Lose Weight by Eating More?
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Big Breakfast, Best Bet for Battling Bulge
The formula makes sense. If you want to lose weight, you have to do two things: eat less, exercise more. It sounds simple, but putting the formula into action is anything but.
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That said, what if I told you that eating less may not be the key to losing weight after all? What if I told you that the truly best way to lose weight is to eat more – particularly if you’re a woman. Don’t believe me?
Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz and her fellow researchers will be attending The Endocrine Society’s 90th annual meeting this week in San Francisco. While there, they’ll tell their colleagues and fellow researchers that after studying 94 obese and inactive women over the course of eight months, the women who adhered to a strict diet regained an average of 18 pounds after initially losing weight, while those who ate carb-rich, high calorie breakfasts not only lost weight initially, but continued to lose weight at the eight-month mark: an average of 16.5 pounds more, in fact!
What explains this? It’s all about the time in which these women ate their foods and how they spaced their calorie intake over the course of the day.
It all goes back to that maxim you learned way back in grade school: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Not only is it the most important meal of the day, but it also ought to be your biggest meal of the day, in terms of caloric intake.
There’s no doubt that consuming a diet low in carbohydrates leads to a drop in body weight – as the low-carb diet craze that swept the country a few years ago indicated. But as Jakubowicz and her colleagues from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas, Venezuela found, women who consumed low carbohydrates craved carbohydrates over time and wound up eating more carbohydrates than they had initially. No wonder the low-carb diet craze fizzled.
“A very low carbohydrate diet exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism,” Jakubowicz said. “After a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity.”
The researchers found that the group of women who followed a low-carb diet during breakfast lost an average of 28 pounds; the big breakfast group of women lost an average of 23 pounds. On the surface, this looks like the low-carb diet is the way to go. After all, five extra pounds of weight loss is nothing to sneeze at. But in the battle of the bulge, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And similar to a marathon, success is highly contingent on the fuel you put in your body before competing. A pre-race meal that’s low in carbohydrates won’t get you to mile 13. But a high carbohydrate diet will help carry you through the 26.2 mile marker.
The same standard applies with your day: the more fuel you provide your body in the morning, the fewer cravings you’ll have throughout the day, leading to a more successful maintenance of weight loss.
Now, does this study mean you can satisfy your ravenous appetite on sugary, high processed foods? Certainly not. They’re not very satiating as it is, never mind their lack of nutrients. Fill yourself up on quality, high-fiber carbohydrates that satisfy: fresh fruits, veggies, whole wheat breads, and whole grain cereals.
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- Low Fat Diet Reduces Breast Cancer Relapse in Women, Study Suggests
- Researchers Say Artificial Sweetener Saccharin Contributes to Weight Gain
 
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Posted: June 23rd, 2008 under Dieting.
Comments
Pingback from To Eat or Not to Eat? | Longevity Medicine
Time June 14, 2010 at 1:16 am
[...] Now, I know what you’re thinking: Uh, duh Frank – if you want to lose weight, then of course you have to consume less than you’re burning! But there’s a plethora of data out there suggesting that skipping meals is a bad way to try and lose weight. Skipping meals slows down the body’s metabolic rate and it also encourages us to eat more later in the day because we’re feeling famished. In fact, some studies suggest the best way to lose weight is to eat more. [...]
Pingback from To Eat or Not to Eat?
Time June 16, 2010 at 12:02 am
[...] Now, I know what you’re thinking: Uh, duh Frank – if you want to lose weight, then of course you have to consume less than you’re burning! But there’s a plethora of data out there suggesting that skipping meals is a bad way to try and lose weight. Skipping meals slows down the body’s metabolic rate and it also encourages us to eat more later in the day because we’re feeling famished. In fact, some studies suggest the best way to lose weight is to eat more. [...]