Postmenopausal overweight and obese women who snacked between breakfast and lunch during a calorie-restriction weight loss program lost less weight than those who did not snack. This study demonstrates that snacking, at a minimum, creates metabolic inefficiency. Of course, snacking in conjunction with calorie excess is killing Americans at and early age and causing rampant disease. This is more data supporting the Five Rules of The Leptin Diet – rules you should live by for optimal health.

The study took place over a 12 month period and involved 123 overweight and obese women, 58 years old on average. Those with a mid-morning snack had 7 percent weight loss during the dieting period while those who did not snack mid-morning lost 11 percent of their weight – a statistically significant difference. The researchers seemed utterly lost when trying to explain the meaning of their findings, indicating they have little understanding of leptin and the regulation of hormones in relation to food timing.

When you eat you throw hormone switches into motion, independent of the number of calories. When you eat too often this creates a “repetitive strain injury” to hormonal efficiency, reducing calorie-burning effectiveness. This study showed that mid-morning snacking turned off fat burning, resulting in 50 percent less weight loss over the 12 month period. Remember, when you eat is as important as what you eat.