What if it were possible to lose weight simply by changing the time you ate, rather than what you ate? Researchers suggest that this new diet trend could kick start your metabolic engine and encourage your body to shed the fat faster!

Research suggests that it is more effective to restrict when you eat, not what you eat.

The new trend is known as a Time-Restricted diet, here's how it works:

Adhering to the rules, dieters are allowed to eat whatever they want, but they must restrict their meals to an 11 or 12-hour period.

So, if you eat your breakfast at 8 a.m., you have until 7 or 8 p.m. to eat all of your meals in the day. You are allowed to drink water, coffee or tea between bedtime and 8 a.m., but you midnight snacking is forbidden.

In an interview with Mentalfloss, nutritionist Jaclyn Jacobsen says the theory is that the longer you fast, the more fat you are burning for energy in the absence of glucose.

Like most things in life, this kind of fasting diet is not for everyone. While it may work well for many people, if you have a particular medical condition - such as diabetes - that requires you to maintain a certain level of glucose, please talk to your doctor before considering this diet.

If you get the all-clear, read the following before you decide to give it a try.

Benefits:

Jacobsen says that time-restriction actually makes us less hungry because it normalizes the body's levels of ghrelin 'the hunger hormone.'  "Fasting helps the regulation of this hormone so we feel hungry only when we actually need to eat," Jacobsen says.

Drawbacks:

It won't be easy. While some people adapt well to this kind of fasting, others can take up to a month to completely adjust. You might not get the big slim-down results you want.

"Some individuals, especially women, are very sensitive to any type of hormonal changes in the body, so fasting may offer no additional benefit when compared to eating a whole-foods diet," Jacobsen says.

Suggestions:

Combine the time-restricted eating with a diet consisting of about 80 percent whole foods (veggies, whole grains, lean protein) and 20 percent treats.

Remember, one size does not fit all when it comes to dieting. What works for other bodies, might not work for yours. Overall, healthy eating does benefit everyone's health, no matter what shape or size they may be!

[h/t Mental Floss]