New research claims that breakfast could be the most important meal of the day when it comes to losing weight.
Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas, Venezuela, says having a small breakfast could actually boost food cravings.
For decades breakfast has long been regarded by many experts as possibly the most important meal of the day, in particular for those who want to lose weight.
Dr. Jakubowicz has been an advocate of hearty breakfasts for years and so she tested her theory against a low carbohydrate diet in a study of 96 obese and physically inactive women.
The low carbohydrate diet involved 1,085 calories a day, the majority coming from protein and fat and breakfast was the smallest meal of the day with just 290 calories, and seven grams of carbohydrates.
The "big breakfast" diet involved 1,240 calories with a lower proportion of fat and more carbohydrates and protein - breakfast was 610 calories, with 58 grams of carbohydrates, while lunch and dinner were 395 and 235 calories respectively - the women were placed on one of the two diets.
After four months while the women eating small breakfasts had lost an average of around 5 pounds more than the women who ate high calorie breakfast, the weight loss was not sustained and by eight months, the small breakfasters had regained an average of 18 pounds of weight.
But the women who ate healthy high calorie big breakfasts continued to lose weight, shedding another 16.5 ponds on average and the researchers say that at the end of the study, the big breakfast eaters had lost more than 21 per cent of their body weight compared with just 4.5 per cent for the other women.
Expert say a big breakfast diet might simply be less boring and could make it easier for people on a higher-carbohydrate diet to comply with it over a longer period
Dr. Jakubowicz says the 'big breakfasters' felt less hungry, particularly in the mornings and fuller during the day.