Can eating a big breakfast help you lose weight?

You may have heard time and time again that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that eating a big breakfast could help you lose weight. One explanation for this claim is that starting the day with a big breakfast prevents food cravings and induces weight loss. Is this true? And is there scientific evidence to support this claim?

Some scientific findings suggest that consuming an energy-rich breakfast causes a person to eat less during the rest of the day. Other findings suggest that increasing the size of breakfast is linked to overall greater food intake. A WebMD article examined this conflicting evidence in light of a recent study conducted by a group of German scientists at the Else-Kroner-Fresenius Center of Nutritional Medicine, Technical University of Munich. Naturally, a study has to be well designed and executed in order for the results to hold up to scrutiny by the scientific community. In this case, which involved a large group of participants, several measures were introduced to encourage accurate record keeping and sound statistics to analyze the results.

Generally speaking, the study suggests that individuals who consume bigger breakfasts in hopes of losing weight may actually end up consuming more calories than anticipated, as they are likely to eat the same amounts of food during lunch and dinner that they would following a small breakfast. This particular finding is worth sharing because it creates awareness of this behavior and may encourage people to consciously watch what they eat for lunch and dinner if they do have a big breakfast or, alternatively, reduce the size of their breakfast. This could be a key for people in their efforts to maintain or lose weight.

All the same, we wish to remind readers that there is no magic formula when it comes to losing weight. Well, maybe there is…

Higher Caloric Expenditure + Lower Caloric Intake = Weight Loss

This is a good general formula to keep in mind in your efforts to lose or maintain your weight. So for instance, while being physically active increases your caloric expenditure, reducing a high-fat diet lowers your caloric intake. And in this instance, refraining from eating a bigger breakfast than usual could contribute to reducing your caloric intake for the day.

In short, we encourage you to eat regular, healthy meals. However, if you decide to eat a bigger-than-usual breakfast, balance it out by eating less during the rest of the day. We hope that the results of this study help you make informed decisions about the number of calories you consume for breakfast.