Being obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, is linked to a higher chance of having life-threatening health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer and more. Right now, 73 percent of Americans are considered overweight or obese, and about half of Americans have tried to lose weight within the last 12 months. However, as anyone trying to lose a few pounds can attest, it’s never as simple as it seems. Maintaining a healthy diet is not simply reduced to what eat, but also how much and how often, and now a new study indicates that what time you eat can also have an impact. Read on to learn why eating at a particular time of day could put you at higher risk for obesity and how to make a healthier meal plan moving forward.
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At its most basic level, weight management is about balancing the calories you take in through food with the calories you expend through exercise. Eat more calories than you burn and your weight will go up. Burn more than you eat and your weight will drop. “However, this equation can be deceptively simple because it doesn’t take into account the multitude of factors that affect what we eat, how much we exercise, and how our bodies process all this energy,” say experts from the TH Chan School at the University of Harvard. of Public Health. “The causes of obesity are as varied as the people they affect,” they write, noting that “inheritance is not destiny” when it comes to weight and health.
In particular, these experts say that “prenatal and early life influences, poor diets, too much television viewing, too little physical activity and sleep, and our eating and physical activity environment” may play a role in your chance of developing obesity.
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A controlled study, published in the October 4 issue of the journal Cellular metabolismHe says eat later in the day can increase your risk of obesity.
“In this study, we asked, ‘Do you have the time we eat matter when everything else is held constant?'” Nina VukovicPhD, study author and investigator in the Medical Chronobiology Program in Brigham’s Division of Circadian and Sleep Disorders. direct science. “And we found that eating four hours later makes a significant difference to our hunger levels, how well we burn calories after eating, and how well we store fat.”
The study analyzed data collected from 16 subjects with a BMI considered overweight or obesity while following a couple of strictly scheduled meal plans. Although the diets in these two meal plans were identical in nutritional content, participants were first instructed to eat one hour earlier and then instructed to eat four hours after that initial time.
The participants self-reported their changes in appetite, and the researchers collected blood samples, measured their energy expenditure, took their body temperature, and collected samples of fat tissue to compare any changes in gene expression from one eating plan to the next. “The order of the protocols was randomized and the visits were separated by a washout period of three to 12 weeks,” the study explains.
The team found that eating four hours later significantly impacted two appetite-regulating hormones in particular: leptin, which promotes satiety, and ghrelin, which promotes hunger. When the subjects ate later in the day, they also burned calories more slowly and showed a gene expression more prone to fat growth. These findings suggest that in addition to eating a healthy diet based on whole foods and exercising regularly, eating earlier in the day may also help lower the risk of obesity.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even modest weight loss that reduces your weight by five to 10 percent is likely to improve your health by lower blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugar. Incremental changes in your weight can make a difference even if you’re still classified as overweight or obese.
However, it’s best to avoid diets that promise a “quick fix” and instead work to lose weight safely over time, the CDC says. “When you’re trying to lose weight, it’s natural to want it to happen very quickly. But people with gradual and steady weight loss (about 1 to 2 pounds per week) are more likely to keep the weight off,” the experts write. . For more information on how to lose weight safely, talk to your doctor or see CDC guidance to start losing kilos.
