Have you ever heard the term “You are what you eat?” It should actually be, “You are when you eat.”

When I was a resident, I developed some bad eating habits, such as
eating out of boxes and having lunch whenever I could grab it, like at four in the afternoon or even midnight. Now, I’ve learned that eating too late in the day makes losing weight harder. Let me tell you how this works and why.

Developing healthy eating habits and eating meals more regularly throughout the day will make it significantly easier for you to lose weight.

The Research

In a study published in the International Journal of Obesity, researchers found that the later you eat your lunch, the more difficult it is to lose pounds and the higher your risk of getting diabetes.

They studied 420 overweight people for 20 weeks; those who ate lunch after three lost significantly less weight than those who ate earlier in the day. Late eaters had a lower insulin sensitivity, meaning their bodies weren’t metabolizing blood sugar well, a situation that can lead to weight gain and diabetes.

There’s a lesson here: Try developing healthy eating habits by eating a regular pattern of meals throughout the day, with main meals and healthy snacks at roughly the same time throughout the day.

The moral of this study is: No late lunches.

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Healthy Snacks Between Meals

The 17 Day Diet allows you to eat healthy snacks between your main meals. That’s a good thing. In fact, I want you to eat something every three hours. Research shows that folks who don’t eat for three hours or longer have more body fat than regular snackers.

If you go too long without eating, or if you are skipping meals, your body senses that food is scarce, so it clings to its energy reserve, which is fat. Then when you finally eat something, insulin shoots higher than normal in an effort to process the calories coming in. At that point, a fat-storing enzyme called lipoprotein lipase increases too, and starts packing away the newly eaten calories as fat.

Skipping Meals is BAD

Never fall prey to the myth that skipping meals will help you get skinny. Just the opposite: skipping meals will deter your efforts to burn fat, impair your appetite regulation (which might lead to bingeing) and undermine your metabolism. Eat on a regular schedule, and you’ll lose weight more easily.

Take Action and Develop Healthy Eating Habits

Remember, “You are when you eat.” Ensure that you are not skipping meals and that you are eating regularly and developing healthy eating habits.

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