snacks mid-morning kill your diet

[sarah]

I just read an article about a study published in Journal of the American Dietetic Association called Weight Loss Undermined By Mid-Morning Snacks that said that you'll lose more weight if you eat a good breakfast and wait until lunch to eat your next meal than you will if you eat a mid-morning snack.

A snack was considered to be any food or drink.

That leaves me to wonder if those diets with lots of small meals instead of three large ones really work. Or if you should have a large breakfast, and then start your small meals at lunch! Hmmm.

The whole article is at: Weight Loss Undermined By Mid-Morning Snacks

[antoniojones1968]

I find that if I don't eat a mid morning snack I am totally famished by lunch and then I just want to eat everything in sight.

I completely agree with this. Whatever drawbacks there might be to eating a snack mid morning are certainly made up for by the fact that I'm not starving at lunch time.

When I'm that hungry, I'm far more likely to give into cravings or to go beyond the lunch I bring with me and buy something like a slice of pizza or even a donut or a muffin (which are surprisingly high in fat and calories).

That study would have had far different results if I'd taken part in it!

[freddyboy]

. I usually keep the snack light - cup of yogurt, piece of fruit, cheese etc. but I have to eat something.

Exactly! I wonder if this study actually judged what the people were eating for their snacks and what they were eating for their breakfasts.

There's a big difference between eating a pop tart for breakfast and a doughnut for a snack and eating a healthy low cal low fat breakfast and some plain yogurt as a snack!

I think this study must be flawed.

[tankini]

There's a big difference between eating a pop tart for breakfast and a doughnut for a snack and eating a healthy low cal low fat breakfast and some plain yogurt as a snack!

For sure, it totally depends on what the breakfast is and what the snack is. Weight loss is all about creating a calorie deficit and how you create that calorie deficit is up to you.

[ChristySmiles]

I still stick to the belief that if you eat lots of small meals, that they're the right choices of healthy foods, and you don't overdo it or swamp your calorie limit by eating sugary or fatty foods, then you're going to lose weight just fine.

There's a study out there to prove just about everything. The best we can do is take them with a grain of salt and use our own good common sense!

[ffviifan]

The study seemed a bit off to me. They were comparing people who had a good breakfast with people who had a small breakfast and a small snack.

The thing is, the study would only be accurate if they made sure that the participants in the big breakfast group were eating the exact same foods as those in the breakfast and snack group.

The only way to test if the snacks are having a negative impact is if the morning food consisted of (for example) a hard boiled egg and a banana. Then the first group would eat all of it and wait until lunch, and the second group would eat the egg for breakfast and the banana for a snack.

That way, you know that it's the same foods and calories so it's possible to measure the impact of the timing. Otherwise, there's really no way to tell!

[steve_ross]

The only way to test if the snacks are having a negative impact is if the morning food consisted of (for example) a hard boiled egg and a banana. Then the first group would eat all of it and wait until lunch, and the second group would eat the egg for breakfast and the banana for a snack.

That way, you know that it's the same foods and calories so it's possible to measure the impact of the timing. Otherwise, there's really no way to tell!

Exactly. The study would have to be way more controlled to get an accurate answer.