A new, small study finds that men who ate a large breakfast and a small dinner burned more than twice as many calories after eating than those who ate a small breakfast and large dinner.
Researchers found that diet-induced thermogenesis - the amount of energy it takes to process a meal - was higher in the morning.
But this kind of calorie-burning only accounts for about 15% of total calories burned.
This type of calorie-burning only accounts for 5% to 15% of the total daily calories we burn, according to Georgie Fear, a registered dietitian and sports nutrition specialist. So, if you typically burn 2,500 calories a day, thermogenesis accounts for 125 to 375 of those calories.