Meal Times Affect Weight Loss
Comments (3)
Person Weighing Themself (Flickr Creative Commons)
So what is the latest weight loss tip for weight loss resolution makers? The time you eat just may affect how much you lose during your weight loss program.
In a recent study conducted by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Tufts University and the University of Murcia in Spain and published by the International Journal of Obesity, they found that eating earlier in the day helped to increase the amount of weight loss during a weight loss program.
The researchers followed a group of 420 overweight adults during a 20-week weight loss program in Spain. The study was based around the timing of the main meal, which in the Mediterranean is lunch, when people generally eat 40 percent of their caloric intake. There were two groups for the study: those who ate lunch before 3 pm and those who ate lunch after that time.
The results from the study showed that the group that ate lunch earlier in the day lost more weight and had a higher rate of weight loss than the group that ate lunch later in the day. The study also found that the timing of other meals did not affect the groups’ overall weight loss.
Not only did the study show that the timing of meals is important, it also showed that the individuals in the study who ate later in the day and lost less weight, had smaller meals for breakfast or were more likely to skip breakfast. This reiterates what earlier studies have found, which suggest that those who eat larger breakfasts weigh less than those who eat less or skip the meal entirely. Those who skip breakfast have also been found to have less healthy eating habits, such as consuming larger amounts of sugary drinks or too many high calorie snacks.
Although this study centers on lunch as the main meal of the day, in other studies the timing of meals is consistently an important factor for weight loss. There have been some studies which show that those who eat dinner earlier tend to weigh less than those who eat a late dinner.
The lesson? It is better to consume more calories earlier in the day if you're looking to lose weight.
