This is not medical advice but from what I understand every time you eat you spike your insulin, which you may want to avoid doing often depending on what your goal is for IF. If you respond well to simply keeping to a window then you’re fine. If you’re not seeing results you might want to adjust to eating fewer times or even shortening your window.
You’re doing fine.
For weightless, eat good food during your window. Only 3 meals, no snacks.
While some people find success with 16:8, more find success with 18:6. If your current window doesn’t work/stops working, then check your food choices and then consider shrinking your eating window. You could still do 3 meals, just squished closer.
I think for weight loss concentrate on eating within your eating window with no snacks. Try to not overeat at any of the meals. I can’t lose weight if I have simple carbs like bread pasta etc. In time you will figure out what works for you. I stay mostly with keto style eating. You are off to a great start by incorporating IF. We are here to encourage and support you. You got this.
Are you fasting to lose weight? If so, you need to make sure that you are eating less calories than your maintenance, no matter how many meals you are eating.
That’s why a lot of people skip a meal, it automatically cuts their daily calorie intake (in most cases).
You said you eat as late as 7pm. What time do you go to bed? How many calories are you eating then?
I didn’t see results until I left enough time to digest my last meal of the day and use the spike of energy before going to bed. That naturally extended my fast to 16 hours.
I suspect the website did a bad job of delineating between whatever meal you use to break your fast, and “breakfast” meaning the common western diet often consumed shortly after waking up. French toast, bagel, cereal, eggs/bacon, etc.
IF helps you have an extended ketosis window which helps your body repair itself in all sorts of ways. But if your goal is to lose weight, then you need to eat less during your feeding window. So skip breakfast and snacks and eat low-carb and low-sugar meals. More meat, fruit and vegetables and less bread, rice, potato and sugar. You could also try doing one meal a day - say dinner and just eat what you normally eat at dinner. If you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks in your OMAD you won’t lose any weight.