There are countless slimming diets and other methods designed to lose weight, but some seem to stand out over time, and even stand out from the crowd. This is the case with intermittent fasting, which has become the star in the field, rising to the rank of the most popular programs on social networks, despite criticism. The diet, which consists of alternating periods of food intake and periods of fasting, has no less than 134,000 publications on TikTok and Instagram, and the hashtag #intermittentfasting has already generated more than two billion views on the Chinese social network.
Health authorities continue to hammer it home: nothing beats a healthy and balanced diet, combined with regular physical activity, to stay in good health and try to reverse the curve of overweight and obesity. But that doesn’t stop men and women from looking for other solutions to lose weight, whether it’s transforming your figure or losing a few pounds in preparation for the summer season or a specific event. And in this little game, it is intermittent fasting which seems to be widely favored by the French-speaking public, as revealed by a new study carried out by the medical teleconsultation platform ZAVA. The latter looked at the most popular methods for losing weight, by analyzing raw data from TikTok and Instagram.
Fasting and chrononutrition in balance
Despite criticism of its side effects, including feelings of hunger and mood changes, as well as its potential impact on female hormones, intermittent fasting seems to be unanimously accepted by the public. According to the study carried out by ZAVA, it even rises to the top of the most popular methods on social networks for losing weight. As of February 6, the program had generated no less than 134,767 publications on Instagram and TikTok, and more than two billion views for the dedicated hashtag on the Asian platform. A global success – or almost – which is reminiscent of a recent study reporting its overwhelming popularity in the United States.
For those who have not yet become familiar with intermittent fasting, this diet consists of alternating periods of food intake and fasting, spread over defined time slots. However, there are subcategories of fasting, such as the 5:2 method for example, which allow you to vary, according to your needs, the number of hours during which food intake is limited or non-existent. Note that if the method is still debated, a study carried out by American researchers suggested the effectiveness of this diet for losing weight, however in association with physical exercise. In all cases, it is preferable to speak with a health professional before starting such a program, regardless of its popularity on social networks.
NO to diets, YES to WW!
The lagging Mediterranean diet
Chrononutrition, or the starter diet which is based on the same principle, namely a diet based on the biological clock, with specific foods to be consumed at specific times, constitutes the second most popular method on social networks. The study reports more than 113,000 publications per hashtag on TikTok and Instagram, and several tens of millions of views if we examine these terms in French and English on the Chinese social network. Among the other most popular methods are the ketogenic diet (89,564 publications), intuitive eating (81,230 publications), calorie deficit (45,684 publications), the low glycemic index diet (21,690 publications), or the Dukan diet ( 20,873 publications).
Note that the Mediterranean diet, whose health benefits are frequently highlighted by science, only arrives at the end of this ranking, with ‘only’ 5,249 cumulative publications on the two social networks. From its effects on passive smoking to its benefits on the brain and heart, researchers are full of praise for this diet known all over the world. But it could be that for socionauts, weight loss does not necessarily rhyme with health, and that they favor above all the pounds lost, quickly if possible, to the detriment of the nutritional recommendations formulated to act over a very long time. term.
*ZAVA conducted a study to reveal the weight loss methods most commonly sought by French-speaking social users. These terms were then used to explore relevant hashtags via the TikTok and Instagram search bar. The popularity of these hashtags was assessed based on the number of associated posts. Hashtags related to the same topic were grouped together to get a total number of posts for each.
