Obesity Risks - What increases and decreases it?

I have been reading The Abs Diet book for some time, but recently picked it up again when my eating habits started to decline in quality.  I guess for me, it's more that I started to lose my sense of direction and feeling like I was eating randomly, without thought and without a plan. I'm just a regular guy who exercises regularly, but eats very inconsistently.  Very good, very bad, not so much in between.  So, I pick up my trusted book and I came across this interesting set of information. This book cites a study that was done at the University of Massachusetts where they analyzed the eating habits of 500 men and women and found connections between the way people eat and the risk of  becoming overweight.  Here are some of their findings:

Habit/Changes your risk of obesity by (+ is bad, - is good) 

• Eating at least one midday snack -39%  (good)
• Eating dinner as your biggest meal of the day +6%  (not horrible)
• Waiting more than 3 hours after waking up to eat breakfast +43%  (kinda bad)
• Eating more than a third of your meals in restaurants +69%  (bad)
• Going to bed hungry (3 hours since your last meal or snack) +101%  (really bad)
• Eating breakfast away from home +137%  (really really bad)
• Not eating breakfast +450%  (Lawwwddd have mercy bad!)

As you can see, people that don't eat breakfast at all have a significantly higher risk of obesity. A sample eating schedule would be 8am (breakfast), 11am (snack), 1pm (lunch), 4pm (snack), 6pm (dinner), and 8pm (snack).  

I always say this:  think of your body as a wood-burning fire that you have to keep going all day long.  You would start it and want to keep adding wood to it.  If it starts to get low, try adding a log, not 10.  Add another log or two in a few hours, again in another few hours, and so on and so forth.  Makes for a more efficient burn, right?  

A broader analogy that I use, and I totally respond to analogies, is a bank account.  Let's say your balance reflects the difference between what your body burns and what your body takes in for calories.  What happens if you write too many checks?  You go into overdraft (gain weight). If you work out, and have a sensible day or week and eat a cheat meal or have a cheat day, you have enough "money" to cover it.  If you're trying to lose weight, try to end up with money in hand at the end of the day, and you will - it's simple math.  So tomorrow, try eating 6 small meals throughout the day and see how it feels.  It might take some getting used to, but you'll start to see results and less binge eating.  It is important WHAT you eat, and I'll pass on some of those ideas in future posts.