A recent study whose results were published on June 17, 2008 at the at The Endocrine Society’s 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, revealed that a group of overweight women who consumed a larger breakfast consisting of higher portions of both carbohydrates and protein we able keep the weight off longer than other subjects that followed just a strict low carb diet.

You can read the full story of the study and its findings here.

By now, it’s been proven enough times that low carb diets are pretty effective at taking the pounds off quickly. However, keeping them off is another story. Most low carb dieters put the weight back on within a few months of going off the diet. Personally, I follow a low carb diet and have been able to stick to it without falling off the wagon too many times, but it does take a degree of discipline that most people aren’t willing to invest.

That’s why we all dream of a “magic diet pill” to make the excess pounds melt away effortlessly.

Unfortunately, until that miracle occurs, we’re just left with the old fashioned method — consume less calories than we burn. Painfully simple, yet excruciatingly difficult!

Back to the Big Breakfast diet for a moment. One thing that I experimented with when first starting out on a strict low carb diet was consuming the bulk of my carbs early in the day — before 3pm, with most of them coming at breakfast.

I quickly found that if I didn’t at least have a slice of toast with my breakfast then I’d pay the price in digestive disorders later in the morning. I really needed to have some fiber in my system first thing in the morning.

Also, from a metabolism standpoint, stoking your furnace with energy-rich foods at the start of your day is insurance that you’ll have a ready supply of stored energy as your day progresses. A few additional resupplies of carbs as the day wears on is also a good idea. Have a piece of fruit or even an oatmeal cookie during the afternoon when your eyelids are starting to get heavy.

Later in the day, particularly at dinner, I like to get my carbs in a low glycemic index form. So a green salad and steamed broccoli with a serving of lean protein is ideal. Dessert is typically a serving of a low glycemic  index fruit such as strawberries or blueberries.

Based on the results of this recent study, I’m going to up the carbs a bit more at breakfast and see how my energy levels hold up throughout the day.  It’s probably also a good time to tighten up on some of the extra carbs I’ve been sneaking in later on in the day as well.