Just to add to Coach Thibaudeau’s advice:
I’d recommend you start a protein count. Just count how many grams of protein you’re getting daily and do that for a few days to get an estimate. Don’t worry about counting anything else for now. What’s that number?
When the goal is fat loss, a good rule of thumb is about a gram per pound of body weight. Or, estimate your ideal weight and eat that many grams of protein per day. (Even with that strategy, it’s not going to hurt if you get “too much” protein; it’ll just fill you up and have a thermic effect.) This will prevent muscle loss and metabolism disruption.
One of the problems with IF and faux-IF is that with fewer meals, people might consume less protein. The scale says they’re losing “weight” but that’s no fun if a lot of that weight is muscle. And, of course, muscle loss is probably the top cause of yo-yo dieting. Even when you’re lifting, you can still lose muscle when dieting, but keeping protein high prevent this (unless we’re talking trying to get down to single-digits, then it gets tricky).
Also, when you look at what overweight people have in common, one of the commonalities is (wait for it) skipping breakfast. With most people, this just causes overcompensation of calories in the evening, plus cortisol is high in the morning and breakfast tamps it down. Even many IF fanatics are starting to skip dinner instead of breakfast these days.
Here are a few articles with more info and a few strategies:
A Protein First Diet for Overweight Cops… and You
The Protein Leverage Hypothesis
Boost Metabolic Velocity: The Protein-First Diet Strategy
And if you really like the fasting idea:
Keep us posted!