How it works in practice: Monday you eat as you usually would, regular breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tuesday you eat breakfast, then at lunch aim for roughly 25 percent of the calories you’d normally take in. For example, if you’d usually eat a soup and turkey sandwich, go for a cup of soup instead of a bowl, and eat the turkey and tomatoes, but skip the bread and spread. Go to bed without dinner that day. Wednesday you eat what you want, Thursday you fast again, etc.

You might expect that dieters would pig out on non-fast days, but the compensation effect is relatively modest, perhaps because dieters stomachs shrink on fast days.

Alternate day fasting is somewhat outside-the-box — and would not be recommended for diabetics or those with eating disorders. But for those who have a hard time sticking with routine diets, or find their metabolism hitting a plateau after extended, consistent calorie restriction, ADF might merit a try.

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It worked for me: After meandering at 130 pounds despite increased exercise and a steadily reduced calorie diet, I went on a 10-day alternate day fast, at the end of which the pounds peeled off and I landed at 127. I was still a couple of pounds shy of my goal, but with renewed motivation that a healthy, effective secret weapon in my weight loss arsenal whenever conventional methods need a boost. How to cope with hunger pangs? First, embrace that hunger: It’s departure pangs of fat leaving your body. (Check out a few hunger moment tricks of the trade in the infographic above.)

This article was originally created by the Dole Nutrition Institute, with additions and updates by LifeZette.