Skipping meals for calorie deficit?

lolakinks

I cannot do a strict diet and don’t believe in it. Thus, for calorie deficit I decided to skip lunch, rather I drink coffee or eat a banana etc. I started this recently I am not sure if it is working. Is there anyone tried and found it helpful?

sollyn23l2

I used to skip breakfast when I did intermittent fasting. If skipping lunch works for you and doesn't feel restrictive, do it. Don't worry if it worked for someone else. We're all different. The good thing is, any way of eating that limits how many calories we eat (such as skipping a meal) will lead to weight loss. However, if you find you are binging at dinner, then you may want to rethink it at that point.

tomcustombuilder

As long as you’re getting in sufficient protein and you can maintain a comfortable weekly calorie deficit then meal timing is irrelevant.

springlering62

I tried skipping breakfast and continued gaining weight.

That’s because I was still eating sweets, cookies, cakes, ice cream, pie, doughnuts, little Debbie’s, fast food. You name it.

Skipping a meal has no context whatsoever IF you’re not aware of what else you’re eating, and the caloric cost of it.

I say this because I was dumb enough to wonder why I wasn’t losing because I was skipping a whole meal!.

After all, I was punishing myself with the skipped meal.

Hopefully, you’re brighter than I was. 🤦🏻‍♀️

lolakinks

Thank you everyone for sharing your opinions and experiences.

craigheon

Intermittent fasting may be an option for you if you are skipping meals. I did it for a while (16/8) but for me I just wasn't seeing results. I don't think I gave it a fair shake though. The first few days are an adjustment but after that you get used to it.

neanderthin

Many people have been on one diet or another for the vast majority of their lives always hungry employing denial and restriction, and it comes as no surprise that that course of action doesn't work for the vast majority (over90%) of people which results for the most part, more weight gain and worst health outcomes. Most people but no all are convinced a large part of this roller-coaster has to do with the foods we're eating.

In comes intermittent fasting to save the day and the biological reasoning behind it was never about weight loss but give the body the opportunity to engage in natural repair processes like improving our insulin sensitivity which helps to reverse insulin resistance, it boosts HGH (human growth hormone) which helps with fat burning and muscle gain, hormonal regulation that help regulate hunger and satiety such as ghrelin and leptin which manifests itself with feeling less hungry throughout the day, and autophagy which is the body's way of cleaning out damaged cells allowing repair and to maintain cellular health more effectively and a big one which is digestive health, allowing a rest of our digestion which is vital for repair and allowing secondary bacterial growth for our microbiome. And of course weight loss which given the media hype has people using it in droves.

The problem with intermittent fasting is in my first paragraph, which is, if you continue to employ the same lifestyle then the value of IF can be diminished greatly and if IF actually couldn't overcome your lifestyle traits and didn't work as advertised then bashing which is also quite apparent on the internet doles out doubt of it's effectiveness as well. What IF actually does as a bonus is make people think and explore the landscape that is nutrition, which is a good thing and is where pretty much all people that have tackled their personal health journeys looking at themselves as an n:1 experiment learn more that the average bear and actually overcome some personal health problems and in that respect any good or bad press is good because the exposure to the truth is just as simple as researching and doing that facilitates a step in a better understanding. so good or bad, it's all good imo.
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Corina1143

It wouldn't work for me. I don't see anything wrong with it if it works for you.
If it doesn't work because you're too hungry, may I suggest that instead of giving up on it, you try adding 10-20 grams of protein without sugar (fast carbs) to your coffee?

totameafox

Perhaps instead of thinking of something as a 'strict diet' you learn a healthier way of eating so that what and when you eat aren't restrictive. if you want to lose weight then you have to learn what you were doing and how to make it better. 'skipping' doesn't resolve that problem.

Unknown

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