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Weight loss can be tied to when, not just what, you eat - CNN article
Replies
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2 questionable studies -- relying on the honesty of their test subjects is the opposite of science -- that really show nothing, but suggest that a real study could be worthwhile.
And then CNN reports them as gospel, to the point of making specific food suggestions. This despite the fact that there's nothing in either study to suggest that the types of food are relevant.
Bad science + bad journalism = nothing to see here.16 -
Meal timing matters in terms of weight loss vs. fat loss which ARE very different. Your body doesn't function on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle. It works second by second, moment by moment, in real time to change your body. I am not saying its as dramatic as people make it out to seem but if you find the right meal timing FOR YOUR BODY then you will see better results than doing it differntly. Some people (like myself) never feel hungry in the morning, so guess what, probably shouldn't force yourself to eat in the morning. My gf on the other hand always seems famished in the mornings so she eats a high protein breakfast. I am not saying that the study is right or wrong, I am just saying that just hitting calories for the day/week/month, will cause WEIGHT LOSS no matter what. Hitting calories based on the appropriate times (when you feel hungry, post workout, pre workout, etc.) will AID in a more efficient FAT LOSS in addition to weight loss.6
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These must eat breakfast news stories are the exact thing that kept me fat. I'm so happy someone here on mfp pointed me in the direction to do some research on intermittent fasting. Once I realized that, for me, one late snack and one big meal, is what finally worked.
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Meal timing matters in terms of weight loss vs. fat loss which ARE very different. Your body doesn't function on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle. It works second by second, moment by moment, in real time to change your body. I am not saying its as dramatic as people make it out to seem but if you find the right meal timing FOR YOUR BODY then you will see better results than doing it differntly. Some people (like myself) never feel hungry in the morning, so guess what, probably shouldn't force yourself to eat in the morning. My gf on the other hand always seems famished in the mornings so she eats a high protein breakfast. I am not saying that the study is right or wrong, I am just saying that just hitting calories for the day/week/month, will cause WEIGHT LOSS no matter what. Hitting calories based on the appropriate times (when you feel hungry, post workout, pre workout, etc.) will AID in a more efficient FAT LOSS in addition to weight loss.
Because it affects satiety, adherence and workout performance. Not because eating at any particular time conveys any metabolic advantage in terms of weight/fat loss.5 -
The thing that cracks me up about articles like this is that I know from years of reading the forums that not only is meal timing irrelevant, but more to the point, there is an optimal way of timing your meals that's uniquely suited to each individual and that has more to do with satiety and compliance than it does with optimizing fat loss.
In the end, these articles that get all breathless about rates of fat loss really, really bug me because they lure people in with the ever hopeful promise of the "hack", and all of us who are in this for the long haul have long since seen our way past all the quick-fixes promoted in the world of weight loss. Since none of them matter because there's never really a finish line, what's the point of trying to rush to it by taking on a meal style/macro split/food choices/fill in this blank with the newest media promise for faster weight loss that doesn't suit your personal preferences and lead you to greater satisfaction, compliance, and satiety?20 -
Meal timing matters in terms of weight loss vs. fat loss which ARE very different. Your body doesn't function on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle. It works second by second, moment by moment, in real time to change your body. I am not saying its as dramatic as people make it out to seem but if you find the right meal timing FOR YOUR BODY then you will see better results than doing it differntly. Some people (like myself) never feel hungry in the morning, so guess what, probably shouldn't force yourself to eat in the morning. My gf on the other hand always seems famished in the mornings so she eats a high protein breakfast. I am not saying that the study is right or wrong, I am just saying that just hitting calories for the day/week/month, will cause WEIGHT LOSS no matter what. Hitting calories based on the appropriate times (when you feel hungry, post workout, pre workout, etc.) will AID in a more efficient FAT LOSS in addition to weight loss.
Because it affects satiety, adherence and workout performance. Not because eating at any particular time conveys any metabolic advantage in terms of weight/fat loss.
It does have an effect on fat loss. It's easy to say yeah I lost X amount weight so I must be only losing fat when I save most of my calories for the night and eat whatever I want. But when you are actually diligent and pay very close attention to your weight, LBM, and body fat percentage you will find that you will lose weight either way and it will be relatively similar, but you will have more FAT LOSS if you appropriately time your meals and eat more nutrient dense foods. If your sole goal is to lose 20 pounds and you don't care if you lose muscle or fat then just eat 500 cal a day to satisfy your mind, you will lose a good amount of fat no doubt, but you will also lose a noticeable amount of muscle.
Most people would not like the outcome of that.
Meal timing matters.9 -
Meal timing matters in terms of weight loss vs. fat loss which ARE very different. Your body doesn't function on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle. It works second by second, moment by moment, in real time to change your body. I am not saying its as dramatic as people make it out to seem but if you find the right meal timing FOR YOUR BODY then you will see better results than doing it differntly. Some people (like myself) never feel hungry in the morning, so guess what, probably shouldn't force yourself to eat in the morning. My gf on the other hand always seems famished in the mornings so she eats a high protein breakfast. I am not saying that the study is right or wrong, I am just saying that just hitting calories for the day/week/month, will cause WEIGHT LOSS no matter what. Hitting calories based on the appropriate times (when you feel hungry, post workout, pre workout, etc.) will AID in a more efficient FAT LOSS in addition to weight loss.
Because it affects satiety, adherence and workout performance. Not because eating at any particular time conveys any metabolic advantage in terms of weight/fat loss.
It does have an effect on fat loss. It's easy to say yeah I lost X amount weight so I must be only losing fat when I save most of my calories for the night and eat whatever I want. But when you are actually diligent and pay very close attention to your weight, LBM, and body fat percentage you will find that you will lose weight either way and it will be relatively similar, but you will have more FAT LOSS if you appropriately time your meals and eat more nutrient dense foods. If your sole goal is to lose 20 pounds and you don't care if you lose muscle or fat then just eat 500 cal a day to satisfy your mind, you will lose a good amount of fat no doubt, but you will also lose a noticeable amount of muscle.
Most people would not like the outcome of that.
Meal timing matters.
You have a study that shows all else being the same (protein, deficit, lifting routine) that eating within an 8 hour window resulted in greater lean mass loss than spacing meals?
I only have my competition prep results as a baseline. For me it seemed that intermittent fasting (eating within an 8 hour window from noon to 8pm) didn't cause any additional lean mass loss compared to prior preps when I ate according to the methods you've described. Added bonus of the short feed window was larger meals and better diet adherence compared to the smaller spaced out meals.8 -
Meal timing matters in terms of weight loss vs. fat loss which ARE very different. Your body doesn't function on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle. It works second by second, moment by moment, in real time to change your body. I am not saying its as dramatic as people make it out to seem but if you find the right meal timing FOR YOUR BODY then you will see better results than doing it differntly. Some people (like myself) never feel hungry in the morning, so guess what, probably shouldn't force yourself to eat in the morning. My gf on the other hand always seems famished in the mornings so she eats a high protein breakfast. I am not saying that the study is right or wrong, I am just saying that just hitting calories for the day/week/month, will cause WEIGHT LOSS no matter what. Hitting calories based on the appropriate times (when you feel hungry, post workout, pre workout, etc.) will AID in a more efficient FAT LOSS in addition to weight loss.
Because it affects satiety, adherence and workout performance. Not because eating at any particular time conveys any metabolic advantage in terms of weight/fat loss.
It does have an effect on fat loss. It's easy to say yeah I lost X amount weight so I must be only losing fat when I save most of my calories for the night and eat whatever I want. But when you are actually diligent and pay very close attention to your weight, LBM, and body fat percentage you will find that you will lose weight either way and it will be relatively similar, but you will have more FAT LOSS if you appropriately time your meals and eat more nutrient dense foods. If your sole goal is to lose 20 pounds and you don't care if you lose muscle or fat then just eat 500 cal a day to satisfy your mind, you will lose a good amount of fat no doubt, but you will also lose a noticeable amount of muscle.
Most people would not like the outcome of that.
Meal timing matters.- Citation needed. Meal timing can affect adherence and energy levels for workouts, but meal timing with the same food eaten has not been shown to affect weight/fat loss in any well controlled study to date that I have seen and is not supported in the current body of research.
- You are now introducing what you eat into the equation, which is not part of the discussion. Different macros DO have an effect on lean mass retention given appropriate resistance training, and nobody is arguing that.
- See above.
- And now you are bringing the amount of the deficit into the discussion, which is AGAIN, not part of the debate here or what the study attempted to find.
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Such broad correlation research is interesting but not definitive
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It does have an effect on fat loss.
No. And as mentioned above, you're moving the goalposts.
Science:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494
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It does have an effect on fat loss.
No. And as mentioned above, you're moving the goalposts.
Science:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494
I stand by my original comment that someone who exercises significantly probably isn't 'sedentary' for the rest of their time, even if they have a desk job.
There are many studies that do identify a thermogenic afterburn, plus others that dispute this point (which wasn't even the basis of my original feedback to the OP)1 -
Article talks about research showing that frontloading calories (eat more calories early) may lead to more weight loss. Two groups consuming the same calories lost different amounts of weight - the early eaters lost more. It goes on to talk about how "metabolic circadian rhythms" of the body result in people burning calories at different rates through the day. It says in most cases the body burns calories at a faster rate early compared to later in the day.
So skipping breakfast may be a double whammy. 1) Skipping breakfast increases the likelihood of overeating later in the day and potentially eating less healthy (more sweets, chips, etc.). 2) The body metabolism will burn the calories you consume earlier at a faster rate than the calories consumed later.
If you want to read the article just search on the title of this discussion topic using your favorite search engine.
So if I spend most of my money in the morning instead of the evening I have more money?10 -
It does have an effect on fat loss.
No. And as mentioned above, you're moving the goalposts.
Science:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494
I stand by my original comment that someone who exercises significantly probably isn't 'sedentary' for the rest of their time, even if they have a desk job.
There are many studies that do identify a thermogenic afterburn, plus others that dispute this point (which wasn't even the basis of my original feedback to the OP)
The afterburn is called epoc and is, like most of these things, way smaller than its proponents seem to know/believe/trying to make you believe.6 -
stevencloser wrote: »It does have an effect on fat loss.
No. And as mentioned above, you're moving the goalposts.
Science:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494
I stand by my original comment that someone who exercises significantly probably isn't 'sedentary' for the rest of their time, even if they have a desk job.
There are many studies that do identify a thermogenic afterburn, plus others that dispute this point (which wasn't even the basis of my original feedback to the OP)
The afterburn is called epoc and is, like most of these things, way smaller than its proponents seem to know/believe/trying to make you believe.
Yep: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17101527
EPOC has been overexaggerated for quite some time. Especially considering, it's largely only found in athletes.
"However, even those studies incorporating exercise stimuli resulting in prolonged EPOC durations have identified that the EPOC comprises only 6-15% of the net total oxygen cost of the exercise. But this figure may need to be increased when studies utilizing intermittent work bouts are designed to allow the determination of rest interval EPOCs, which should logically contribute to the EPOC determined following the cessation of the last work bout. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, the earlier research optimism regarding an important role for the EPOC in weight loss is generally unfounded. This is further reinforced by acknowledging that the exercise stimuli required to promote a prolonged EPOC are unlikely to be tolerated by non-athletic individuals. The role of exercise in the maintenance of body mass is therefore predominantly mediated via the cumulative effect of the energy expenditure during the actual exercise"10 -
Penthesilea514 wrote: »Penthesilea514 wrote: »There was weight loss in both groups (from the two 2013 studies linked in the article), so I guess pick whichever works best for you and your schedule. All I know is eating breakfast larger than my coffee usually made me hungrier at lunch and dinner and I had a tendency to eat more throughout the day. I am also not super interested in "faster" weight loss, more finding what is sustainable for me in the long run.
You are going to do very well!
Thank you! I am trying
I would say you're kicking azz!1 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »The thing that cracks me up about articles like this is that I know from years of reading the forums that not only is meal timing irrelevant, but more to the point, there is an optimal way of timing your meals that's uniquely suited to each individual and that has more to do with satiety and compliance than it does with optimizing fat loss.
In the end, these articles that get all breathless about rates of fat loss really, really bug me because they lure people in with the ever hopeful promise of the "hack", and all of us who are in this for the long haul have long since seen our way past all the quick-fixes promoted in the world of weight loss. Since none of them matter because there's never really a finish line, what's the point of trying to rush to it by taking on a meal style/macro split/food choices/fill in this blank with the newest media promise for faster weight loss that doesn't suit your personal preferences and lead you to greater satisfaction, compliance, and satiety?
I read the article and part of the linked study and came to the conclusion that what it appeared to show was that people who actively and aggressively managed their satiety were less likely to graze/snack on less desirable food late in the day when will power starts breaking down.4 -
Spartan_Gingi wrote: »I will say that I cut back my carb intake at the end of the day, and mainly stick with proteins. That's been the breakthrough I needed to break my 2 months + plateau. We're all different. Different strokes for different folks.
so you replaced calorie dense foods (carbs) with foods that tend to be less calorie dense (protein) that is what resulted in your loss.
and we are all the same when it comes to weight loss CI<CO3 -
Meal timing matters in terms of weight loss vs. fat loss which ARE very different. Your body doesn't function on a daily, weekly or monthly cycle. It works second by second, moment by moment, in real time to change your body. I am not saying its as dramatic as people make it out to seem but if you find the right meal timing FOR YOUR BODY then you will see better results than doing it differntly. Some people (like myself) never feel hungry in the morning, so guess what, probably shouldn't force yourself to eat in the morning. My gf on the other hand always seems famished in the mornings so she eats a high protein breakfast. I am not saying that the study is right or wrong, I am just saying that just hitting calories for the day/week/month, will cause WEIGHT LOSS no matter what. Hitting calories based on the appropriate times (when you feel hungry, post workout, pre workout, etc.) will AID in a more efficient FAT LOSS in addition to weight loss.
Because it affects satiety, adherence and workout performance. Not because eating at any particular time conveys any metabolic advantage in terms of weight/fat loss.
It does have an effect on fat loss. It's easy to say yeah I lost X amount weight so I must be only losing fat when I save most of my calories for the night and eat whatever I want. But when you are actually diligent and pay very close attention to your weight, LBM, and body fat percentage you will find that you will lose weight either way and it will be relatively similar, but you will have more FAT LOSS if you appropriately time your meals and eat more nutrient dense foods. If your sole goal is to lose 20 pounds and you don't care if you lose muscle or fat then just eat 500 cal a day to satisfy your mind, you will lose a good amount of fat no doubt, but you will also lose a noticeable amount of muscle.
Most people would not like the outcome of that.
Meal timingonly matters for athletes and advanced trainee's matters.
fixed it for you ...5
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