The best time to eat breakfast and dinner to lose belly fat after Christmas revealed
SCIENTISTS have pinpointed the best times to eat breakfast and dinner if you want to lose belly fat.
Not feeling your best after weeks of indulging in festive treats? You’re certainly not the only one.
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying rich or sugary foods on special occasions.
But your festive indulgences might have left you feeling sluggish at the turn of the new year, or you might notice your jeans fitting a little more snugly than before.
January is good time to kick start healthy habits and exercising more might have been one your new year’s resolutions.
But a new study by Spanish scientists suggests your diet can also help you bust belly fat – and it’s all to do with the timing of your meals.
A team of scientists led by the University of Granada and the Public University of Navarra looked into the benefits of intermittent fasting when it comes to fat loss.
Intermittent fasting refers to going without food for extended periods of time, often by eating fewer calories on certain days of the week or eking out the window between dinner and your first meal the following day.
One type of intermittent fasting that’s gained popularity in recent years involves reducing the number of hours spent eating and extending the hours of fasting – going without food – each day.
This is known as time-restricted eating.
According to the study published in Nature Medicine, not eating anything from 5pm until 9am the following day – what’s known as early fasting – helps to reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat, the fat that sits just under the skin of your belly.
Leaving 16 hours between your meals may also help your body maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
Scientists said intermittent fasting can be an effective method for losing weight and improving cardiovascular health in people with obesity.
Jonatan Ruiz, an associate professor at the Faculty of Sport Sciences at the University of Granada, told Sun Health: “Time-restricted eating, especially finishing meals before 5pm, can be a practical and effective strategy to manage weight and reduce abdominal fat after periods of overindulgence, such as during Christmas.
“This approach aligns with natural circadian rhythms, promoting better metabolic health and fat reduction.”
If you eat your breakfast at around 8am and have your last meal of the day around 10pm, this means your eating window is about 14 hours long while your fasting window is 10 hours.
Giving intermittent fasting a go
There are a few different forms of intermittent fasting, some of which are more restrictive than others.
Popular examples include:
- The 16/8 method: A fasting window of sixteen hours and an eating window of eight hours – you can drink water, milk, tea and coffee while fasting
- The 5:2 method: You pick two days a week where you consume about 500 to 600 calories, while following a normal, balanced diet on the remaining five
- The 24 hour fast: Not eating for a 24-hour period, either monthly or weekly
- Alternate day fasting: Fasting every other day, which Bupa says can be difficult to maintain in the long-term
There are a number of ways to shorten your eating window – chances are you’ve already done it by accident.
It can include:
- Having a later breakfast
- Skipping breakfast altogether
- Having an early dinner
Eating at irregular times or late at night can disrupt the body’s biological rhythms and increase the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, the study team claimed.
In the type of intermittent fasting proposed by the scientists, the intake window is reduced to 6-8 hours, and people fast for 16-18 hours.
The study involved 197 participants aged between 30 and 60 who tried three different fasting methods over 12 weeks:
- Early fasting: eating between 9am and 5pm (49 participants)
- Late fasting: eating between 2pm and 10pm (52 participants)
- Self selected fasting: selecting the time slot in which they wanted to eat, usually between 12am and 8pm (47 participants)
The remaining 49 participants followed a nutrition education programme on Mediterranean diet and healthy lifestyles.
Findings revealed that intermittent fasting was no more effective than the nutrition programme in reducing visceral fat – the layer of blubber that sits deeper in the abdominal cavity and surrounds vital organs.
But the fasting groups, regardless their fasting window, lost more weight (an average of 3-4 kg) compared to participants who ate normally.
The early fasting group lost more abdominal subcutaneous fat than other groups.
The study also assessed participants’ 24-hour glucose levels using a continuous glucose monitor
Participants also wore glucose monitors for 14 days before and at the end of the study to asses their blood sugar levels.
The early fasting group significantly improved their fasting glucose levels and overnight glucose compared to the other groups.
One of the principal authors, Dr Idoia Labayen, said these findings suggest that early fasting may help prevent diabetes and improve metabolic health.
Not eating at night gives the body more time to digest and process nutrients, allowing for better regulation of blood glucose.
This in turn reduces the risk of developing sugar problems and other metabolic disorders, Dr Labayen explained.
While intermittent fasting can be safe for healthy adults to try in the short-term, Bupa notes that you shouldn’t try it if:
- If you are pregnant
- Have type 1 diabetes
- Have a history of disordered eating
- Have anxiety or depression
A study by Chinese scientists also linked the practice to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
Dr Victor Zhong, of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said: “We were surprised to find that people who followed time-restricted eating were more likely to die from heart disease.
“Even though this type of diet has been popular due to its potential short-term benefits, our research clearly shows that a shorter eating duration was not associated with living longer.
“It’s crucial for patients, particularly those with heart conditions, to be aware of the link between an eight-hour eating window and increased risk of cardiovascular death.”