Obesity can affect fertility. In their quest for weight loss, many people consider skipping meals a quick fix to reduce calorie intake. But Sarah Sinaram, a registered dietitian, explains that skipping meals may not be the solution.
It seems logical at first glance—fewer meals must mean fewer calories, right? However, this standard approach fails to deliver sustainable weight loss and can harm one’s health and weight management goals.
Understanding Why Meal Skipping Backfires
While the debate about whether meal skipping leads to overeating at subsequent meals remains ongoing, the risk of unplanned snacking or binge eating may be high.
The Science Behind Meal Skipping
When you skip meals, your body enters a “fasting state” that triggers several biological responses:
- Your body depletes its preferred energy source – carbohydrates stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver.
- As glycogen stores run low, your body begins breaking down fat for energy, producing ketone bodies.
- To protect itself, your body reduces energy output and starts conserving calories.
- Lean tissue begins to shrink, becoming less metabolically active.
- Hormonal changes occur that further slow your metabolism.
This metabolic slowdown is your body’s natural survival mechanism, but it can hinder your weight loss goals by reducing the number of calories you burn throughout the day.
The Breakfast Question While some studies show positive benefits in intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast to lose weight, this eating pattern may not be suited for everyone. Individuals who have intellectually demanding or labour-intensive jobs may benefit from having breakfast regularly. A breakfast meal that includes carbohydrates, i.e., oats, bread, porridge, fruit, or yoghurt, provides essential fuel for the brain in the form of glucose. The brain requires a constant supply of glucose to function optimally. Insufficient glucose in the brain may result in dizziness, shaking, irritability, tiredness, and difficulty focusing on tasks.
Breakfast is crucial in jumpstarting your metabolism after the natural slowdown during sleep. Studies found that those who had breakfast more than three times a week had a decreasing risk for obesity compared to those who had breakfast less than 3 times a week2. A recent study3, looking at the distribution of calories across the day and weight loss, found that having more of your calories in the earlier part of the day resulted in greater, short-term weight loss compared
with intakes in the later half of the day. The authors suggested that eating most of your calories earlier in the day resulted in synchronization of circadian rhythms and improved metabolic health.
Coffee Is Not a Meal Replacement
While recent research on coffee suggests that it may reduce fat storage in the body, substituting coffee for breakfast may not be wise.4 Coffee lacks the essential macronutrients your body needs to start the day. Studies have also shown that nutrients missed at breakfast are not generally compensated for later in the day.
- Liquids digest more quickly than solid foods.
- The risk of overeating at lunch increases significantly.
- In large doses, caffeine may cause anxiety, insomnia, and loss of calcium from bones and consequently increase the risk of fractures, especially in people with osteoporosis. Health Promotion Board suggests healthy individuals limit their coffee intake to 4 cups (400mg caffeine) a day.
A Better Approach to Weight Management
Several factors, i.e. genes, body fat distribution, the environment, socioeconomics, etc, affect our ability to not only lose weight but maintain long-term weight loss. While there is no ideal single method to lose weight, the following strategies may help:
- Identifying realistic weight loss goals and the use of monitoring tools e.g. food journals or health apps
- Engaging support from family, friends or like-minded individuals
- Incorporating regular physical activity that you enjoy
- Eating regular, balanced meals throughout the day
- Controlling portion sizes at each meal
- Adding protein and fibre-rich foods to help you feel satisfied.
- Staying hydrated with water throughout the day
Remember, sustainable weight loss comes from building healthy, consistent eating habits that you can maintain long-term. Skipping meals might seem like a shortcut, but it’s more likely to lead you away from your weight management goals than toward them.
Reference.
- Effectiveness of intermittent fasting for weight loss in individuals with obesity: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, Silverii, Giovanni Antonio et al. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, Volume 33, Issue 8, 1481 – 1489, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2023.05.005.
- Li ZH, Xu L, Dai R, Li LJ, Wang HJ. Effects of regular breakfast habits on metabolic and cardiovascular diseases: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Nov 5;100(44):e27629. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000027629. PMID: 34871228; PMCID: PMC8568444. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34871228/
- Isabel E. Young, Amudha Poobalan, Katharine Steinbeck, Helen T. O’Connor, Helen M. Parker. Distribution of energy intake across the day and weight loss: A systematic review and meta-analysis. First published: Dec 18 2022, https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13537.
- Sirotkin AV, Kolesárová A. The anti-obesity and health-promoting effects of tea and coffee. Physiol Res. 2021 Apr 30;70(2):161-168. doi: 10.33549/physiolres.934674. PMID: 33992045; PMCID: PMC8820582. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33992045/
- Bray, G. A., Qi, L., & Sacks, F. M. (2024). Is There an Ideal Diet? Some Insights from the POUNDS Lost Study. Nutrients, 16(14), 2358. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16142358
