If you are trying to lose weight, you can do so without changing what you eat. Only change when you eat it.
But your body’s circadian rhythms and metabolism are affected by sunlight. The metabolism starts to increase with the rising of the sun and decreases with the setting of the sun. This means that during the summer months your metabolism is at a higher rate for a longer time.
During the summer months the sun starts to rise about 6 a.m. and sets around 8:30–9 p.m. During the dark hours your waking metabolism is the lowest it will be. Your metabolism peaks between 10 a.m.–3 p.m. During the winter months, the sun rises around 8 a.m. and sets around 5:30 p.m., giving a much shorter time for increased metabolism.
Breakfast kick starts your metabolism. If you skip breakfast, your metabolism will slow down.
If you are trying to lose weight, you can do so without changing what you eat. Only change when you eat it.
To put this in practical terms, take your big meal of the day (for most people that is the evening meal) and trade it for the breakfast meal. Stop eating after 5 p.m. If you need something to eat after 5 p.m., try fruit. This plan gives you all day to “burn off breakfast.” It gives energy when it is needed. It also allows your body to rest at night, which helps your body regenerate.
If you try this, it will help with weight loss — I promise.
Also, an important thing to remember is that watching TV puts your body into a hypnotic state. This lowers your metabolism even more than when you are sleeping. If you must watch TV, don’t eat while doing it.
Anecdotal note:
I used to teach at a Career Center in Michigan. My class was mostly girls who asked regularly about diets and weight loss. I finally started to do a class lecture every September about this just to get it out of the way. In January one year, a student approached me and told me that she had done everything I said, and she had lost 20 pounds! When her mom made supper, she made a plate of food and put it in the fridge and heated it for breakfast. She ate her normal lunch, and in the evening, she ate what she normally would eat for breakfast. She stopped eating at 5 p.m. She didn’t change what she ate at all; she only changed when she ate it. She lost weight without going through a loss of energy.
Susan Allen, who holds a doctorate in nursing practice, retired after more than 40 years in the nursing profession. Her experience includes serving as a nurse practitioner and teaching nursing at Andrews University and Pacific Union College.
