One of the most common practices I see in new clients trying to lose weight is "back-loading" calories. If you eat a big lunch, then get busy in the afternoon, or just don't feel like eating for five or six (or more) hours, your body is going to do two things:
1. Take energy away from your stored protein (muscle tissue)
2. Crave large amounts of calorie-dense food
Why? Well, you're telling your body it can't count on a consistent, adequate calorie supply, so it' s breaking down the tissue that allows you to burn calories, and it's loading up for the next long stretch of lean times it thinks is coming.
So, breaking down the muscle tissue makes you feel sluggish and so you become less active, burning fewer calories that day than you might have otherwise. And then if you do eat that king-sized fat and/or sugar laden meal, it's pretty likely you're going to end the day with a calorie surplus. That adds to, rather than draws down, your fat stores. Even 200 calories extra each day adds up to more than 20 pounds in a year.
How do you reverse it?
By doing the opposite. Eat just enough at lunch to get you through a couple of hours, eat a fairly substantial mid or late afternoon snack, and then you should feel like a pretty light dinner.
Do that, and it will be easier for you to create that shortfall that will trim, rather than thicken your middle.
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