Odd (but effective!) weight loss strategy: eat a bigger breakfast

Our houseguests tend to balk when they see the breakfasts my husband whips up each morning. “That’s a lot of food,” they inevitably say, eyeing our plates of eggs and waffles suspiciously. “Aren’t you going to gain weight eating that?” Nope. The truth is, more substantial meals have actually helped me keep the pounds off—because come lunchtime, I’m still so full that I’m not even remotely tempted to have, say, a BLT with fries instead of a salad and soup.

Turns out that my husband and I aren’t the only ones benefiting from big breakfasts. Last week, I came across a really interesting post from Epicurious blogger Sarah Kagan, who—without even trying—dropped a few pounds by trading her usual morning meal for a slightly more caloric breakfast, which kept her feeling full longer.

The big breakfast effect isn’t just anecdotal. Research has long shown that breakfast-eaters tend to weigh less than non-breakfast-eaters, but now experts are beginning to realize that when it comes to a.m. eating and weight loss, more is actually more. To wit: a recent study from Virginia Commonwealth University found that obese women who ate a large breakfast (nearly 600 calories, with plenty of carbs) and a small dinner (around 250 calories) lost five more pounds than obese women whose diets contains the same amount of total calories as the big breakfast group, but who consumed the calories in a reverse fashion: small breakfasts with few carbs, and big dinners. In fact, not only did the big-breakfast crowd lose more weight, they were better able to keep it off over the course of eight months, and reported fewer carb cravings than the light breakfast group.

This is all to say, if you’re trying to lose weight, don’t just scarf down a 100-calorie cereal bar on your way out the door; have a proper meal.

–Camille