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From the study you linked:
> Participants were randomized such that the consistent meal timing (CMT) group was instructed to eat 3 structured meals per day, and the time-restricted eating (TRE) group was instructed to eat ad libitum from 12:00 pm until 8:00 pm
> A follow-up study showed that when calorie intake and protein intake were matched to prestudy consumption, no change in lean mass was observed.
> Ad libitum feeding during TRE leads to reduced calorie intake and might also reduce protein intake.9 Together, these data highlight the importance of adequate protein consumption while adhering to a TRE diet. Many studies have shown that adequate/excessive protein consumption during weight loss can mitigate losses in lean mass.
It may be the case that these two processes lead to similar outcomes. But for me, it is much easier to stay faithful to an IF lifestyle than a "continuously calorically restricted" lifestyle. I find the binary aspect of the IF system to be very helpful. If the other system is easier for other folks to maintain, that's great, and they should do that.
But the fact that IF doesn't lead to better results than a different system doesn't mean that people who practice IF are clinging to an idiotic practice, as you put it.
In the 8-16 IF study I linked to, the IF/TRE group actually had worse adherence:
> Self-reported adherence to the diets was 1002 of 1088 (92.1%) in the CMT group (did not miss any meals) and 1128 of 1351 (83.50%) in the TRE group
That's the brainletism I was referring to. You could have easily verified your assumption by looking at remaining hunter-gather populations, who serve as a good proxy for you ancestors, and had you done that, you would have discovered that--surprise, surprise--they don't fast:
youtu.be/Ci70YYaVHeQ?t=2807
How in the world is a remaining hunter gatherer population in 2022 a proxy for what happened tens of thousands of years ago. That's an assumption you're expected to justify, first off.
Secondly, how is food abundance being modern a 'brainletism' or whatever you're enjoying repeating as a sort of provocation.
That's an interview with Herman Pontzer, PhD, the lead author of the most import papers published to date studying the energy expenditure of the Hadza of Tanzania, one of the few remaining hunter-gather populations. By all means, keep believing that your ancestors subsisted off of 100% Woolly Mammoth meat in between days of starvation, if it makes you happy.