How often do you trick your body or metabolism?

Being a former fit person, I tried to lose weight by cutting back to a set daily amount and found myself needing to cut back even more as my body adjusted. My energy levels crashed and I know I was cutting to the point of losing muscle. By accident I found calorie loads pushed my energy levels up and ended up losing weight by eating more, until that stopped. I eventually found a cycle that worked and later discovered alternate day eating. So every other day works for me, much like when I lifted weights years ago and cycled through my workout plans on a 6 week cycle. Having the internet now has helped a great deal and science has moved on since I studied nutrition 20 years ago.