The Shocking Reason You Can’t Lose Weight

Dear Reader,

It’s happened more times than I can count.

Patients who are struggling to lose weight come to my office, swearing they’re doing all the right things.

But the pounds just won’t come off. Sounds familiar, right?

Well, more often than not, these patients share one common habit that is sabotaging their diets.

They’re paying attention to what they’re eating – but not giving a second thought to when.

But according to a recent study, eating at the wrong time of day could have a major impact on your weight—and your health.

For this recent study, adults spent eight weeks eating three meals a day, plus two snacks, during daytime hours (between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.).

Then, for another eight weeks they ate the same food (three meals a day plus two snacks), only this time it was later in the day (between noon to 11 p.m.).

Even though the participants ate the SAME foods, spread out over the SAME amount of time (11 hours), the differences in when they ate were astounding.

When the participants ate later in the day, they metabolized less fat and more carbs.

This led to an increase in weight, insulin levels, fasting glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.

I’m talking about risk factors for obesity, heart disease, diabetes… you name it.

What this means is that something as simple as stopping eating a few hours earlier in the day can help stave off not just weight gain, but also some of today’s most serious health problems.

Why would a four-hour difference be such a big deal?

It all comes back to following your body’s natural circadian rhythm, which regulates hormone production.

This study showed that when the participants ate earlier in the day, the hormone ghrelin (which stimulates appetite) peaked earlier in the day, while leptin (which stimulates fullness) peaked later.

In other words, eating earlier in the day puts you in a position to be working with your hormones instead of against them when it comes to managing your diet and your weight.

Even though this study was relatively small, it confirms what I’ve been telling patients for years.

In fact, I often try to get my patients to do all their eating within a 7-8 hour window.

I challenge you to give this a try yourself for eight weeks to see if this simple fix can make a big change in your life (and your weight).

To a brighter day,

Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D.