Time Restricted Eating to Mitigate Obesity in Veterans With Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes paralysis and muscle atrophy and leads to weight gain and obesity. Obesity directly contributes to functional impairment and cardiometabolic dysfunction. There is a critical need to reduce the growing prevalence of obesity and cardiometabolic disease after SCI. My overall objective in this project is to gather crucial feasibility data on time restricted eating (TRE), a novel form of intermittent fasting. TRE is a straightforward method to induce weight loss without the need for calorie counting. TRE allows individuals to eat all their daily calories in a time restricted window and fast outside that window. A growing body of literature supports the safety and efficacy of TRE. Given the feasibility, high adherence, and substantial benefits of TRE in able-bodied individuals, it is important to test TRE to determine its feasibility in Veterans with SCI. The investigators will first test this intervention in Veterans with paraplegia, who are at greatest risk of muscle-joint upper body injury given the need to support body weight during activity. The investigators will determine adherence to a TRE window for 6-weeks duration in a convenience sample of Veterans with paraplegia and obesity. Based on the expected outcomes of good adherence, this study will lay the groundwork for future work by informing the design of a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of TRE to facilitate weight loss and improve function.