Women may be able to lose more weight by dieting just two days per week than by dieting every day. Scientists in England assigned some women a 1,500-calorie Mediterranean-style diet daily: others were assigned a strict diet twice weekly—either 650 calories, or 50 grams of carbohydrates with unlimited protein, per day —and no more than 2,000 calories on other days. In four months, the women on intermittent diets lost nine pounds of body fat versus five for those on the standard diet—and fewer of them dropped out of the study, suggesting that this approach is easier to stick with in the long term. Also, women weren't prone to overeating on nonrestricted days, says Michelle Harvie, a researcher at University Hospital South Manchester. Her team plans to keep studying the regimen and its health benefits.