Have You Ever Tried an "Eating Window" For Weight Loss/Maintenance?

If you're like me you are always looking for better tools to help with weight loss/maintenance. Everyone's different, but once I started eating only 3 meals a day (and the closer together the better), my maintenance/weight loss goals become so much more doable. I can't remember where I read or heard this term but it's called an "eating window". I now aim for an 8 to 10 hour window (8:30 to 4:30) but when life happens like my yoga class that goes until 6 pm my window becomes 12 hours.

The clencher for me to go all out and to give this a try was when I read The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss by Jason Fung, MD. He talked about how insulin releases every single time you eat and how detrimental it can be to weight loss/maintenance and to your health. It made me a believer and for a long time I visualized the counter-productive insulin that I would be releasing if I snacked between meals and it almost entirely stopped all of my snacking. The thing is when you limit your eating to every 3 to 4 hours in a reduced time window you do not have much time to develop true hunger or even to snack.

This was gradual. I started a long time ago (10 years?) with a goal of no eating after 8 pm, years later 7 pm. From there after reading Fung, it was not such a big step to go from 7 pm to 4:30 or 5 pm. It wasn't easy at first to get DH on board but he came around and he believes in the benefit of giving the body at least a 12 hour rest from digesting food.

There are many, so many things that I now do for maintenance/weight loss and I have my share of slip ups. I am 6 years in maintenance but my eating window has become one of my most invaluable and favorite tools.