Objective To evaluate the effect of intermittent fasting on obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods Computer searches of Chinese and English databases were conducted from database inception to December 2021, to retrieve RCT studies on the effect of intermittent fasting on T2DM patients. RevMan 5.3 software was used for data processing. Results A total of 8 articles were included, covering 549 obese T2DM patients (all with BMI≥28). Meta-analysis showed that compared with the control group, intermittent fasting group could reduce hemoglobin A1c levels，body weight, and abdominal circumference，and elevate high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels(all P＜0.05)； however, there were no statistical difference in the reduction of total cholesterol, triglycerides and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels between the 2 groups (all P>0.05). Also, there were no statistical difference in the incidence rates of adverse events between the 2 groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Intermittent fasting, being safe and feasible, can help obese T2DM patients effectively manage blood glucose, reduce body weight and abdominal circumference, and raise high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. More high-quality studies are expected to confirm the effect of intermittent fasting on other lipid indicators.