According to a new research, eating a big breakfast is the key to losing weight and also keeping fit.

A group of scientists led by Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, a clinical professor of medicine at the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond have come to the conclusion that eating a big breakfast rich in proteins and carbohydrates helps people cut sweets, fat-rich products and unhealthy food. However, one should not expect to see the results in a short period of time.

The scientists presented the results of their research on Tuesday, June 17, at the Endocrine Society’s 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Jakubowicz and her team studied 94 obese, inactive women and put them through two different types of diets.

46 of these women were assigned to a low-carb diet, which allowed them to eat 1,085 calories a day. Breakfast was the poorest meal of the day, containing only 7 grams of carbohydrates.

The other 48 women were assigned on a “big-breakfast diet”, which allowed them to eat 1,240 calories a day. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, consisting of lots of carbs and proteins.

After a few months, the low-carb dieters lost more weight than the other women, but after another period of time, the situation changed completely. While low-carb dieters put weight back on, the “big breakfasters” continued to lose weight. They lost approximately a fifth of their total body weight, compared to less than 5 percent for the low-carb dieters.

The big-breakfast diet helps people lose weight in a healthy manner, allowing dieters to eat lots of fruit and vegetables. As Dr. Jakubowicz said, quoted by BBC News, it seems that a low-carb diet “exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slow metabolism”.