is really the same as the 16-8 diet and the 5-2 diet, which we have already discussed.
TRF fans suggest either a 10 hour or 12 hour eating window. This is much longer than the 16-8 diet, that only allows 8 hours of eating. While may sound a little too harsh, it really is not so bad.
A Simple TRF Diet Plan
If you eat your breakfast at 8am, you have until 6pm to eat the rest of your meals. So long as you are home by 6pm, or able to eat when you leave work, then this is pretty easy to follow.
Many diet plans recommend no food in the evenings – Gary Barlow famously said that he eats no solid food after 2pm – so a 6pm deadline should be easy.
The reasoning is very simple – you give your body more time to drop into a “fasted state” – with no new food being eaten, your body must break down some reserves, usually fat, to maintain energy levels.
How Much Weight Can You Lose?
It’s the question everybody asks, but the answer is, it depends. The more you have to lose, the quicker the fat will fall away. However, you still need to be strict with your diet – start eating healthier foods too, and make sure you also exercise. If you are struggling for diet ideas, try eating a high fiber diet full of low GI vegetables.
There are some other health advantages to avoiding all food in the evening. If you suffer from indigestion or acid reflux, having your last meal of the day at 6pm can help improve sleep and reduce the risk of night-time attacks.