When did IF or Jack's little plan become the only answers for those who wish to lose weight? I cringe! Long before we knew of either people were losing weight and doing just fine.

If you have any history of binge disorder or other ED I beg of you not to do either. Forced intake or deprivation is NOT a good thing for your game plan.

IMHO, IF is a hugely important component of a programme to manage body fat. It cannot be stressed enough to use the tape measure, not the scales, for regular progress checks. Very important to do some resistance exercise, preferably fasted, for additional hormonal stimulus.

I posted on this elsewhere here, but I see some logic to preparing for a fast by following a VLC/ketogenic regimen for as long as it takes to feel comfortable with it. You are then metabolically prepared for a fast of 24hrs (or more, but 24 is ample)

I presume you are doing the 18hr (6hr eating window) IF, and that's OK, as routine/entry level, but I would suggest you consider going 24hrs 2 or 3 times per week, especially for fat loss goals.

How you approach is up to personal preference, but on no account eat after 6pm, and obviously no calorific drinks either. I have tried starting 24hrs after breakfast, lunch and dinner, and have found the dinner option to be the most comfortable.

Re breakfast/18hr regimen, I would say totally fine - but stick to the 6hr eating window - so make sure you do eat a late lunch/early dinner then "nil by mouth" for the evening.

At merely 10 lbs overweight, it's unlikely you are metabolically deranged enough to need a "leptin reset", and The Big Breakfast has a lot to disrecommend it.

Intermittent fasting would be good for your goals, but with a few modifications. Check out this article (the first of a series) on how intermittent fasting with zero calories is a mistake (if you want to build muscle), and how to fix it.

Generally, wanting to binge later in the day after skipping breakfast means you haven't been eating enough fat.

I like IF.

That being said, personally I feel a big breakfast sets the mood for Paleo compliance, especially in someone who is starting out.

Wake up, eat a massive paleo-friendly breakfast, and that can set the stage for your choices all day.

Anything you can do to get in control of what you put in your face, will give you success. If that means cooking extra for dinner to have a bag lunch the next day, and getting up a little earlier (and going to bed earlier) to make a proper breakfast, so be it.

I found great success in eating a big breakfast, followed by leftovers for lunch, and a very large dinner during my "starting out" phase of eating this way.

I'm pretty unreliable in what times and quantities I eat now, but if I ever start falling off the wagon, I'll happily go "back to basics" and eat the way I outlined above.

I'm a binge eater as well. I noticed that a Big Ass Breakfast with more than 50g of protein and also a lot of fat added, prevented me from bingeing later on in the day. I also lost weight on it. I'm not very active either. I only stopped doing it because my cholesterol was dangerously high. If it wasn't for this I'd still be eating according to the Leptin Rx. Go for it, girl!

I did the leptin reset for about 3 weeks, after which time I felt that my leptin had reset itself. Eating all that protein at breakfast was a bit hard to do the first week, but then I became used to it. I would eat a big ass breakfast, very light lunch and normal dinner, no snacking, and it worked fine for me.

After the leptin reset, I started doing IF (ESE style - a couple of 24 hour fasts per week), either lunch-to-lunch, or dinner-to-dinner, and have no problems fasting. On my non-fasting days, I tend to go back to eating a high protein breakfast, light lunch, regular dinner.

Also, I track calories so I know what I'm eating and I have a fitbit which tells me how many calories I burn a day so I can balance my calories out with calories in to meet my weight loss goals. This combination has worked well for me.

I experimented with the 18/6 IF but found I actually was hungrier fasting that way and wanted to snack. The 24 hour IF works better for me. So, you may want to try a leptin reset for a few weeks and then go back to IF.

I think if you are not 100% paleo yet, and because you've posted before about some issues surrounding binge eating, I would caution about going straight into IF. Just because you are "not that overweight" doesn't mean you leptin must be fine and dandy. I think that if you have a tendency to binge, IF could make that worse if it drives you to feel hungry and snack. I would start off trying to get three meals a day paleo, and I agree that much protein is pretty hard to get down in the middle, so just kind of slowly step it up and see what you feel comfortable eating. Eating those three paleo meals and making sure you are totally satiated will go a long way to supporting both weight loss and any activity you want to do.

I've been strict Paleo, IF and crossfitter for 2+ years and could not lose weight. 4th week on Leptin Reset w/CT and I have lost 16lbs. I am eating the exact same foods I have eaten for 2 years. The quantity and timing has chaned - I weigh all my food and have increased my calorie intake about 300 per day. Like Robb Wolf says. Try it for 30 days and see or yourself

Crazy, every time i go paleo or atkins or ketogenic paleo as everyone calls atkins now, i cant eat enough calories.

i pound a 12 oz pack of bacon in the morning, and because i like the taste of the thick center cut more thats only 7 servings @ 50 cals. 5 g protein each. and i have a chocolate protein shake with that w cream in it @ 160 cals.

so far thats only 510

lunch is usually pretty small, a carbmaster yogurt and some broccoli maybe a 4 oz piece of halibut and then dinner is massive again big thing of steak or chicken and a broccoli bowl or some artichoke. maybe a huge salad. either way each of those meals is not that many calories.

i lose str cause i think im under calorie for my size.

but fat burning works best ketogenic, i honestly think i lose fat faster on atkins w 5 meals a day but im interested in the idea of bringing my leptin down to a lower level so i dont gain the weight back again.

IF works for me. Eating first thing in the morning is just calorie packing to me. But my metabolism burns best in the early evening so I eat then. You will need to do BOTH over a few weeks and decide.

Some women have a harder time at IF than men. Has something to do with the hormones. Someone on this site explained it very well a while back but I can't find the post.

IF made me me gain weight even though my daily calorie count was lower than it had been. I've been trying for a high-protein, low-carb breakfast (not quite as much as the Church of Kruse would recommend, but as a 5'3" knowledge worker I think 50g is excessive). I find I'm still hungry for lunch even with the morning feast, but I'm definitely not gaining weight, and possibly losing, even though I'm taking in more calories than on standard protocol or IF. Good luck!

I'm not sure that losing a little weight and tightening up a bit has to be so complicated. It is all about calories in vs calories out, and adding in exercise will help retain muscle mass. I am all about eating a balanced, paleo diet and fearing any one macronutrient group. Track your calories on fitday.com and try to create a deficit but nothing too drastic from BMR. If you add in intense weight training and cardio, you'll be there faster than you imagined.