The four simple things YOU can do to shed pounds – and keep the weight off

TRYING to lose weight and focusing hard on what you're eating?

Stop! The key to weight loss is actually WHEN you eat, according to experts.

There are four key factors associated with losing weight and decreasing your body mass index (BMI), a new study has revealed.

They are:

• eating only one or two meals a day
• fasting overnight for up to 18 hours
• eating breakfast instead of skipping it
• making either breakfast or lunch the largest meal of the day

Making breakfast the largest meal of the day results in a larger reduction in BMI than beefing up your lunch, experts from Loma Linda University in the Czech Republic found.

Meanwhile eating more than three meals a day, which includes snacks, and making dinner the largest meal of the day, were both linked to having a higher BMI.

Researchers looked at more than 50,000 participants in an Adventist health study to determine which diet habits gleaned the best results for reducing BMI.

Hana Kahleova, lead author, recommends eating lunch, skipping supper, avoiding snacks, making breakfast your largest meal of the day and fasting overnight for 18 hours if you want to lose weight.

She said: "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."

Co-author Gary Fraser said that, regardless of meal pattern, there was an increase in weight gain year by year until participants reached 60.

After the age of 60 most experienced weight loss each year.

He said: "Before age 60 years, those eating calories earlier in the day had less weight gain.

"Over decades, the total effect would be very important."

The idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day is hardly a new concept.

While some experts suggest the actual importance of breakfast is debatable, there is evidence to suggest that breakfast eaters are usually thinner than non-breakfast eaters.

Some research suggest skipping a meal, whichever meal it is, can cause abnormalities in your metabolism, which is a series of chemical reactions in your body responsible for turning food into energy.

It comes as Healthista's nutritionist Rick Hay revealed yesterday the nine foods that boost your metabolism and help you burn calories with almost NO effort at all.

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