We’ve always heard Mom say, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” but what if that might not be the case? At least according to the latest research, when it comes to weight loss, breakfast might actually be hurting your goals instead of helping.
A new review published in The BMJ actually debunks the long-lived myth that eating breakfast helps you to lose weight all day long.
According to the review authors, there’s no real connection between eating a morning meal and losing weight throughout the day. In fact, it’s those people who consume breakfast that tend to eat, on average, more calories throughout the day than those who did not.
Another earlier study even showed that on days that people skip it, they tend to burn more calories than on days when they consumed a meal first thing in the morning.
So why have we come to believe that breakfast is such an essential part of our morning routine? We can thank breakfast food companies for that claim — they funded some of the more vital studies on the subject.
With research like this, it should come as no surprise that we’ve moved on to alternative strategies for weight loss. Intermittent fasting, for example, has become a favorite within the wellness community (our very own Bianca Cheah was a fan before she fell pregnant!) and even approved by nutritionists.
Another strategy — the OMAD (One Meal A Day) diet — similarly cuts out the three-meals-a-day strategy we’ve come to know since grade school and flips it on its head.
As always, we recommend an eating strategy that works for you, so long as you’re not missing out on vital nutrients and fueling your body the right way with a balanced approach.
