Lots of discussion on this. Comes down to, what works for you? What will you stick to?I prefer skipping breakfast and lunch because I can keep busy. But in the evening at home I’m sitting next to that evil refrigerator! Tempting evil refrigerator!
For me, a 7:30 am to 1:30 pm window works really well. No calories or food just kinda sitting in me overnight, undigested. Almost half my fasting window spent asleep, and I start every day with breakfast, so I have energy. And lunch gives me energy to finish out my afternoon. After maybe 5 or 6 pm I start getting tired, but that’s normal since I have a fairly busy and stressful life. Plus, most people are tired after work or school from what I’ve seen, so I think that judging by the patterns so far, a fairly early eating window is good.
It also depends on how wide your window is. If you are talking about an early morning workout (which I assume starts somewhere between 5:30 and 8:30 am) and end at 4 pm, I presume that’s 8-10.5 hours, which is kind of a lot (I think most people do 4-8), but if you are doing a workout early, it’s good to eat a little more and eat right after anyway. Frankly if you are eating at around 8:00 am (I’m assuming that would be post workout besides maybe weekends, and you have a job you have to get to), I’d stop eating by 3. But it all depends on what works for you, plus I don’t really know your schedule besides that you end at 4 pm.
The earlier window certainly worked much better for me. I’m around 12:00-4:00.
The best piece of advice I’ve seen (and that I pass onward all the time) is to start by eating three solid meals a day and eliminating all snacking. Once that is comfortable, start sliding your mealtimes closer together until one naturally drops off. That’s your window.