I Stopped Eating After 3 PM for a Month—And It Changed My Life

Many of us find ourselves raiding the fridge at night, only to wake up feeling sluggish and regretful. This familiar cycle of evening snacking, poor sleep, and general lack of energy is a common problem and I have been on the lookout for a solution for a long time.

Recently, I came across a post on social media raving about the benefits of stopping eating after 3 p.m. for a month.

Time-restricted eating has several benefits, including improved metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and fat loss. It can also promote hormonal changes like a boost in growth hormone and testosterone production and a reduction in cortisol levels, improving your overall health and well-being. (1)

Scientific evidence also shows that time-restricted eating can improve your gut health by allowing your digestive system more time to recover and boosting your gut microbiome. (2)

As a personal trainer with almost two decades of hands-on experience, I have seen many fads come and go, and I’m always critical of new trends that promise quick results. Nonetheless, you can never be sure if something works until you try it for yourself.

In this article, I’ll take you over the week-by-week breakdown of this four-week challenge and how it impacted my weight loss, energy levels, sleep, and overall mood. I will also share tips on how you can adapt this challenge to your unique lifestyle if you’re planning to do something similar.

Without further ado, let’s head right into my experience with this four-week challenge.

My 4-Week Journey: The First Week

After a very long time, I felt nervous before starting a new challenge. I had never had my day’s final meal before 8 p.m., so moving it up to 3 p.m. felt scary. What would I do if my stomach started growling around the usual dinner time?

Plus, there are so many days when I also have a snack around 10 p.m. A part of me felt that I had put myself into big trouble.

All of this made me realize that I needed proper preparation, or I would fall flat on my face.

This is how I laid the groundwork for this four-week challenge:

Meal Adjustments

Meal distribution was the biggest question I had to answer. Do I eat a big breakfast or save the bulk of the calories for my 3 p.m. meal? How would that affect my energy levels, mood, and workout performance?

I finally decided to front-load my calories, meaning I ate larger, more protein-rich breakfasts and lunches to fuel my day and minimize the late-afternoon hunger pangs.

Lean protein sources like chicken breast, fish, and Greek yogurt and complex carbohydrate foods, such as brown rice and quinoa, were a staple in all meals. I also loaded up on fibrous vegetables to ensure optimal digestion and help flush out the toxins from the body.

Once all of that was set, I rescheduled my workouts from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. This gave my body enough time to digest the breakfast and stock up its glycogen stores to power my intense training sessions.

Social Heads-Up

Halting eating after 3 p.m. means no more late-night dinners. I knew I had to inform all my friends and family about this 30-day challenge, so they are not upset when I decline their dinner or drink invitations.

That said, I still got several invites during this four-week period, which led to awkward situations and unsolicited advice about the right eating habits. As someone who has been in this game for over 17 years, I can attest there is no running away from getting fitness advice from sedentary folks.

The First Few Days

Like is the case with most restrictive diets, the first few days of halting eating at 3 p.m. were the toughest. Dealing with the growling stomach in the first week of this challenge was incredibly uncomfortable, especially on days when I was awake till midnight.

Some days were borderline unbearable, and I considered quitting this diet. Entering a catabolic state and losing muscle were the biggest excuses that came to mind. Nonetheless, I persisted.

Around the third day of this challenge, my cravings for sugary treats skyrocketed and I couldn’t stop thinking about Oreos for some reason. It was also when I started experiencing throbbing headaches, which signaled changes in my blood sugar levels.

I also felt more irritable during the first week, especially during the evening. My wife tells me I was really snappy when she enjoyed her dinner around me.

I started drinking a glass of water every half an hour to manage hunger and avoid dehydration. Adding lemon and cucumber gives the water a delicious flavor without adding calories, and I would highly recommend this to people adopting a similar challenge.

Changes

Although seven days is a relatively short time to achieve noticeable physical progress, I did observe subtle changes in my sleep quality. Falling asleep for the first four to five days of this challenge was especially challenging, and the constant hunger kept me awake. However, I noticed I was sleeping more soundly as my body started adapting to this challenge.

Since the body didn’t have to work at full capacity to digest a big meal, it allowed me to fall asleep faster and kept my body temperature low, which is key to better sleep.

Once my sleep improved, so did my energy levels. Once my body adjusted to the new eating routine, my energy levels remained relatively stable throughout the day, and I never felt I was running on fumes.

My 4-Week Journey: Weeks 2-4

I felt much more relaxed and ready after I was over the hump. Here is how the remaining three phases panned out:

Week 2: Adapting and Adjusting

Once I was over the initial shock of this new eating schedule, I felt much more in control and focused on improving my physique by capitalizing on ketosis and autophagy.

How do you do that, you ask? By practicing self-control when hunger strikes at around 8 p.m. (It is easier said than done.

While I didn’t feel as hungry as in the first week, the cravings had not disappeared.

Drinking a big glass of water, especially cold, so you have to sip on it, can be incredibly effective in calming down the hunger pangs.

I started eating more at lunch to avoid feeling hungry later in the day. Incorporating more fiber-rich foods like vegetables and whole grains helped me feel satiated during the evenings and nights.

Week 3: Finding a Rhythm

Around the three-week mark, the 3 p.m. cut-off felt like a natural part of my routine.

It took me three weeks to start seeing gains.

I noticed an improvement in my overall body composition; I was shedding the stubborn body fat while retaining lean muscle tissue. My clothes fit a bit loose around the waist and snug around the arms and shoulders, which is always a welcome change.

Since I had cut 500 calories from my daily diet during this challenge, I lost around 2 pounds each week. By the end of the third week, I was down by a respectable 6 pounds.

While I had felt sluggish during the first two weeks, my energy levels stabilized during the third week, and the afternoon energy slumps became less frequent.

Week 4: The Final Stretch

The final week of a challenge is the most exciting in my opinion. Now, it wasn’t just about surviving the 3 p.m. cutoff but about making the most of it.

I returned to the drawing board and completely redesigned my meals to power my days and workouts and ensure I was hitting my daily macro goals.

By the end of the four weeks, stopping eating at 3 p.m. felt like second nature. Plus, I began to understand my body’s hunger cues much better.

It was no longer about feeling deprived or emotional eating, but about fueling my body for the best results.

My Eating Routine During This 4-Week Challenge

When I tell people about my 3 p.m. eating challenge, they usually ask me about my daily eating routine. So, this is what my meal schedule looked like in Week Four:

• Breakfast (7 a.m.): Protein smoothie with spinach, banana, and almond milk.
• Brunch (11 a.m.): Quinoa bowl with chickpeas, roasted sweet potatoes, and tahini dressing.
• Snack (before 1 p.m.): A small handful of mixed nuts and seeds.
• Dinner (before 3 p.m.): Chicken breast with steamed broccoli and a small baked potato.

As you would have noticed, all my meals comprise a lean protein source, complex carbs, and healthy fats. This ensured that I was meeting my daily calorie and macronutrient goals.

Arriving on the most optimum diet for yourself requires a lot of trial and error. Closely listen to your body’s signals and adjust your meals so you don’t compromise your fitness goals.

Tips for Success During This 4-Week Challenge

By the end of this four-week challenge, I had lost around 8 pounds. The best part about this weight loss was that it was healthy and consistent. My waist circumference decreased by about an inch and my muscle definition improved considerably.

Plus, my sleep quality and quantity improved significantly, which could be attributed to the improved digestion and more stable blood sugar levels throughout the night.

Remember, each individual is unique and your results can be very different from mine. However, there are certain things that you can do to maximize your improvement.

Your success in this 3 p.m. eating challenge depends on your planning. If you think about it, this challenge is not very different from 16:8 intermittent fasting. However, most people have their final meal of the day at around 8 p.m. during 16:8 IF, meaning they have their first meal at around noon.

While this might sound like the same thing theoretically, it is very different when you experience it. Delaying your breakfast and eating your final meal before 3 p.m. are two very different things.

Nonetheless, your body will adjust to it with time.

You don’t have to start by cutting off your meals at 3 p.m. Feel free to adapt this challenge according to your lifestyle. For instance, if you currently eat your day’s final meal at 8 p.m., consider moving it up to 5 p.m.

Then, gradually transition to the new eating schedule and shift the final meal time to 3 p.m.

Going Forward

To be honest, I won’t be following this challenge any longer.

There are many benefits of eating your final meal before 7 p.m. or before sunset (depending on your location), but stopping eating after 3 p.m. is a little too extreme in my opinion, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone as a long-term solution.

Conclusion

Stopping eating food after 3 p.m. helped improve my mental clarity, metabolism, weight loss, sleep quality, and muscle definition. In my opinion, coupling this with a 500 to 1,000-calorie deficit can help anyone lose weight and achieve their fitness goals.

Getting your meals and meal timing right, especially on a brutal diet program like this 3 p.m. challenge, requires a ton of conscious effort. Experiment with front or back-loading your calories to determine what works best for you. Just make sure that you finish your day’s final meal before the clock hits 3 p.m.

If you have any questions about this challenge or need help adopting it, post them in the comments below, and I’ll be happy to help!

References:

1. Sutton EF, Beyl R, Early KS, Cefalu WT, Ravussin E, Peterson CM. Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes. Cell Metab. 2018 Jun 5;27(6):1212-1221.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.010. Epub 2018 May 10. PMID: 29754952; PMCID: PMC5990470.
2. Zeb F, Osaili T, Obaid RS, Naja F, Radwan H, Cheikh Ismail L, Hasan H, Hashim M, Alam I, Sehar B, Faris ME. Gut Microbiota and Time-Restricted Feeding/Eating: A Targeted Biomarker and Approach in Precision Nutrition. Nutrients. 2023 Jan 4;15(2):259. doi: 10.3390/nu15020259. PMID: 36678130; PMCID: PMC9863108.

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