It is a common belief among diet enthusiasts that one must have their 'breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dine like a pauper,' based on the belief that consuming the bulk of daily calories in the morning optimizes weight loss by burning calories more efficiently and quickly. A recent study decodes this understanding and goes on further to state that whether a person eats their largest meal early or late in the day does not affect the way their body metabolizes calories. However, people who ate their largest meal in the morning did report feeling less hungry later in the day, which could foster easier weight loss in the real world.

"There are a lot of myths surrounding the timing of eating and how it might influence either body weight or health," says senior author Professor Alexandra Johnstone, a researcher in the field of appetite control at the Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. "This has been driven largely by the circadian rhythm field. But we in the nutrition field have wondered how this could be possible. Where would the energy go? We decided to take a closer look at how time of day interacts with metabolism."