Study participants given a low-calorie lunch did not make up for the lower calorie intake at other meal and snack times during the day
If you want to lose weight without making drastic changes to your diet, eating a smaller lunch may be just the change you need to make. In fact, a very small change can make a substantial difference, especially over time.
Researchers at Cornell University monitored the food intake of 17 volunteers for five weeks. During week one, the participants ate all of their meals and snacks from a buffet. For the next two weeks, half of the volunteers chose one of six pre-packaged, commercially-available portion-controlled foods for their lunch. Each of the meals had approximately 200 calories. The other half of the group continued to eat from the buffet. All the subjects could eat whatever they wanted for the rest of the day.
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After two weeks the two groups switched, with the other group eating the calorie-restricted meals at lunch, while the original calorie-restricted group returned to the free-choice buffet. The researchers regularly tracked the calorie intake of the participants.