The latest encouragement for women wishing to shed some extra pounds is to enjoy each morning savoring a nice hearty breakfast, instead of depriving themselves of the day’s first meal.

Researchers in the US have found that eating a big breakfast, rich in carbohydrates and protein, followed by lighter meals with lower carb content and fewer calories throughout the rest of the day can help women lose weight.

This type of diet appeared to be more helpful than a strict low carbohydrate one.

Lead author Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, explains that a low carbohydrate diet “exacerbates” the craving for carbs and ultimately “slows metabolism,” as quoted by Medical News Today.

In the long run, this means that the initial period of weight loss is followed by a return to obesity and the ensuing medical and psychological issues.

Jakubowicz emphasized that a mere 5 percent of low carbohydrate diets are successful after two years. Unfortunately, these do not bring a solution to addictive eating impulses either.

Jakubowicz worked with 96 obese and physically inactive women over a period of 8 months. Of the participants, 46 were put on a very low carb diet and 48 on the big breakfast diet. The two diets had in common that they were low in fat and total calories but differed in that carbohydrates were taken in differently during the day.

The first group ate 1,085 calories a day, mostly in protein and fat, with only 17 grams in carbohydrates. Breakfast was the smallest meal of the day, with only 7 grams of carbs.

The women in the second group ate 1,240 calories a day, mostly carbs (97 grams) and protein (93 grams). Breakfast was the most generous meal of the day, with lunch containing only 395 calories and dinner a mere 235 calories (of which 5 grams of carbs, 18 of protein and 26 of fat).

After four months of the low-carb diet, the women in that particular group had lost an average of 28 pounds, five pounds more than the women on the “big breakfast” diet.

Another four months later, the low-carb dieters had gained an average of 18 pounds back, while the women eating a hearty breakfast each day had lost an average of 16.5 pounds each.

The women eating to their hearts’ desire lost an impressive 20 percent of their total body weight on average, while those fasting on the low-carb diet lost less that 5 percent.

There is a saying among those worried with their silhouette and their diet… eat like a queen in the morning, like a princess at lunch and a pauper at dinner and your body shall slim down in time as you aid your metabolism in this simple way.

This study, presented at The Endocrine Society’s 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Tuesday, comes to support the saying.