Wonderful, wonderful wonderful. Matches not only the research I've seen but my own experience. SO important to tell people - hey, this may not work for you, but it worked for me and can work for many.
Ok, my story:
2003: Super high blood pressure, chose 1500 calories a day as a goal (with the healthiest food AND most delicious AND easy to prepare AND inexpensive). Lost 30 pounds (got to normal BMI) within 3 months and kept it off since. (6 days a week, 1 hour of exercise too - 3 days resistance training; 3 days aerobics including HIIT)
Sounds like a plug for calorie reduction? Well, it DOES work for many who persist, but no. I knew if I lost obout 15 pounds more (from a BMI of 24.5 to 22) it would help my blood pressure more.
But months more at 1500 calories? Nothing, no weight loss. I felt great, but my blood pressure was still too high (though much lower than at 30 pounds heavier!!)
What else did NOT work:
Rigorous Keto: 20 carbs a day or less. no calorie counting. No sugar, no starchy vegetables, no grains and legumes, 1/2 cup berries as the only fruit. Lost 1 pound in 2 months and gained it back after resuming normal eating.
1200 calories a day? nope. 800 calories? (Michael Moseley) Well, yeah, lost 13 pounds in 2 weeks and you know, maybe you can do 2 months of that, I couldn't.
DASH, paleo, etc.
Now, 16/8 didn't work. I loved it, it was easy, but no weight loss. Similarly 5:2 (5 days regular, 2 days 600 calories). Did that 2 months, didn't work.
Here's what worked - I am NOT saying it will work for you but if you tried all of the above and it didn't work, this was the easiest thing of everything I ever tried.
alternating 2 meals a day and 1 meal a day.
STEPS
1. 16/8 had become second nature. only ate between 11 and 7. Kept exercising, all whole foods I loved that were easy to prepare.
2. I had already been skipping breakfast and felt great about it. Next step was eliminate snacks. Instead of grazing for 8 hours, I ate at 11 and 5:30. That was HARD at first but black coffee and green tea (no milk, cream, nut milk, or sweeteners) was the key.
3. I started losing about a pound every 2 weeks and it was quite literally, effortless. So I figured, why not try the next step: every other day, I'd just have coffee/tea through the day, and my main meal at 5:30 allowing for snacks within a 2 hour window.
Voila. Lost 12 pounds in 7 weeks without thinking about it (blood pressure's down, I'm weaning myself off medication - finally!_ and just 3 to go.
Can't promise you a miracle, but at the very least, it was absolutely the easiest most enjoyable food routine EVER.