Weight loss may not be a reality for those who eat a big breakfast in the morning, researchers in Germany have recently found.

Scientists at the Technical University of Munich, who published their study in the Nutrition Journal, found that when people eat a big breakfast in the morning, it doesn’t necessarily affect how much they eat later in the day.

Other studies have found that eating a large breakfast would make it easier for people who are trying to lose weight to eat less at lunch and dinner.

However, the German scientists found that eating less during breakfast would contribute to overall weight loss rather than eating more.

The team evaluated 380 people for two weeks and noted the changes. Some people had big breakfasts, some had small ones, and some skipped the meal altogether.

Regardless of how much was eaten in the morning, it had little bearing on how much the person ate later in the day, the study found.

Dr. Volker Schusdziarra of the Else-Kröner-Fresenius Center of Nutritional Medicine said, “The results of the study showed that people ate the same at lunch and dinner, regardless of what they had for breakfast,” according to Science Daily.

For example, a large breakfast consisting of 400 calories more than a small breakfast resulted in a total increase of calories for the day by around 400 calories. The team noted that when people ate a large breakfast, they skipped a mid-morning snack, which did not offset the amount eaten earlier.

To read the original research paper, take a look here.