People who eat their biggest meal in the morning tend to gain less weight each year than those who eat their biggest meal at night — and those who eat it at lunch fall somewhere in between.

The more snacks or meals people eat in a day beyond three, the more weight they tend to gain each year — even if it’s just a little bit each year.

People who eat just one or two meals a day tend to gain less weight each year than those who eat three meals a day, even if they’re eating the same amount of food.

People who eat breakfast every day tend to gain less weight each year than those who skip it — even if they eat the same total calories.

Eating fewer than three meals per day is associated with lower body mass index (BMI) compared to consuming three or more meals per day.

For white people, eating the biggest meal at lunch seems to help prevent weight gain more than it does for Black people — suggesting that the same eating pattern might not work the same way for everyone.