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Why is Breakfast the Most Important Fat-Burning Meal of the Day?
QUESTION: Does eating a big breakfast really make any difference in getting lean or is that another nutrition myth?
ANSWER: Hell if I would know! Ok, I do know. And it's not a myth. It's a true factoid. It's the most important meal of the day, next to the pre-training meal. Before getting into some of the facts and logic behind eating a large breakfast, let me give you my own personal experience going all the way back to 1988. That year, I was working with a really good local bodybuilder in Springfield Massachusetts. I had him was eating 2400-2600 calories a day and he was pretty damn lean, but not shredded. With 6 weeks remaining before the competition, I actually increased his calories to 3400 a day and I had him take in 1200 calories at meal 1 and 440 calories at the next 5 meals of the day. The results; he got really cut - complete with striated glutes. Right there, that was enough proof to convince me that it's hard to get fat when you eat a lot at the first meal of the day. Below, I'll give you the principle reasons why you should eat a lot of calories at meal one if ripped and lean is your goal.
Metabolism: Metabolism can generally be defined as "calorie burn." Many nutritionists like to get more specific and define at as the amount of calories you burn in a given 24 hour period. In the real world-- how the body really works-- you don't burn a uniform amount of energy each and every hour over a 24 hour span. Calorie burning varies throughout the day and is, overall, higher in the early waking hours than any other time of the day. Since the metabolism is higher upon waking, say the first few hours of the day, it makes sense to eat more during this time as calories will less likely be stored as body fat since the metabolism is burning at a (slightly) higher rate. This is one of the major reasons why I always have clients eat more at meal 1 than at any other meal. It's more difficult to get fat. In addition, there is an important muscle-building concept to consider here. The calories you eat have to "go" someplace. When you eat, calories can be stored as body fat, wasted as heat-- meaning some calories are simply burned off during the digestion process, or they can support anabolism (the building of muscle). If calories are less likely to be stored as body fat, such as at meal 1, that means they are more likely to "go" down muscle building pathways helping the body to increase its muscle mass. When calories support muscle building, the overall metabolism slightly rises and nothing is more important in getting serious (fat burning) results then an elevated metabolism.
Heat: One of the many influences on the metabolism is body heat. The body's internal core temperature tends to remain stable at 98.6 F but that can vary based on several factors. In general, the body's ability to generate heat is a little greater in the morning then later in the day which means the foods you eat earlier are less likely to be stored as body fat. Another way of looking at it; when you eat more at meal one, the body has a greater ability to burn some of those calories "off" simply because the internal temperature is a bit higher at this time and even a mildly higher temperature has an affect on whether the food you eat is deposited as body fat. I manufacture my own line of supplements now but in the olden days, people depended on a mix of caffeine and theophylline to increase body temperature. These products work better (i.e. they are more affective at increasing body temperature) when taken before meal one as opposed to taking them after eating 2-3 meals. That has to do with the fact that some fat burners work by increasing norepinephrine (NE) levels. NE increases body temperature, which causes calories to be burned. However, even a mild carb intake can blunt the NE induced heat drive associated with some fat burners. So; its best to take them before meal 1; let them "sink in". Then go ahead and chow down the first meal of the day.
Glycogen Status : Can carbohydrates make you fat? Sure they can. One way; when carbohydrate reserves called "muscle glycogen" are full, any incoming carbohydrates that you eat will be packed away as body fat. On the other hand, when glycogen stores are lower (or not full) incoming carbohydrates are less likely to be stored as body fat. In the morning, having not eaten for 8-10 hours, glycogen stores are lower than any time of the day, especially if you avoided a high carb intake before bed (which I recommend). When glycogen stores are low, the body will take the large amount of carbohydrates consumed at meal 1 and store many, or a majority of them, as muscle glycogen. In turn, when carbs are stored as glycogen, fewer can be stored as body fat. On the other hand, as the day progresses and you continue to eat multiple meals spaced every 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours, glycogen stores begin to saturate and as glycogen reserves fill up, the body is more likely to take incoming carbohydrates and store them as body fat. Think of it as an empty cup. How much water can be poured into an empty cup before it starts to spill over the edge? Now, compare the empty cup to a cup that is 3/4 full. The cup that is already 3/4 full can take far less water before that water spills over the edge. The same is true with carbohydrates and glycogens stores. Later in the day, when those stores are much fuller then earlier in the day, the body can only take so many before the extra carbs "spill over" and create body fat.
Blood Sugar Levels: The amount of carbohydrates floating around in the blood stream also influences the body's ability to make body fat. The technical term for carbohydrates in the blood is "blood sugar" which is nothing more than the final dissolved and digested fragment of carbohydrates (glucose). Higher blood sugar levels tend to increase the body's ability to manufacture body fat from carbohydrates. In the morning, upon waking, blood sugar levels tend to be rather low so incoming carbohydrates are far less likely to be stored as body fat then at other times of the day. The carbs eaten at meal 1 must first raise blood sugar levels before starting to fill glycogen stores.
As you can see, there's a strong argument that eating more in the morning is a wise step in staying lean. I will go a step further and claim a person will get leaner eating more calories a day then fewer calories, as long as he is eating a large portion of his calories in meal 1. For example, here is a side by side calorie breakdown using 5 meals a day with Menu A being 200 calories higher then Menu B. The person following the A menu, which has more calories in meal 1, will get leaner over time then the person following menu B.
Menu A Menu B
Meal 1 1000 calories 550 calories
Meal 2 500 calories 550 calories
Meal 3 500 calories 550 calories
Meal 4 500 calories 550 calories
Meal 5 500 calories 550 calories
Total 3000 calories 2750 calories
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