For me, the primary reason to try fasting was to lose weight, or to say it it another way, to lose excess body fat. I was sold on trying fasting after I read Dr. Jason Fung's book called, "The Complete Guide to Fasting".
Over the years, I had my successes and failures trying to maintain a proper body weight with different diets. For me, I found that fasting was the easiest and simplest way to lose and now maintain my weight.
>>Only 5 to 7% of people that lose a large amount weight are able to keep it off successfully in the medium and long term. Hope there is more research into this mechanism.
> Are there any studies in this area I can read that discuss the figures you've mentioned?
One example may be found in Dr. Jason Fung's book, "The Complete Guide to Fasting." Chapter 5 describes a case regarding the American TV show, "Biggest Loser", where overweight contestants lost loads of weight during the show with a low calorie diets and exercise. All except one contestant gain the weight back.