Add dessert to breakfast and lose weight

A new study suggests that the best way to lose weight is to start the day off with a balanced breakfastand then have your cake and eat it too -- literally.

It may sound counterintuitive, but according to the results of a study out of Tel Aviv, adding a dessert to a 600-calorie breakfast can help dieters lose more weight and keep it off.

The reason? The body’s metabolism is at its most active in the morning, researchers say, making it the optimal time to indulge -- and curb -- sweet cravings. Dieters also have the whole day to work off the extra calories.

The study, announced by Tel Aviv University on February 7 and published in the journal Steroids, assigned 193 obese adults two different diets over an eight-month period. 

One group was put on a low-carb diet that included a small, 300-calorie breakfast, while the second group was given a 600-calorie breakfast, high in protein and carbohydrates, which always included achocolate dessert.

Gender allowances were also made, as men consumed 1,600 calories a day and women 1,400.

Halfway through the study, scientists observed that groups lost an average of 33 lbs (15 kg) per person.

In the second half of the study, however, while the low-carb group regained an average of 22 lbs. (10 kg), the second group lost another 15 lbs (7 kg).

At the end of the 32-week program, those put on the dessert breakfast lost an average of 40 lbs (18 kg) more per person than their peers.

Ingesting a higher proportion of daily calories at breakfast makes sense, researchers say, as it helps rev up the metabolism but also alleviates cravings, researchers said.

Furthermore, restrictive diets that ban small indulgences like desserts more often than not cause people to fall off the proverbial wagon and cheat, regaining any weight lost.

However, in another German study published last year, researchers came to a different conclusion about breakfast habits and weight loss. After analyzing and comparing the food diaries of 300 participants, scientists found that people ate the same at lunch and dinner regardless of the size of their breakfast, resulting in a total increase of daily caloric intake overall.