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16:8 fasting,
start to finish.

You don't eat for 16 hours, then you eat for 8. Finish dinner at 8pm and have your first meal at noon the next day, and you sleep through half the fast.

It fits an ordinary week: no shopping list, no calorie counting, and one meal skipped rather than a whole day.

Download free on the App Store Find your window

Burn's timer at 16 hours 22 minutes on a 16:8 fast, with the goal met

One day on a standard 16:8

Dinner ends 8pm, first meal noon

8pm-11pmStill digesting

11pm-4amAsleep for this part

4am-10amThe hungry stretch

10am-noonFat release

noon-8pmEating window, two or three meals

Eight of your sixteen fasting hours happen while you are asleep. That is the whole trick of 16:8, and the reason it is the easiest schedule to keep.

You skip one meal

Usually breakfast. Nothing else about your day has to change, which is what makes it repeatable.

You reach fat release

By hour 14 your body has moved past its easy fuel. A 16-hour fast gets you into that window every day.

You can still have a life

An eight-hour window covers lunch and dinner, so most social plans still work without rearranging anything.

What it feels like

The same fast, six times through the day.

These are real screens from one 16:8 fast, in order. This is what you would actually watch happen on your phone.

Burn's timer at 2 hours 14 minutes, Fed State

2h 14m

Fed State. Nothing to feel yet.

Burn's timer at 5 hours 8 minutes, Early Fasting

5h 08m

Early Fasting. You are asleep.

Burn's timer at 8 hours 41 minutes, Glycogen Depletion

8h 41m

Glycogen Depletion, around waking up.

Burn's timer at 12 hours 17 minutes, Glycogen Depletion

12h 17m

Mid-morning. Black coffee helps here.

Burn's timer at 14 hours 36 minutes, Fat Mobilisation

14h 36m

Fat Mobilisation. The hard bit, and the point.

Burn's timer at 16 hours 22 minutes with the goal met

16h 22m

Done. Lunch whenever you are ready.

Want the detail on any of these? Read what happens at every stage.

Pick your window

There is no correct eight hours.

Pick the window you can hold on a Tuesday and a Saturday. That matters more than which hours you choose.

10am - 6pm

The early window

Breakfast lives, dinner goes. Suits early risers and anyone who sleeps badly on a full stomach.

Hardest part: turning down dinner plans.

noon - 8pm

Standard

The standard window

Skip breakfast, keep lunch and dinner. Almost every social occasion still fits.

Hardest part: hours 12 to 14, mid-morning.

2pm - 10pm

The late window

For late finishers and shift workers. Dinner is never a problem on this one.

Hardest part: getting through a whole working morning.

Making it stick

Week one is the only hard week.

Start at 12:12 if 16 feels like a lot

Add an hour every few days. A 16:8 you arrive at gradually is easier than one you jump into.

Black coffee, tea, and water are your tools

The mid-morning stretch is the one that catches people. Drink something warm before you decide you are hungry.

Do not treat noon as a reward

A normal lunch, not a triple one. Eating your way back through the deficit is what stops 16:8 doing anything for someone.

Miss one and carry on

A shorter fast still counts. Five decent days beat two perfect ones and a fortnight off.

Read: how to make fasting easier →

Burn's timer at 12 hours 17 minutes on a 16:8 fast

Burn's home screen with a hunger timer counting down

The research

What the evidence actually shows.

Time-restricted eating is one of the better studied approaches to eating patterns. Here is where the peer-reviewed evidence stands.

Well supported

01A shorter window tends to mean less food overall, without counting anything.
02Modest weight loss over weeks and months, broadly comparable to other approaches that reduce intake.
03Many people find one rule easier to follow than a daily calculation.

Where research continues

01Head to head trials against plain calorie reduction, with total intake matched.
02How much the placement of the window matters, earlier against later in the day.
03Multi-year follow-up, since most published trials run for weeks or months.

Burn tracks elapsed time and names the stage that goes with it, which is what a timer can do well. Ketones and autophagy need a lab, not an app. If you are pregnant, have a history of disordered eating, take medication that has to be timed with food, or manage diabetes, talk to a doctor before starting.

Running it in Burn

Pick 16:8 once and forget the arithmetic.

Burn holds the window, names each stage as you cross it, and tells you when the 16 hours are up. If you want the weekday version, there is a program that keeps 16:8 Monday to Friday and eases off at weekends.

And when hour 14 arrives and you want to quit, the support tools are one tap from the timer.

Compare with 18:6 What happens at 16 hours

Burn's 16:8 Weekdays program with its daily targets

Burn's start fast sheet with schedule and goal

Your first 16:8 starts after dinner.

Set the timer when you finish eating tonight. You will be eight hours in before you open your eyes.