Eat More Calories in the Morning than the Evening
Why are calories eaten in the morning less fattening than calories eaten in the evening?
New subscribers to our e-newsletter always receive a free gift. Get yours here:
You thought dual benefits sounded good. Stay tuned—triple benefits are next! I’m going into more on circadian rhythms next with:
• How Circadian Rhythms Affect Blood Sugar Levels
( )
• How to Sync Your Central Circadian Clock to Your Peripheral Clocks
( )
• The Metabolic Harms of Night Shifts and Irregular Meals
( )
• Shedding Light on Shedding Weight
( )
• Why People Gain Weight in the Fall
( )
In the last few videos, I’ve been focusing on why the science points to loading your calories towards the beginning of the day:
• Is Breakfast the Most Important Meal for Weight Loss?
( )
• Is Skipping Breakfast Better for Weight Loss?
( )
• Chronobiology – How Circadian Rhythms Can Control Your Health and Weight
( )
• Eat More Calories in the Morning to Lose Weight
( )
• Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, Dinner Like a Pauper
( )
Have a question about this video? Leave it in the comment section at and someone on the NutritionFacts.org team will try to answer it.
UPDATE: We are currently testing the removal of the comment section across all video pages on the NutritionFacts.org website until October, and it will either be reinstated thereafter or removed permanently based on the results. Please feel free to continue your discussions by commenting on our YouTube channel and social media accounts, where we will have Health Support volunteers available to address questions.
Want to get a list of links to all the scientific sources used in this video? Click on Sources Cited at . You’ll also find a transcript and acknowledgements for the video, my blog and speaking tour schedule, and an easy way to search (by translated language even) through our videos spanning more than 2,000 health topics.
If you’d rather watch these videos on YouTube, subscribe to my YouTube Channel here:
Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM
Captions for this video are available in several languages. To find yours, click on the settings wheel on the lower-right of the video and then "Subtitles/CC."
Do you have feedback about the translations in this video? Please share it here along with the title of the video and language:
Image credit: Kristina DeMuth
• Subscribe:
• Donate:
• Podcast :
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/NutritionFacts.org
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/nutrition_facts
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/nutrition_facts_org
• Books:
• Shop:
All very logical, well done Dr Greger. 😀
De hh
Great video, simply exercise early in the morning, eat afterwards breakfast have another plant based lunch and drink only water or teas after 1pm. Weight comes off, no hunger after getting used to it (~1-2 weeks) 😀
The problem is i like to eat snacks in the evening while watching movies..or series.
@Vagelis4VP I understand, but the distraction of the TV even reduces the enjoyment of the food. In the past it was like, “who finished all these snacks?”, I didn’t even realize that I ate them all.
@ooo789456123 lol.. the only bad i think is just to not eat too much… or too late at night.
I think that eating while watching tv or streaming causes me to eat more. I’m trying to eat at the dinner table without tv/computer/phone. Maybe if I focus on eating I’ll notice that I’m full and stop before I eat to much.
I want to eliminate the association between watching and eating/snacking.
@Vagelis 4VP, try eating whole carrots in the evening if you feel peckish. 50 kcals per carrot and you’ll feel satiated quite quickly due to the fibre.
Simply fascinating. Thank you, Dr. Greger!👏👍
FASCINATING!! Thanks for doing the research and posting!!
After watching your last video, I had a giant bowl of oatmeal with nut butter and fruit for breakfast, a potato and soup for lunch and a salad for dinner. Normally i have a small breakfast and lunch and eat a HUGE dinner. Had a much better sleep after eating the salad and when I woke up, I broke through my weight loss plateau! Going to keep this up!
So would it be extra beneficial to exercise first thing in the morning? The idea being you deplete your glycogen stores, then eat breakfast and the body is even more eager to replace the glycogen that was just lost during exercise. Would this further enhance the lower net calories of breakfast?
This is probably the most interesting video you have ever done! Love it!
Agree
Thank you so much for the info and explaining how this works in the body!!!
O22
Meals early in the day and herb teas or veg broth in the evening sounds like a good way to go and might make for better sleep too.
It’s difficult to not only find but to understand the studies you mention in your videos. Thank you for all your efforts, we all appreciate you very much!
So the weight loss and blood sugar control seem like short term benefits. What about the long term effect on longevity. Your previous videos have stated that the number of calories burned was negatively associated with longevity. Could there be any negative effects from eating large breakfasts?
I’ve always been the type to skip breakfast and binge at night. Now I’m flip flopping that thanks to your advice. Through Chronometer I’m eating enough calories to lose a pound a week but in practice I’m currently losing double that approximately. So it seems to be clearly working. Started this month and I’m down ten pounds after reading How Not To Die I’m finally motivated to return to a healthy body.
I remember eating blended boiled potatos in the morning with some berries. After an hour I got really hot. I guess my body was making glycogen. 😊
Since watching this video, I have been eating my calories in the morning and at lunch, then when I get home from work, eat nothing for dinner. My breakfasts and lunches are larger than they used to be, but after two weeks, I’m down two pounds! It also feels great to have an appetite for breakfast.
how the hell can u be doing it for 2 weeks after only viewing the vid a few days ago
@Aleph beta I follow Nutrition facts on Instagram and itunes podcasts as well, and one of those came out earlier. Sorry, it wasn’t this exact video on YT, but it was this information from Greger I heard about two weeks ago on another platform.
As a night shifter, I’m so glad you addressed this concern for me!
excellent video! i wonder how the circadian rhythm could also have an impact the productivity of exercising between evenings and mornings…
Useful science for everyday decisions. Love this kinda stuff!
I’ve been doing this for a few months. I have way more energy than when I tried fasting windows and not eating until 11 am. It restored my metabolism bc I wanted to workout earlier in the day bc of increased fuel. It’s also really helped my sleep. I eat rice cereal , fruit yogurt and 1 soft boiled egg for breakfast. By dinner I just have a small salad w chicken or fish. My blood sugar has really stabilized. Everyone is dif though. People need things for their body.
.
.
Oo Oo de la
So I can conclude that if I would like to lose body fat, eating all my food in the morning would be practically significantly better than in the evening? How much difference will it make? Are there any disadvantages or other things I should know?