What the C. Michael White is describing as his ideal method is effectively intermittent fasting.

And I would say the reason most people fail their diets is because they don't do the research to understand why the diet works, or they change too much about their diet at once, so it's tough for them to stick to the sudden change.

I'll personally attest to how well intermittent fasting can work though. Nice to know a professor at Uconn backs me up..

- Kim, PushPedalCrank.com (Intermittent Fasting Blog)