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Maybe you’ve heard the old saying that eating breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper can be the key to losing weight. While we atEatingWellare major proponents ofeating a healthy breakfast, the science-backed guidance around how to structure your meals isn’t quite so simple.
That’s why a group of researchers set out to try and understand what impact, if any, front-loading your calories has on your metabolism. Their study,published inCell Metabolism, found that eating a big breakfast with other meals tapering off throughout the day might not be the boon for metabolism that it’s been fabled to be.
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The study analyzed data from 30 healthy subjects—16 men and 14 women—who were categorized as having overweight or obesity (specifically, having a BMI of 27 to 42 kg/m2, thoughBMI might not be the most accurate measurement of health). Each participant was randomly assigned a way to structure their meals, either front-loading their calories at breakfast or getting most of them in at dinner, for four weeks. Meals were standardized, all having the same amount of calories balanced at 30% protein, 35% carbohydrate and 35% fat.
“The participants reported that their appetites were better controlled on the days they ate a bigger breakfast and that they felt satiated throughout the rest of the day,” Johnstone said inthe release. “This could be quite useful in the real-world environment, versus in the research setting that we were working in.”
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As this study only concerned 30 participants and was done in free-living conditions (rather than being in a controlled lab environment), more research should be done to confirm or complicate its conclusions. The research team has indicated that they plan to expand their research moving forward, even including intermittent fasting and the effect of late-shift work on the metabolism in future studies.
“One thing that’s important to note is that when it comes to timing and dieting, there is not likely going to be one diet that fits all,” Johnstone said. “Figuring this out is going to be the future of diet studies, but it’s something that’s very difficult to measure.”
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The Bottom Line
But a healthy breakfast is still a critical part of the day, regardless of how many of your daily calories it contains. If you want to lose weight, there are certain breakfast foods thatcan help you meet your nutrition goals, and a classic, filling staple like oatmeal is always a good idea—in fact, it’sour top choice for a healthy breakfast. But other options like ourgrab-and-go omeletsortwo-ingredient pancakesare healthy options that will leave you ready to face the day.
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