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This little-known technique for weight loss will very likely only require a very minor change to your current diet: If you have hit a plateau and are not getting the results you need, the concept of “nutritional timing” may be able to get your weight loss back on track.

This nutritional strategy involves paying attention to your body’s natural energy up and downs throughout the day, and eating accordingly.

When you wake up, your metabolism rises rapidly until sometime near the beginning of the afternoon, when it begins to drop. When your metabolism is highest, eat energy-dense foods that your body can easily assimilate into energy, and is less likely to store as fat.

When your energy levels drop, however, respond by eating foods that are less easily converted into fat by the body, such as vegetables, lean protein and healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats that can give you sustained energy without spiking your blood sugar and prompting fat storage.

When you eat high-glycemic refined carbohydrates in the morning, when your metabolism is elevated, they will not boost your blood sugar levels as much, and will therefore not trigger as large a release of insulin, which is linked to diabetes and tells your body to store fat for energy. When your metabolic rate is lower later in the day, the same refined carbohydrates will lead to a much more pronounced insulin spike.

This is the reason it is not wise to eat anything at all, but particularly refined carbs, within several hours of your bedtime, since the body becomes steadily less able to convert the consumed calories into energy and is much more likely to simply store them as body fat.

Staying on the topic of meal timing, you can keep your metabolic rate higher through the course of the day if you simply eat smaller, more frequent meals spaced about three to four hours apart. This will train your metabolism to remain in an elevated fat-burning mode. You will still experience natural fluctuations in metabolism during the day, and your metabolism will still drop precipitously at night, but these smaller meals can at least smooth out some of the peaks and valleys you experience in the late morning and afternoon.

Just by following the simple concept of “nutritional timing,” you may be able to turn the tables on your diet and start experiencing the weight loss results you are after.