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Changing Your Meal Schedule for Quick, Safe Weight Loss Results Could be the Meal Ticket to a Leaner You
Making Dieting as much fun as it can be...at least, a bit less painful.
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There has been much studies in regards to the times that individuals eat during the day and the weight loss connection. Some health studies indicate that no matter what time of the day that the individual eats, if they don't exceed their caloric needs, then they won't gain weight.
While health and scientific studies are great when the situation can be accurately duplicated, other times the data is flawed or inaccurate.
Unless all of the individuals in the study are closely matched as to size, weight, age, muscle mass, metabolic rate and so forth - and as long as they are consuming identical meal plates, these types of studies would prove viable. But this is not the case in many random health studies, particularly those involving the daily diet.
We know from experience that the time of day that an individual eats greatly impacts their weight. It's simple logic that the later in the day it becomes, the slower the metabolic rate as it winds down for the day - thus the inability to burn energy as efficiently as it did earlier in the day. When the calories aren't burned as efficiently, weight gain can be the resulting factor.
Another note is that very few individuals eat an exact amount of calories each and every day of their life - yet body weight tends to remain in balance until we make a definite increase or decrease in caloric values. The body has a 'set point' which assists in balancing our weight. Very few people count the energy that they consume throughout the day - yet they remain at their same weight, even when they are overweight until they make a definite increase in food or drink consumption, or in scheduled meal times. Shifting the time of day that we eat is indeed a big shifter than can also shift the numbers on the bathroom scales.
Let's look at Dieter Daisy. She requires 1,500 calories a day to support her current weight; she is a petite female who is also very inactive, and because of such her metabolic rate isn't as bolstered as it could be.
Daisy woke up and began a very busy day; she had deadlines to meet at work - so she raced there amid heavy traffic and forgot all about breakfast. She had planned to grab something on the way to work to hold her off until lunch; but the traffic made her rethink her plan.
Next, she became so involved in her work project that she didn't have time to pause and eat lunch. She finally finished and met her deadline but didn't leave the workplace until after eight that night. She dropped by her favorite pizza restaurant on the way home and picked-up a low sodium, lower calorie pizza containing 1,500 calories. She drank water with the pizza, wanting to keep her calories minimal and in check with her caloric needs.
It takes a couple of days for weight gain to register on the bathroom scales unless the food is mined with sodium-overload; Daisy had made certain that this wasn't the case. But - as the day decreased, so did her metabolic rate. If she had consumed the energy (calories) earlier in the day - her metabolism would have adequately processed them and her weight would have remained stable. But because she ate so late in the day, it couldn't effectively deal with those 1,500 calories. It did manage to use 1,000 of them but the other 500 went into storage, becoming anchored in the fat cells for future energy needs.
The Bottom Line: There's a relationship between the time of day and the times that we eat that just can't be denied. The later that you eat in the day, the harder it is to burn off those calories. The slower the metabolism becomes.
Although this technique is debated amid the science and health circles, will it work for you? Couldn't hurt to try, now could it? The good news is that generally the dieter experiences a good amount of weight loss by limiting or omitting that last meal of the day - the dinner menu.
See if changing the time of day for dinner time will work in helping you ditch those unwanted pounds. Eat as early as possible in the evening. Or, opt for a serving of hot or cold cereal and a healthy fruit selection along with a cup of reduced fat milk over your normally planned meal plate. If you're not in the mood for cereal - what about soup? What about a one-food meal such as a burrito or a taco?
If you enjoyed a heart meal for lunch as well as a well-rounded breakfast, try skipping your dinner meal.
Try this for one short week. Be sure and weigh before you try the experiment - preferably in the morning before you eat or drink, and after your first void of the day. At the end of the week, again, weigh at the same time of day that you did at the beginning of your Diet Experiment. Did it work to produce weight loss?
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