Shorten the eating window. Make that window as narrow as you can. Don’t eat until you feel full, just eat until you don’t feel hungry. Check the protein drinks list of ingredients to see if any of them are sugar, dextrose, maltodextrin, and any name you don’t know off the top of your head why it’s in there, then check to see if it has a high glycemic index. Maltodextrin for instance causes higher blood sugar than sugar does. Maltodextrin is in almost every processed food (it’s even in iodized salt!). Once I cut that completely out I broke my plateau and started losing weight again.
The eating window is very important though. Ten hours might not be narrow enough. Try for six. I try for a four hour window, but I’m never hungry anymore so it’s very easy for me, sometimes I just skip eating for an entire day or two.
The reason the eating window needs to be small as possible is to keep insulin levels as low as possible. Another reason for my short window is because I am Type 2 diabetic. I’m highly insulin resistant.
The reason to keep insulin low is because it blocks fat burning, and puts the body into fat storage. Several things cause insulin to go up. Eating is only one of them. Stress can as well. Stress causes the release of cortisol, another hormone. Cortisol causes the release of stored glycogen, which causes the release of more insulin. Which blocks fat burning.
I know, it’s not an easy thing to just “stop being stressed” but it’s possible to get it under control. Just the worrying part can cause the release of cortisol.
Not getting enough sleep can cause the release of cortisol as well. This one is a tough nut to crack. And by the looks of your post just might be the stickler for you. As far as sleep goes, we have a circadian rhythm that doesn’t want to be interrupted. Doing so will cause stress, and release cortisol. Which in turn causes insulin levels to rise.
If you feel you must keep the same sleep schedules, then you just need to get your body trained to the schedule. That might be the hard part. Life has a way of keeping us from doing things the way we want or should, and forces us into chaotic schedules.
Look into something like this that might help. Do a google search for “Steve Gibson healthy sleep formula”. Steve is an electrical engineer, not a doctor. But he’s really good at putting the pieces of a puzzle together blindfolded (my opinion). He is the one that led me to Keto, and basically saved my life from diabetes. His website, grc.com, is a tech site, but he has a section devoted to health. Vitamin D3, Keto, sleep. He does some very, very, good work on those subjects. After (years?) of self experimentation he has found several supplements that work extremely well with one another to give you a good nights sleep. And he doesn’t sell it, he just gives you the info, and you just have to find the supps. I think they. An all be found at Amazon or in just about any supplements store.