There are hundreds of links on HN about fasting. You cannot lose fat without first depleting glycogen stores. You can exercise these stores away and then in the absence of further caloric input your body turns to fat stores. Or if you fast, the absence of caloric input means your body will naturally burn its glycogen stores (takes longer if you aren’t exercising, for obvious reasons).

I think most people would disagree with your definition of "quite simple".

Going from three meals a day to a 16:8 eating pattern (16 hrs fasting, 8 hrs eating window) isn't too bad. It's basically skipping breakfast. Shortening the eating window until you're eating one meal a day is tougher. Then extending the fasting period > 24 hrs is tougher still. You can't just jump into this stuff while you're carb-addicted and your body is screaming for glucose. Getting used to a keto-style diet, even if your carb intake is just low but not keto-low, helps a lot.

I’m sorry, I’m too lazy to find the studies. But there are lots. I’m not saying anything fringe or controversial here.

Check out these two things that come to mind, both cite an extensive list of studies:

- https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM

- https://youtu.be/tIuj-oMN-Fk