Struggling to reduce body fat? Good news then if you can eat your breakfast late and eat your dinner earlier. A recent study shows that having late breakfast and early dinner could possibly reduce body fat. The study suggests that making modest changes to your meal timings can have a difference in your overall body fat.
Reduce Body Fat Study
In the published study from the University of Surrey researchers conducted a ten-week study involving “time-restricted feeding”, a type of intermittent fasting that aims to determine the effects of changing meal times in the overall body composition.
Participants involved in the study were divided into two groups. One group followed their usual eating schedule while the other group was asked to delay their breakfast for 90 minutes and to eat their dinner 90 minutes earlier.
None of the participants were asked to follow any strict diet. On an average, the group of participants who modified their meal timings lost more than twice as much body fat as compared to the group who never made any changes in their meal timings.
According to Dr. Jonathan Johnston, the lead investigator of the study:
“This is very encouraging. People can still, to some degree, eat the food that they would like but if they simply change the time at which they eat then that can have a long-term benefit.”
He further added that,
“Although this study is small, it has provided us with invaluable insight into how slight alterations to our meal times can have benefits to our bodies. Reduction in body fat lessens our chances of developing obesity and related diseases, so is vital in improving our overall health.”
Not a Magic Bullet
Despite the favorable results, Dr. Jonathan Johnston is quick to point out that he will not consider this to be a magic bullet. Instead, it should be seen as a significant piece of a puzzle. Even if you’re eating within that window, that alone is not enough to compensate for all the unhealthy food that you eat as well as the excess intake of calories.
In order to know why changing meal timings can help in reducing body fat, it’s thought that moving our time of eating away from our sleeping time can help our body to improve its ability to metabolize food. There’s also the fact that the “fasting period” is much longer because of the time restrictions.
Related reading: Does Carb Backloading Help With Fat Loss?
Not Easy To Follow
After the study, the team asked the participants how easy or difficult it is for them to adhere to the time restricted eating. Of all the participants 57% of them reported that the timings were difficult for them to follow beyond the study since it could interfere with their family and social life. However, the rest of the 43% said that they would not mind following the meal pattern if only the meal times are more flexible.
Dr. Johnson noted:
“As we have seen with these participants, fasting diets are difficult to follow and may not always be compatible with family and social life. We therefore need to make sure they are flexible and conducive to real life, as the potential benefits of such diets are clear to see.”
Since the study is a small one, the findings may have to be replicated with an even bigger one that will include a more diverse set of participants. The research team is already looking into the possibility of designing a more comprehensive study in the future.
Want to know about a simple method of Intermittent Fasting? In the Eat Stop Eat method you stop eating for a specific preset amount of time once or twice a week. It’s as simple as that… and it’s only EVER once or twice a week depending on your goal and amount of body fat. Click here to learn more
