Bigger Breakfast, Bigger Weight Loss?
COLLINS: How's this for a diet plan? Eat bigger, be smaller. A new study compared sedentary, obese women trying to lose weight. One group packed on the carbs and lean protein at breakfast, the others stuck to a low carb morning meal. At the end of eight months, women eating the hefty breakfast lost an average of 40 pounds. The low carb eaters lost just nine. Medical correspondent Elizabeth -- Susan Cohen, where did that come from? Elizabeth Cohen is here now to talk a little bit more about it. A lot of people have been talking about it in the NEWSROOM today because we want to know how big a breakfast are we talking about here. Can go crazy?</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, for me, you can't go crazy. For me, this was pretty big. I mean I don't think that I have a breakfast this size usually. Let's take a look at what we mean by a big breakfast. The folks who had the big breakfast had two pieces of bread with a pad of butter, three slices of cheese, three slices of turkey, roast beef or chicken, two 8-ounce glasses of low fat milk and coffee with milk. And here -- this is sort of the more measly breakfast. It's a high protein breakfast -- one egg, some butter and -- I don't know what you do with the butter.</s>COLLINS: Put the butter on what? Yes.</s>COHEN: Put around the bacon, I don't know. Three slices of bacon and a four-ounce cup of milk and a cup of coffee with no milk or cream. And some people, actually, when they ate the big breakfast, Heidi, they also ate a little piece of chocolate.</s>COLLINS: OK.</s>COHEN: And apparently that seemed to help for some of them.</s>COLLINS: I'm just thinking about the chicken and the roast beef in the morning.</s>COHEN: Yes, I...</s>COLLINS: I think can pass that.</s>COHEN: Yes. That's one dietitian said that. She thinks who can really eat that in the morning? But you know, maybe some people can.</s>COLLINS: Yes. Well, if you really do eat more in the morning, how, then, does it help you lose weight? Do you eat less throughout the day because you packed it all on in the morning or something?</s>COHEN: Well, they told these women to eat the different breakfasts but then they were supposed to eat matching menus for the rest of the day. So the breakfast was the only thing that was different. Now some people theorize that your body uses calories more efficiently in the morning and that if you don't eat, you sort of go into this ravenous mode and just start eating everything in sight later in the day. But I have to say we -- we showed this study to some folks who were really quite skeptical. The Atkins people don't like it because it kind of disses high proteins. And even other dietitians and experts said, you know, this hasn't been published yet, we're not really sure that it's right. So not everyone is so...</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>COHEN: ... hit with the study.</s>COLLINS: And I do see a big gob of gluten over there. You certainly don't want that either.</s>COHEN: Not for everyone, right.</s>COLLINS: But if I -- right.</s>COHEN: This is not a Heidi Collins breakfast, right.</s>COLLINS: If I'm eating a couple of eggs, hard boiled eggs, and some grapes and some turkey bacon, because they'll make fun of me -- that's my little breakfast -- I'm doing it right, right?</s>COHEN: Well, I just can look at you and say that you're doing it right.</s>COLLINS: Oh yes.</s>COHEN: You're not obese. You don't have insulin resistance. You're looking good.</s>COLLINS: We paid her just enough to say that, too. Elizabeth, thanks so much.</s>COHEN: Thanks.</s>COLLINS: This one we'll be talking about, I bet, today. Appreciate that. On to the oil story. Now Saudi Arabia promising to do something about oil. Is it enough, though, to bring relief at the gas pump? And recession. Super investor Warren Buffett thinks we're already in one. Former fed chairman Alan Greenspan says it's likely. Ali Velshi has some tips to keep you "Right on Your Money.</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Record high gas prices, falling home values and the lowest level of consumer confidence since 1980 are all signs of a possible recession. Personal finance expert Jonathan Clement says follow these steps to keep yourself recession proof.</s>JONATHAN CLEMENT, PERSONAL FINANCIAL EXPERT: First, you want to accumulate cash. You haven't got a lot of money sitting in the bank, you haven't got a lot of money sitting in a money market fund, this is the time to accumulate it. Two, get your debts under control. Pay off those credit card debts. Don't take out new car loans. Think twice before trading up to a bigger home. And three, keep funding that 401(k) plan. You should continue to put enough into your 401(k) to get that full</s>VELSHI: Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.