Can You Skip Breakfast To Lose Weight

Eating breakfast is controversial advice. For years fitness professionals have suggested that the best way to lose weight was to do cardio before eating breakfast. The idea behind it is that your body burns up carbohydrates (your glycogen stores) while sleeping. If you do cardio on an empty stomach, your body doesn't have much carbohydrate energy left, so you burn fat instead.

It's a neat theory, that's simply wrong. When scientists compared people who exercised on an empty stomach versus those who ate a small meal first, they found no differences in what people used for energy.

Let me say that again. When people who exercised on an empty stomach were compared to those who ate a small meal first, there were no differences in what either of them used for energy. But one group did have better long term weight loss and muscle building results. Can you guess which one?

Never Skip Breakfast |

The people who ate breakfast FIRST were the fittest. Here's why. Eating breakfast gives you energy. You need energy to get through a workout. Eating a small breakfast, 30 minutes to an hour and a half before exercise gives you the energy to push harder and get through a more intense workout.

Think about it. When you work on something for a few hours, eventually you'll hit a wall. It's a point when you're mentally and physically exhausted. The common solution is to take a break and have something to eat. After your meal, your body has more energy to draw from, you feel refreshed and you're able to get more work done. It's the same principle when you eat before exercise in the morning.

I first shared that information with my readers more than 10 years ago, in a column I wrote in May of 2009. But now there's a new group of people suggesting you skip breakfast to lose weight.

Eating Breakfast And Weightloss

It's a program known as intermittent fasting. On the plan, you have a daily calorie window to fit all your eating in. Those windows can be as small as the time needed for a single meal, to “feeding periods” that extend between 6-10 hours. Many people simply avoid eating breakfast and make their first meal sometime around lunch.

Remember, we've known for more than a decade that skipping breakfast is BAD for building muscle. But could skipping breakfast be a good way to lose weight?

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco decided to look into that very idea. Their research subjects were divided into two groups. One group practiced intermittent fasting and only ate between the hours of noon and 8 pm every day. The other group ate three meals a day and were allowed to have snacks.

Why Eating Breakfast May Help You Lose Weight

At the end of the 12-week study, both groups showed similar weight loss, blood sugar control and cholesterol levels. Intermittent fasting had no advantages over a traditional calorie-restricted diet. But there was a big downside for the anti-breakfast crowd.

The people who lost weight through intermittent fasting, lost significantly more lean muscle mass than the dieters with regular meal times. Just like those studies found more than a decade ago, dieters who skipped breakfast lost more muscle than the dieters who ate breakfast.

The difference is significant. About 65% of the total weight loss was muscle mass for the intermittent fasting subjects. That's compared to around 25% of the weight loss being muscle mass for the typical calorie-restricted dieters.

Reasons Not To Skip Breakfast For Weight Loss

First, skipping breakfast and doing cardio on an empty stomach does NOT help you burn more fat. Without energy from breakfast, your cardio workout will suffer.

Second, skipping breakfast on an intermittent diet plan is NOT better than a traditional calorie-restricted diet. You will lose the same amount of weight as a traditional calorie-restricted dieter, but more of the weight loss will be lean muscle, not fat.

There are several other reasons to start your day with a healthy breakfast. It can dampen hunger and help prevent afternoon binges. It can help you wake up and gives you the energy to be more alert. People who eat breakfast have a greater ability to concentrate and show greater improvements in standardized test scores. Eating breakfast builds better bodies.

Many Intermittent Fasters Skip Breakfast. Here's Why That's Not A Good Idea.

New research from October 2022 suggests that the timing of meals may have significant effects on weight and health. Two studies published in Cell Metabolism found that eating earlier in the day could aid weight loss, and consuming meals within a 10-hour window might improve blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Researchers observed that eating later in the day increased hunger, slowed calorie burning, and led to fat tissue that stored more calories, potentially raising the risk of obesity.

Emily N.C. Manoogian, Adena Zadourian, Hannah C. Lo, Nikko R. Gutierrez, Azarin Shoghi, Ashley Rosander, Aryana Pazargadi, Cameron K. Ormiston, Xinran Wang, Jialu Sui, Zhaoyi Hou, Jason G. Fleischer, Shahrokh Golshan, Pam R. Taub, Satchidananda Panda

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Dylan A. Lowe, PhD1; Nancy Wu, MS2, 3; Linnea Rohdin-Bibby, BA2; et al A. Holliston Moore, PhD2, 4; Nisa Kelly, MS5; Yong En Liu, BS5; Errol Philip, PhD6; Eric Vittinghoff, PhD2; Steven B. Heymsfield, MD7; Jeffrey E. Olgin, MD2; John A. Shepherd, PhD5; Ethan J. Weiss, MD1, 2We’ve all heard it before: “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” For decades, health authorities have linked a solid, healthy breakfast with better overall health and weight management.

Should I Eat Breakfast? Why Skipping The Meal Could Help Us Lose Weight And Stay Healthy

Lately, however, the trend of intermittent fasting — such as eating an early dinner and then not having a meal until after noon the next day (in other words, skipping breakfast!) — has taken off and confused many of us about what meal timing is best. Similarly, trendy carb cycling can also marry well with the concept of skipping breakfast.

The big-breakfast approach works for some, especially those who like to exercise in the morning and need to refuel afterward. There’s plenty of research suggesting that when breakfast is full of protein and fiber, it can be beneficial for appetite management.

So is breakfast important, or should you forgo it in order to lose weight? Let’s look below at the pros and cons of delaying your first meal of the day.

Weight Loss Tips: Best & Worst Foods To Eat For Breakfast When Trying To Lose Weight

A large clinical review looked at 13 studies to investigate the impact of eating breakfast on weight gain and consistently found that those who regularly eat breakfast had better protection against becoming overweight or obese compared to those who skipped it.

A study done by researchers at Tel Aviv University showed that dieters lost more weight when they ate the majority of their calories in the morning (roughly 700 calories) compared to those eating more throughout the day and at nighttime.

While all participants followed a low 1, 400-calorie diet, meal timing made a significant difference in terms in weight loss. The group eating 700 calories (or half of daily calories) in the morning lost eight more pounds over a 12-week period than the group eating more calories during dinnertime.

Ways Your Breakfast Is Sabotaging Your Weight Loss

The participants who ate half of their daily calories at breakfast lost more weight and more inches from their waists, showed greater improvements in glucose control and insulin sensitivity, and reported being more satisfied. The researchers found that the big-breakfast eaters had lower levels of ghrelin, our main hunger hormone.

Found that missing breakfast causes metabolic and hormonal impacts that can make it hard to choose healthier foods in the right portion later in the day. The study found that those who skipped breakfast had differences in responses to foods consumed later in the morning, higher appetites and an increase in energy intake compared to people who ate breakfast.

Many other studies show the same and report that for most people who have lost weight and been able to keep it off, eating breakfast is part of what allows them to be successful long term.

Eating Breakfast Won't Help You Lose Weight, But Skipping It Might Not Either

Fill up on the right foods upon waking up, especially kinds that are high in protein and high in healthy fats, and you might find you’re more prepared to work, move and make better decisions all day long.

Overall, when we look at studies conducted over the past decade, we see very mixed results in terms of what constitutes ideal meal timing. Some studies show that adults can maintain their weight more easily when they “front load” their day with bigger meals and more calories, but other studies show the opposite can work, too.

Found that contrary to popular belief, there was no metabolic increase after eating breakfast, no suppression of appetite or calorie intake later in the day, and no difference in terms of weight gain or loss between people who ate breakfast and those who didn’t.

Skip Breakfast And Lose Weight Fast: An Intermittent Fasting And Exercise Program (improve Your Life Book 1)

While overall body mass, blood sugar levels and adiposity (fat levels) didn’t differ between breakfast-eaters and breakfast-skippers, those who eat breakfast did seem to naturally move around more throughout the morning. This increase in physical activity didn’t have any effects on weight, cardiovascular