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How you can use your body clock to help you burn fat

Eating breakfast can help your body’s biological clock burn more fat


UPDATED MARCH 7, 2020 4:21 AM EST

Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day (something that has been backed by science for ages), but now a study conducted by Vanderbilt University shows that the time you eat directly impacts the ability your body’s biological clock has to burn fat properly. The researchers concluded that although the time you eat doesn’t impact your body activity levels, it does impact (along with other factors) how efficient your body can lose weight over the long-term. Researchers also suggest that fasting is a great way to assist your body with weight loss.

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Never skipping a meal

Researchers at Vanderbilt University found that skipping breakfast can impact the body’s ability to lose weight.

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When you eat is very important

The team also found that although calories consumed can negatively impact weight loss, the time you choose to eat is also a big factor.

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Precise timing

The study monitored eating habits of middle-aged and older subjects in two separate 56-hour controlled sessions where lunch was delivered at 12:30 pm and dinner delivered at 5:45 pm.

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Off-schedule eating’s impact on the body

The third meal given to participants was either given at 8 am as breakfast or at 10 pm as a snack. Researchers found that the timing of the third meal impacted how much fat the body was able to burn.

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What happens when you eat breakfast

Those that were given the meal at 8 am were able to burn more fat than those who ate at 10 pm.

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The importance of the body’s clock

Study authors Kevin Kelly, Owen McGuinness and Carl Johnson said the answer in how much body fat participants burned could be found in the body’s biological clock.

They suggested a daily fast between the evening meal and morning meal to help optimize the body’s ability to burn weight.