Eating a breakfast high in calories could help with weight loss
We’ve largely been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but why exactly is this?
Well, new research indicates that eating a big breakfast that’s high in calories and then smaller meals through the day could help increase weight loss.
Researchers gave women most of their calories at breakfast or dinner and then monitored the two groups over 12 weeks.
The 1,600 women were middle-aged, overweight and diabetic, and both groups stuck to 1,400 calories each day.
The heavy breakfast eaters lost an average of 19.1lbs while those who ate the larger dinner lost an average of just 7.9lbs.
The breakfast group also lost an average of 3.3in from their waistlines, compared to 1.5in for those eating a big dinner.
Professor Daniela Jakubowicz, of Tel Aviv University in Israel, said: “Eating the right foods at the wrong times can not only slow down weight loss, it can also be harmful.
“Our study found those in the big dinner group actually increased fat levels despite their weight loss.”
These results, published in the journal Obesity, indicate that proper meal timing can make an important contribution towards managing obesity and promoting an overall healthy lifestyle.
The findings suggest that people should adopt a well thought-out meal schedule, in addition to proper nutrition and exercise, to optimise weight loss and general health.
She suggests that people could improve their health significantly by cutting out late night snacking.
She said: “Mindless eating in front of the computer or television, especially in the late evening hours, is a huge contributor to the obesity epidemic.
“It increases not only poundage, but the risk of cardiovascular disease - making that midnight sugar rush more costly than it appears.”
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