Big breakfast, small dinner

stanleypoobrick

Breakfast and lunch are supposed to be larger than your dinner because you need energy for the day ahead; whereas after dinner you'd usually just be sat around doing nothing and the energy isn't used up. In the US and UK people don't tend to do this, which is probably a factor in why we're so large - we live to eat, not eat to live. Other European countries (spain, italy etc) tend to follow the large breakfast and lunch/small dinner and they're far healthier as countries go.

rileysowner

If true, this would be the only study I know of that shows meal timing has anything to do with weight loss assuming calories are equal.

_EndGame_

Usually the other way round with me.

I much prefer to have between 200-400 calories for breakfast, usually skip lunch and then have a BIG dinner.

I look forward to dinner more than any other meal.

stanleypoobrick

Breakfast and lunch are supposed to be larger than your dinner because you need energy for the day ahead; whereas after dinner you'd usually just be sat around doing nothing and the energy isn't used up. In the US and UK people don't tend to do this, which is probably a factor in why we're so large - we live to eat, not eat to live. Other European countries (spain, italy etc) tend to follow the large breakfast and lunch/small dinner and they're far healthier as countries go.

I mean to say, it doesn't actually directly affect weight loss because the caloric input is the same but you have more energy and are therefore more likely to be more active than if you had a small breakfast/no breakfast.

Mischievous_Rascal

I do IF and only have coffee before noon. Early morning breakfast, big or small, has never worked for me. Plus, a google search of the lead doc shows her "Big Breakfast Diet" book has gone out of print, so....

I guess my point is not everything a doctor writes is gospel. Find what works for your body and stick to that.

neanderthin

Breakfast and lunch are supposed to be larger than your dinner because you need energy for the day ahead; whereas after dinner you'd usually just be sat around doing nothing and the energy isn't used up. In the US and UK people don't tend to do this, which is probably a factor in why we're so large - we live to eat, not eat to live. Other European countries (spain, italy etc) tend to follow the large breakfast and lunch/small dinner and they're far healthier as countries go.

I mean to say, it doesn't actually directly affect weight loss because the caloric input is the same but you have more energy and are therefore more likely to be more active than if you had a small breakfast/no breakfast.

That certainly could be a factor.

tedrickp

I am guessing the participants were self reporting using some kind of dietary questionnaire or monitoring.

This is the first red flag I see when I checked out the study a bit more. I also don't think there is a great sample size, but they did address that in the study.

Francl27

Foxnews... totally credible :laugh:

But um I do it. On days when I'm up early (5am), I often have all but 200 calories eaten by 2pm. It sucks though.

neanderthin

Foxnews... totally credible :laugh:

But um I do it. On days when I'm up early (5am), I often have all but 200 calories eaten by 2pm. It sucks though.

Foxnews didn't do the study. It was conducted at Wolfson Medical Center in Tel Aviv and the Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Here's the actual study.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20460/full

geebusuk

Breakfast and lunch are supposed to be larger than your dinner because you need energy for the day ahead; whereas after dinner you'd usually just be sat around doing nothing and the energy isn't used up. In the US and UK people don't tend to do this, which is probably a factor in why we're so large - we live to eat, not eat to live. Other European countries (spain, italy etc) tend to follow the large breakfast and lunch/small dinner and they're far healthier as countries go.

I've not found you get that big breakfasts in Spain/Italy and they both have their own issues with obesity anyway.
Mediterranean countries also tend to stay up later, often with a midday siesta to support staying up later.

fatbitt

From the study's conclusion:

Although meal size has crucial implications on weight gain, appetite, and glucose and lipid metabolism [18], combined timing and portion size has not been demonstrated. The strength of the present study is that it was conducted in a free-living population, so that the results can be easily translated to obese and overweight persons seeking to lose weight. However, the limitation of the study is that supervision could not be as strict as being under laboratory conditions and some behavioral and diet changes could not be controlled. The present study was also for a short period of time, which diminishes the power to detect follow-up differences between the groups. It is clear that future studies examining larger cohorts for longer periods of time are necessary to determine the long-term benefits of increased caloric content during breakfast vs. dinner for weight loss.

In summary, our results demonstrate that high-calorie breakfast shows increased compliance and is more beneficial than high-calorie dinner for weight loss, insulin sensitivity, and hunger suppression. Our study indicates that avoidance of large meals in the evening may be particularly beneficial in improving glucose and lipid profiles and may lead to reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, in people affected by the metabolic syndrome, dietary recommendations aimed at weight reduction and prevention of high postprandial insulin excursions should include advice on time-of-day of nutrient intake in addition to the overall food intake. However, the long-term potential health benefits of high energy intake in the morning need to be assessed.

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They take in to consideration such claims with notes about the factors of free-living study as well as not studying the long term effects, but we have to remember that it's a pretty specific demographic. Overweight to obese women with metabolic syndrome (which is as simple as a apple big belly shape), it is my demo and I'm quite excited to try this, but I can see where the doubt comes from when it may not seem logical to some who have found success dong what they're doing. I was super sketched by the fox news report so had to do some research and reading the study, you can definitly see that there was someting working better in the big breakfast group. Regardless, the study is interesting, and seems quite possible that they are on to something at least in us big bellied individuals.

magerum

I'd like to read the actual study. That's a hefty claim.

Might be this study:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20460/abstract;jsessionid=9029A24D04B82CE2F6AB826007228420.f04t01

Havent read it but searched it out once I read that article

A caveat: The women were all obese and had metabolic syndrome. I think the results are very interesting. I have always been a big breakfast eater and usually eat at least half of my calories before noon.

So, it applies to a very small demographic...but Fox news presents it as it applies to most.

Francl27

Even if it's true... it doesn't matter. If you're someone who doesn't like breakfast, you'll always do better doing what you're doing now that if you forced yourself to have breakfast.