Starting your morning with a high-protein food and a “dessert” may help you lose weight and keep it off, a new study suggests.
Presented recently at The Endocrine Society’s 94th Annual Meeting, researchers studied about 200 non-diabetic obese people. The subjects were randomly assigned to eat one of two low-calorie diets (about 1,600 calories for men and 1,400 calories for women).
One group ate a low-carbohydrate breakfast with 30 grams of protein that had about 300 calories. The other group ate a 600-calorie breakfast with 45 grams of protein and 60 grams of carbs, which included a small sweet, such as chocolate, a doughnut, a cookie or cake.
While dieters in both groups lost weight—an average of 33 pounds per person—four months into the eight-month study, the low-carb group regained an average of 22 pounds a person.
However, the people who ate the larger breakfast with dessert ended up losing another 15 pounds on average, according to ScienceDaily. Also, the group who ate dessert said they felt less hungry and suffered from fewer cravings as compared to the other group.
So what’s behind these big results? Experts say that “starting your day off with calories consisting of protein and carbohydrate will start the day off right, leaving you feeling full and satiated.”
“Although dietary restriction often results in initial weight loss, the majority of obese dieters fail to maintain their reduced weight,” wrote the study’s authors.
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Diet-related weight loss often triggers hunger and cravings while decreasing suppression of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger, the researchers said.
This may encourage weight gain. But, “a high protein and carbohydrate breakfast may