Eating earlier in the day could support weight loss, blood pressure and appetite control, according to growing research on the timing of meals. Registered dietitian Sophie Medlin said the body’s response to food is influenced not only by what is eaten, but also by daily routines including waking, sleeping and exercise.
A study by scientists in Slovenia found that restricting meals to an 8am to 4pm window led to around ten pounds of weight loss over three months, alongside a reduction in body fat and more stable blood sugar levels.
Critics argue that the results may simply reflect people consuming fewer calories during a shorter eating period. However, Ms Medlin said there was reason to consider meal timing independently of weight loss.
Why eating earlier may help
A 2024 meta-analysis found that consuming more calories earlier in the day, alongside time-restricted eating, was associated with reductions in weight, although the changes were relatively small.
“Our bodies run on approximately 24-hour circadian rhythms,” Ms Medlin said. “These influence how good our body is at converting blood sugar to energy and digesting food, as well as the level of our appetite hormones.”
The body is generally more efficient at turning food sugars into energy during the most active part of the day. Eating earlier also provides more time for energy to be used through movement, she said.
Research from Harvard in 2022 examined 16 overweight and obese adults who followed an early eating schedule for two weeks before moving their meals four hours later. Their calorie intake remained the same.
Those following the earlier timetable ate their first meal roughly one hour after waking, at about 8am on average, and had dinner at around 4.30pm. Under the later schedule, breakfast was delayed by five hours, with some participants eating their first meal as late as midday, while dinner was pushed back to about 8.30pm.
The later eaters had higher blood levels of hormones linked with hunger and lower levels of compounds released in response to fullness. Researchers concluded that eating later could alter signals from the gut and increase hunger.
Ms Medlin cautioned that the study was small. “This study is interesting but it only involved 16 adults. More conclusive evidence is needed to prove the theory,” she said.
She added that delaying most food until late evening could nevertheless interfere with appetite regulation and blood sugar levels.
Does skipping breakfast help with weight loss?
Intermittent fasting remains popular, with many people skipping breakfast, eating lunch and dinner instead, and cutting out snacks. A review published earlier this year suggested the approach could reduce body weight by about 3 per cent, equivalent to roughly five and a half pounds for an average man.
Other reviews, however, have found that the benefit is likely to come from consuming fewer calories rather than from fasting itself. Similar weight loss has been observed with other low-calorie diets, while some research suggests that missing breakfast may lead to overeating later in the day.
An observational study of 23,488 American adults found that people who skipped both breakfast and lunch consumed, on average, about 187 more calories at dinner.
Another study involving almost 3,000 older adults found that delaying the first meal of the day by even an hour was associated with an 11 per cent higher risk of death. The finding was an association rather than proof that the delay caused the increased risk.
“Skipping breakfast risks a pattern whereby you eat very little throughout the day and then consume a large proportion of the day’s food late at night,” Ms Medlin said.
“This can encourage overeating, and large, rich meals close to bed may cause reflux, bloating or disturbed sleep.”
She said the body was less able to convert food into energy at night, meaning excess calories were more likely to be stored as fat.
Suggested meal timings
There is no precise schedule guaranteed to prevent overeating, tiredness or a loss of concentration. But Ms Medlin said the evidence pointed towards useful windows for people following a conventional sleep pattern.
Breakfast could be eaten within one to two hours of waking, followed by lunch around four to five hours later. Dinner would ideally be eaten two to three hours before going to bed.
In practical terms, this could mean breakfast between 7am and 9am, lunch between midday and 2pm, and dinner between 6pm and 8pm.
Ms Medlin said the most important consideration was ensuring that the hours before bed were not the main eating period of the day. Finishing a main meal two to three hours before lying down, she said, allowed time for digestion and could reduce reflux or discomfort.
