I do intermittent fasting (IF) - basically extending the sleep-fast, so not eating breakfast until later in the day. This means you're burning fat longer. It totally helped me in my weight loss efforts.

To counteract the metabolism-lowering effect, I do weight loss in 10 lb stints. It also helps psychologically, as any kind of caloric deficit is difficult and I can't keep it up for super long. So in-between the weight-loss stints, I eat to maintain my weight, and I eat more carbs - not more calories, but percentage-wise, I eat a higher percentage of carbs than I do when I'm in the weight-loss phase. Carbs let your body know you aren't going to starve.

I'm a woman, but not all women have success with IF. Men seem to do fine usually. It depends, you should try it out. It might have to do with how much testosterone you have. I think I have more than the average woman, as I gain muscle easily.

Have you read the Lean Gains site? It was helpful for me in learning about IF.

It can work. It can also backfire. There's only one way to find out.

n=1, you gonna try it out and see if it works for you. Just make sure you do it when you are NOT stressed (Very important), you reap the max benefits after 16 hours from what i read, peaks at about 24, and benefits start to dwindle right after about 30 hours. I think I read this in eat stop eat. This book also has a good argument as to why your metabolism slows down. but it is not the reason you think, it has to do with the thermogenic effect of food, so since you are not eating, you are nothing getting this momentary "increase" of metabolism from the thermogenic effect from the food you consumed, so in this case it "seems" like it slows down, but your basal metabolic rate is actually unchanged.

So I think its something like this your BMR lets say 2000 kcal a day, but you eat 2000 cal and a ton of it was protein, so protein has a thermogenic effect and so then your metabolism that day go up lets say 2050 kcal that day, the extra 50 kcal burned is coming from the thermogenic effect from the food. and since 2000 < 2050, thus it's a decrease but not really? (I think I did an awful job explaining that one lol)

So anyway no more than 30 hours and no more than once a week

It depends on the person. When you fast your metabolism slows and you don’t want that to happen. Some people have better success doing intermittent fasting to jump start weight loss or to kick it back in during a plateau. You may want to give it a try. I suggest doing a max 24hr fast but eat something every day. Example, start a fast after eating lunch, say 1pm, and then the next day at 1pm break the fast & eat. That works well for me but I only do it occasionally when I need to “restart my engines.” You need to try it to see if it works for you. To be clear, this should be about losing fat, not weight. And, know that when you fast, your muscles are getting burned up way more than fat. To lose fat, you need to eat high nutrient food including good fats (olive oil, coconut oil, real butter) drink water (cold water is best) plus exercise wisely. I like doing burst or intermittent training - that does a great job burning up my fat. Good luck to you!

Start here

In short yes. Although don't take my word for it, experience it yourself. The key is finding the sweet spot(how many hours, days etc)

I think it's a personal thing...for some, yes, for others, no. I have done some experimentation on myself (mid-30s, female, slight metabolic derangement) and I have found that modified fasts where I eat mostly fat and a little protein really knocks the lbs. off quickly. I only do this for 1-2 days at a time, once every week or two.

it works for me!

I found that IF works very well and gives consistent results. I usually make sure I dial back on the fruit at the same time + plenty of veg and good quality protein choices. A cup of green tea and plenty of water help you get through the fasting period.