The wrong habits can significantly influence weight loss. Developing the right habits can make it easier to lose weight and keep it off. One of the easiest habits to change is meal timing. For those who eat later in the day, usually after 7 p.m., it can result in weight gain even when the person isn't eating any more calories than usual. Eating earlier in the day can result in significant weight loss results, and it is an easy habit to change.
The importance of timing meals
Web MD reported on several studies that showed that eating meals at a certain time of day led to higher weight loss results.
In the first study, published in the Journal of Obesity, dieters who ate their main meal earlier in the day, usually before 3:00 p.m. lost an additional five pounds compared to those who ate later in the day. Both groups followed the same diet and exercise program.
In another study published in Obesity, those who ate a larger breakfast and a smaller lunch and dinner lost almost 19 pounds compared to the small breakfast eaters, who only lost about eight pounds. In other studies, researchers also discovered that the eating window makes a difference. Those who only consumed their calories during an eight-hour window of the day lost more weight and body fat. If they continued to eat during the same restricted window, they kept the weight off.
A simple change habit leads to weight loss success
Readers Digest reported on a study that was presented at the SLEEP 2017 conference. The study was based on meal timing and contained two groups. The first group ate three meals and two snacks between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. The second group ate the same meals and snacks, but they ate them between 12:00 p.m.
and 11:00 p.m. Both groups had a healthy body mass index, ate the same diets, and slept almost seven hours per night, and both groups had a fitness regimen. After the end of the 18-week study, the researchers discovered that those in the second group, the ones who delayed eating, had gained weight, had a slower metabolism, and showed an increase in both insulin and cholesterol levels.
The author of the study, Dr. Namni Goel, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, said that this study provided the first experimental evidence that prolonged delayed eating led to weight gain as well as a negative profile for fuel oxidation, energy metabolism, and hormonal markers in adults who have a normal weight. In another study, researchers had previously established that lack of sleep can also cause weight gain, so it's important to not only eat at the right times but to get adequate sleep too. Plant-based diets are also twice as effective as a conventional diabetic diet for weight loss. Another study showed that an ingredient in tequila can also provide effective weight loss results.
