Check this out... new study
 

The title of this article is obviously made to get attention, but read on.

http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.c...says-go-for-it

For those who don't want to go read it, this study divided obese people into two groups. One group ate a large, 600 calorie breakfast that included a dessert item--a cookie, cake, or a donut. The other group ate a small, low carb, low cal 300 calorie breakfast. The total number of calories was the same for both groups--the large-breakfast group had a smaller dinner. After 16 weeks both groups lost about the same amount of weight.

Then, both groups were advised to stay on this plan, but told they could eat more if they felt hunger/cravings. After another length of time (which the article doesn't state), the group that ate small breakfasts had gained 24 pounds on average. The group that ate large breakfasts had lost 15 pounds on average.

The group that ate the large breakfast with a dessert item also had lower levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin.

Hmmmm.... worth looking up the actual article, I think.

Jay

Guess its true what they say; eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. XD

I have never heard that before but I LOVE it. I'm totally going to start thinking like that.

Interesting. I can see it working for me. Since I am outside and busy all day I can't binge eat after brekkie. I wonder if I would have a huge sugar crash about 11 a.m. though? And I would have to find some way of purchasing 1 "dessert" item.

Maybe a Clif bar? I liken those to cookie desserts and they are available "one at a time".

I'm going to try this for a week with a Clif bar at breakfast. I'll buy one (240 cals) every day at the supermarket and have it for the next day's brekkie, along with oatmeal (240 cals) and a yogurt or 1 c. milk (110 cals).

Dagmar :moo: (if you squint it's guinea pig, right? :p)

Honestly I do the opposite. :lol: Eating the large breakfast didn't help me at all (It's what I used to do before). When I started eating smaller, filling breakfasts I found it easier to stick to a low-calorie diet.

That is quite interesting.

I'm the same way. If I eat a 600-cal breakfast, it sets me up for a 1000-cal lunch, a 500-cal afternoon snack, etc. It just makes me wanna eat and eat. I definitely need breakfast, but it has to be relatively low-cal.

I got curious, so I went and looked for more information. It turns out that the big breakfast is a high protein breakfast. A pile of carbs doesn't do it.

http://niunadietamas.com/DanielaJakubowicz/?paged=2

I also read more about the study. The follow-up period was another 16 weeks. Both groups lost the same amount after the first 16 weeks--about 30 pounds average. During the next 16 weeks, the small breakfast group regained 24 pounds, while the big breakfast group lost another 15 pounds.

The lead author, Jakubowicz, naturally has a book called The Big Breakfast Diet based on this. According to Jakubowicz, protein is the mainstay of the plan.

Jay

Looks like the study isn't that new--the book is 2 years old. Still, it's kind of interesting to think about.

Jay

Interesting to see this JayEll, thanks for posting it. :) Being I'm from the camp where I still have my cake & eat it too, I think it's a sa-weet study!

I notice with myself that if I eat well in the morning and early afternoon, I'm good. I can skip dinner and be fine. I simply am not very hungry in the second half of the day and I've always been this way. I think a big part of my problem in the past was that I would eat what I wanted in the morning and then still eat a big meal with the family at night. Well, that would put me over in calories a lot.

Now, I will eat a big breakfast, a snack, a big lunch, an afternoon snack and a very small dinner of just veggies and soemtiemes a protein. I am completely ok with not eating anything from 4 pm to the next morning.

Totally opposite of my husband and older son who are starving in the evening and not very hungry earlier in the day. It used to be a huge issue with meals and sleep, but Now we get it that we just have different biorhythms. I'm also a morning person. He's a night owl.

That's interesting. I am definitely a morning person (usually up by 5:30 at latest), but oddly enough, I'm not a big breakfast person. Usually, I eat breakfast later in the morning, and to be honest, if I'm busy, I can skip it altogether and be okay. However, I am a big dinner person, and my biggest temptation is overeating at night.

super on that maintaining for 4 years. Keepon a trucken.

hmm.... that is interesting. I do eat a protein filled breakfast and I usually finish it off with a fiberone brownie so I guess I'm following that philosophy-- though my breakfast is nowhere near 600 calories total.

That's good news for me, given that I love breakfast and usually "spend" 500 of my calories on it. I have no problem having a smallish supper if I've eaten well for breakfast and lunch.

F.

In the study, obese participants who ate a breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates that included a dessert were better able to stick to their diet and keep the pounds off longer than participants who ate a low-carb, low-calorie breakfast that did not include sweets.

And the headline said "cake" too. I find this kinda misleading. Unless they are making cakes and other desserts filled with protein . . .

Oh well.

Dagmar :dizzy:

I'm not sure about the desserts thing, but breakfasting like a king, lunching like a prince and dining like a pauper is working very well for me.

I always wake up feeling hungry, and do my primary workout early in the morning. There's no way I could work out on an empty stomach, so I have a substantial low-GI carby breakfast, with protein if I'll be doing weight training. Lunch is modest, usually protein and veggies, and on cardio nights I have a low-calorie carby snack before working out, and no dinner. I never feel hungry after cardio, so that works for me.

Here is an example of a "big breakfast":

- Country-style scrambled eggs made up of 3 egg whites, 2 ounces cheese, 2 ounces ham, and veggies
- Half an English muffin with cream cheese
- Cereal with 8 ounces of milk
- Strawberry smoothie
- A chocolate fudge brownie

Kinda mind blowing, that breakfast... ;)

Here are the meal guidelines:

- Breakfast: 7 servings of protein (including 2 servings of dairy), 2 servings of carbohydrates, 2 servings of fat and 1 sweet.
- Lunch: 3 servings protein, 3 servings low-calorie vegetables, 2 servings starchy/sweeter vegetables, 1 serving fruit.
- Dinner: 0-3 servings of protein, unlimited low-calorie vegetables, 2 servings starchy/sweeter vegetables, 2 servings fruit.

It is total calories per day that determine whether one loses weight, regardless of when the calories are eaten. I think the interesting part of the study, though, was what happened in the second 16 weeks, when people were given the option of eating more if they felt hungry. Evidently the big-breakfast group did not feel as hungry as the small-breakfast group, on average.

Jay

All that (the breakfast) totals 600 cals? WHEW! And do they have cooks working to make that for them? My brekkie prep time is 5 minutes start to finish - and that includes doing the dishes. :p

Cookies for breakfast! Thanks for giving me a great fantasy (however fleeting) Jayell :D

Dagmar :dizzy:

Oh my gosh! There is no way I can eat a 600 calorie protein-filled breakfast in the morning! I would get stuffed halfway through! :lol: I do usually eat a 200ish calorie protein-filled breakfast though

I do a lot of my working out in the evening, so I think I need the larger dinner to fuel my workout :) During graduate school I didn't have time for dinner before my exercise and I found that generally when I just had a large breakfast and lunch to compensate that my workout wasn't as effective and I felt dizzy halfway through! I needed that dinner beforehand.

Now I find on the days I workout in the morning (weekends, mostly) that I need a slightly larger breakfast (50-100cals at the most), but nowhere near 600 calories.

I don't think I'll be replicating the egg, ham, and cheese omelet every morning, but the idea makes sense to me. When losing weight and starting maintenance I used to eat mostly carbs, with a little protein, around 300 cals for breakfast. I've found in the last 1-2 years that I need more and more protein to keep me satisfied until somewhere close to lunch time, and have added protein and healthy fats to my breakfasts, getting them up around 400 calories. I'm not going to jump to 600 but I can certainly appreciate the findings of this study!

I have found that when I include more starch in my dinners it gives me a false sense of hunger, though. I guess we are all an experiment and we need to do what works for us!

Yeah, I agree, Megan. We're all an experiment of one. But I have gone down the path of clinging to one approach long beyond when it has stopped working--and I've seen others do it, too. For example, trying to muscle through hunger using force of will.

If that drive to eat is hormonal (meaning ghrelin and other appetite hormones), then eating to balance those hormones seems like a better approach--or at least one worth trying--compared to sheer will power.

Jay

Yes, I agree.

That "big breakfast" sounds like a lot more than 600 calories to me...

F.

It did to me, too, freelancemomma. But I noticed the article that listed the breakfast didn't indicate whether it's whole milk or skim, what kind of cereal, whether it's lowfat cream cheese, and so on. It also doesn't give the recipe for the strawbery smoothie. So I guess one would have to check it out in the book.

So, I just took it as a loose example--and I thought it sure looked like more food than I've been eating for breakfast. I have a problem with overeating at the end of the day, and perhaps this model explains why...

Jay

I eat a fairly small breakfast, never more than 350 cals and most often right around 300 calories. I do have a snacking issue at night though - I eat a smaller dinner usually and then snack during the evening. I wonder if a large breakfast would stop that snacking? I'd be afraid to try, I think I'd eat the big breakfast and then just keep eating!! :D Food for thought anyways! :)

That is what i used to do, and it's the biggest change i'm working on making. I used to eat a huge breakfast including both protein and sweets, and then i'd just keep on snacking all morning. I'm trying to reverse that habit by eating zero carbs for breakfast. i've been eating 200 calories worth of steak or chicken for breakfast. Then no snacking until lunchtime. It's been really hard, but i think it's just a matter of training my body not to expect a whole bunch of food in the mornings. It will just take time to get used to it. I've stayed on plan with this for 4 weeks now but some days it's really hard.