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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Health
Charlotte Smith & Caitlin Griffin

Calorie expert reveals simple breakfast method to help burn fat and keep it off

A simple change to your morning breakfast can help you burn fat and keep it off, according to a calorie expert. The University of Cambridge and molecular geneticist Giles Yeo spoke to BBC Dragon and popular podcast host Steven Bartlett, explaining what those hoping to lose weight should consider doing during their morning routine to melt fat.

Prof Yeo shared his simple mealtime method on an episode of 'Diary of a CEO', where he revealed consuming more food at breakfast is the key to getting rod of fat. Yeo says research shows those who follow the 'eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch and a pauper at dinner' rule are nearly ten per cent slimmer than people who do the opposite.

READ MORE: Denise Welch gained two stone giving up booze replacing 'one addiction with another'

Yeo says our metabolism has evolved to be at its most active during the daytime, meaning our bodies work more effectively to burn fuel – or food – then and are less likely to store excess calories as fat, Wales Online reports.

Going into detail, he told listeners: "Our metabolism is highest during the day, because we have to 'avoid becoming food' and we have to 'look for food'. Whereas at night when we're asleep, our metabolism drops.

"So if you eat your biggest meal at night and a couple of hours later you go to sleep, you are loading your calories then going to sleep - which is in storage mode. Whereas if you eat your biggest meal during the day, you have the whole day left in order to burn it."

He goes on to reference a study by a "good friend" of his called Professor Alexandra Johnstone, who is known as a "leading innovative UK researcher within the field of human appetite control" at the University of Aberdeen. The diet guru explains how in the study, a group of people were supplied the exact same amount of calories every day for a period of time.

"And they did this either by front-loading all the calories at breakfast, or back-loading all the calories at dinner - everyone ate the same thing - and then everybody swapped." He said, before adding: "She found that... the difference was if you ate more at breakfast, you felt less hungry during the day, than if you ate more at dinner.

"So while if you eat exactly the same foods, at breakfast and dinner or at dinner and lunch, it doesn't actually matter. But for some people, it may very well be easier to have a big breakfast because it means they get less hungry throughout the day."

He continued: "So if you were trying to lose weight... then you might begin to think about when you want to eat more. I would probably cut the calories from your dinner rather than cutting the calories from your breakfast."

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