The Best Breakfast for Weight Loss

jen_zz

Eating the biggest meal in the morning or at night doesn't affect weight loss. It's all calories in vs. calories out.

If you are hungry in the morning, eat more. If you are not, don't eat. It doesn't have to be one way or other.

nomeejerome

That has been debunked. I've always had dinner as my biggest meal and it has never hindered my weight loss. Meal timing is just another gimmick to sell diet books. You can eat before bed, you can eat IN bed and at the end of the day it's all about the deficit you create.

This seems like a recent study in a scientific journal. How could it have been debunked already? It may not have hindered your weight loss, but maybe it will be a good fit for someone else.

Not really... Eating big breakfasts, medium lunches and small dinners have been around for decades, if not in the US than in Europe for sure. My mom told me how they use to eat like this all the time.

Do you understand the difference between a scientific study and what people do in real life? Just because people have been practicing something for decades doesn't mean it has been scientifically studied or tested. This magazine article is an interpretation of a scientific study published in a journal. I can't find the journal article now, but I get the feeling it wasn't "decades" ago.

This is like the most frustrating thread ever.

I do understand the difference between a scientific study and what people do in real life. Meal timing is personal preference. That is all.

And on another note....if this thread is the most frustrating for you....you might want to stay out of the forums.

justwanderful

nicolelynne92

interesting! i'll have to try this out and see how it works for me(: i pretty much have always eating a small breakfast and big dinner, but i'll flip it around!

tigersword

First of all, this very small study doesn't say that their research was carried out in a controlled environment where the test subjects were monitored 24 hours a day and what they ate was prepared for them. Instead, like so many studies they probably relied on the subjects keeping journals and trusted them to be accurate.

Also in the article is says this "But that doesn’t mean that starting your day with a 700-calorie Cronut will automatically help you lose weight. Instead, shoot for a large, balanced meal that’s high in protein—like eggs, yogurt, or lean meat—to fend off hunger."

This quote from the article makes way more sense. The reason that people tend to eat less when they start the day with a hearty breakfast is because they remain satiated longer and are better able to control their calorie intake for the rest of the day.

There are plenty of people who are successful doing all kinds of things, including skipping breakfast entirely.

What bothers me about all of these studies is that they are very rarely conducted on enough subjects and are very rarely done under controlled circumstances so are really more anecdotal then evidence based and they then get published in a magazine as the next best thing. It's not proof of anything.

Everyone has to do what works for them. If eating a big breakfast helps you meet your calorie and macro goals for the day then by all means Eat breakfast like a king and eat dinner like a pauper. Remember that saying?

But, you may go to bed hungry in which case your sleep will most likely not be quality and you'll struggle with sleep deprivation which has been proven to be a contributor to obesity and poor health in general. Your choice. I'm just saying that this tiny study doesn't prove anything.

This study isn't just published in some random magazine. It was published in the scientific Israeli journal Obesity, as stated in the first few sentences. The magazine published their own interpretation of the results of the study. You implied that the study relies on anecdotal evidence to draw their conclusions and that the study wasn't well controlled. How did you come to that conclusion? This online magazine article barely touches on how they conducted their study. To find that information out, you would have to read the study itself. Science>broscience.

Obesity isn't an Israeli journal, the study was conducted by Israeli researchers.

Also, without a link to the study itself, this article is completely meaningless. Also, very small sample size + very short study length = pretty useless for attempting to extrapolate out to the general population.

Oops, I made a mistake then. My bad. Obesity is still a scientific journal. This is not a small sample size for an in person participant experiment. Samples of 30 or greater are needed to be able to make reliable statistical inference. Yes, it is a short study, but when you are doing a study that requires following up and measuring and tracking live participants in-person on a daily basis, it is difficult to a study for a long period of time. These studies need to be funded.

The study doesn't need to be "legitimized" any further. It already passed peer-review and being published. Everyone is implying that because this study is being cited in an online article it is being de-legitimized. Anyone can cite any scientific article.

It's not that it isn't a legitimate study. It's that it's just a single study. The vast majority of scientific data shows zero correlation between timing of caloric intake and weight loss.

This would be an interesting study to look at, but again, one study is absolutely meaningless. If this article was talking about a meta analysis of several hundred studies that had this result, that might be worth considering.

sunitawagh

Same here.. I feel my day is in control if I start low on breakfast. Also having heavy breakfast, does not stop from feeling hungry later.. As the day goes by, with all the running around, and activities, I feel I need more energy during the day. Also I do not feel very very hungry in the mornings. A cup of tea and 2 slices of bread are good for me till 12 noon. I used to find it weird as everywhere there is so much emphasize on breakfast.