Want to lose weight? Have breakfast at 11am

Eating a balanced breakfast at 11am can help you lose 2 to 5 kg in a few months. — Photo: TNS

Should you skip breakfast to lose weight? According to Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London, you should postpone breakfast until 11am to better achieve your weight loss goals. Coupled with a balanced diet, this simple habit could help you lose between 2 and 5kg over the months. The epidemiologist presented the results of his research at Britain's Cheltenham Science Festival.

A 14-hour fasting period

Why wait to eat? According to the specialist, waiting until 11 am makes it possible to achieve a 14-hour fasting period since the last meal of the day before.

To reach this conclusion, the specialist followed the eating habits of the Hadza tribe, mainly based in Tanzania. These hunter-gatherers have their last meal of the day between 8 and 9pm. Their first meal of the day is between 10.30am and 11am, i.e., 14 hours later.

Cutting down on snacking

The specialist notes that Europeans are eating dinner later and later. "There are still people, particularly in the north of England, who eat earlier, but generally we have moved towards continental eating habits, having dinner much later like people in Spain and Italy. Even those who don't do that may end up snacking up until 9pm, making it difficult to achieve a 14-hour fasting period.

"There is a simple change people can make, by shifting their breakfast from 8am to 11am, which actually is more effective than more fashionable fasting diets like 5:2.," he said after the event, as quoted by The Daily Mail. – AFP Relaxnews