Size Matters: Report Suggests Large Breakfasts May Be Counter Productive to Weight Management and Weight Loss

Cosmetic surgery procedures of the body are designed to enhance one’s overall body esthetic: balancing the proportion of features by enhancing or reducing the breast, hips, and buttocks (to name a few).  Just like the size of a breast implant must be proportional to the size of the individual receiving them, the size of your breakfast must be proportional to the amount of additional calories you plan to consume during the course of the day. 

Although it may seem like a no brainer to not eat more calories than you expend in order to maintain a healthy body weight, managing a healthy diet can be complicated with all the “advice” out there.  There has been much debate over breakfast and weight loss.  Many nutritionists explain that eating a big breakfast is best when trying to lose weight because it “jump starts” the body’s metabolism for the day and encourages you to eat smaller meals for lunch and dinner.  German researchers of Munich’s Else-Kröner-Fresenius Center of Nutritional Medicine have determined, however, that eating a large meal in the morning is counterproductive to weight loss if dieters don’t make calorie accommodations during their meals for the rest of the day. 

The German study, published in the latest issue of Nutrition Journal, analyzed the eating logs of 380 people whose body weight was classified as “normal” to “obese”.  The researchers concluded that the study’s participants ate the same amount of food for the remainder of the day regardless of the size of their breakfasts.  Balance is essential to a healthy diet.  This study does not suggest skipping breakfast; it suggests the importance of being cognizant of caloric intake.  If you’re trying to lose weight and you start the morning with a large breakfast, consider those calories as you eat throughout the day, and don’t eat more than you’ll burn off.  Dr. Namnoum reminds cosmetic surgery patients that diet is important not only when you’re trying to lose weight, but also when you’re trying to heal from cosmetic or reconstructive surgery.

To learn more useful information about healthy healing log on to Dr. Namnoum’s “Mind the Body” blog or visit our website.