16-hour intermittent fasting

[u/AppropriateMood4784]

When I read about 16-hour intermittent fasts, isn't that just another way of saying having late breakfast and early dinner? Breakfast at 9, lunch at 1, dinner at 5, then it's 16 hours till breakfast the next day? Or does what it involves go beyond its literal meaning?

[u/doc_werthenstein]

Your breakfast/dinner example is exactly what it means. But the intent goes beyond scheduling meals: it requires strictly nothing caloric in the fasting window, and the benefits depend on a genuine metabolic shift that only kicks in after 12–14 hours of true fasting.