How Bad Is It To Skip Breakfast?

Saruman_w

I normally don't feel hungry either in the morning either, but I eat breakfast anyway. Gives me alot of energy for the day if I do.

dls06

I never eat breakfast. Never did, never will. Just not hungry in the morning.

crisanderson27

I think both "sides" of the current debate have valid points. First, IF (intermittent fasting) can be very effective, for someone who can follow the regimen and ensure that the appropriate amount of cals is actually eaten within the short time frame. But many people can't.

For a lot of people, skipping meals leads to snacking and binges later (often simple carbs), where too many cals are taken in. In this case, obviously, it won't help. The other common scenario (especially for women) is skipping breakfast and/or lunch, and not making up the calories later. This creates a cycle of underfeeding, decreased metabolism/LBM loss and thus decreased appetite, which reinforces the cycle.

If you can follow a healthy diet, meeting cal goals and macro/micro goals, without eating a certain meal or through IF, then do it. If you can't, then work on eating more frequently.

I agree with all of this.

Yep, Lady made my exact point. Your metabolism isn't just going to shut off because you skip breakfast, or even breakfast, lunch, and ten snacks a day....as long as you're getting your required intake.

Also...people need to keep in mind that heavy weight training is critical if you're skipping meals.

BerkleyEL

For me personally, I have to eat something substantial within the first hour of waking up, or I'm basically useless for that day.
I also tend to be one of those annoyingly perky morning people (up and bouncing around at 5 AM), but good luck getting me to stay awake past 10PM at night!

Experiment with it, and see what works best for you! There isn't really a one size fits all solution.

AlyRoseNYC

Personally, I need to eat something within three hours of waking up. Otherwise, I'll be sandbagging all day long.

onevision

Isn't your metabolism mor likely to be high because of your lean muscle content, rather than your eating regime? I understood that basal metabolic rate is related to your muscle levels, which need extra energy to be maintained?

ladyhawk00

Isn't your metabolism mor likely to be high because of your lean muscle content, rather than your eating regime? I understood that basal metabolic rate is related to your muscle levels, which need extra energy to be maintained?

Yes and no.

First, BMR actually isn't effected by muscle mass - it's pretty much purely age, height, weight, with a tiny bit of genetics. But the activity level factor IS very dependent on muscle mass - the higher the LBM %, the higher the activity level you need. But BMR stays essentially the same.

LBM% will generally have a much higher effect on your energy expenditure than any eating SCHEDULE (as in meal timing/frequency, if the cal levels are equal) you adopt. But the actual amount of intake you have can have just as much of an impact. This is because your calorie level can effect LBM; too high of a deficit from maintenance will decrease RMR AND decrease LBM% - so if you're losing LBM, on top of decreasing RMR, due to too low of an intake, then you're effecting metabolic rate in two different ways.

degobah

For 5 months, I have consistently finished a 1 hour cardio workout before eating anything. I usually start my workout about an hour after waking up. All I have is a cup of coffee. My thought process is the workout burns fat since there is no food in my stomach. After the workout I drink a protein shake blended with a banana and sometimes peanut butter (300 cals). And for 5 months I have consistently lost 10 lbs / month. I've never noticed a lack of energy besides the typical exhaustion that hits towards the end of an hour workout.

Any thoughts on my theory of burning fat since your stomach is empty?

However, after reading this post, I'm going to try something different starting tomorrow. I'm thinking 1 oatmeal packet and a banana as soon as I wake up. That should digest in time before my 1 hr cardio. I'll try it for a month and share my results.

bjohs

Some mornings (like today) I just really dont feel like eating. I always have my coffee but the thought of food just doesn't appeal to me until around lunch time. Is this bad or is it ok to skip breakfast?

I don't have the answer, but I can only tell you what breakfast did for me. There was a time that I jumped in to work from the time I got out of bed until I finally realized I hadn't eaten all day. Sometimes the first meal of the day didn't come until 7pm... but normally I wouldn't eat until lunch time. When I re-injured a bad knee, I had to give up exercise for a while. I had read an article about the importance of breakfast and how it helps fuel you for the day ahead. Once I began having around 1/3 of my daily calories at breakfast, the weight started to melt off. (I had been stuck in the same weight range for months!) This was after keeping my calories in check and exercising 5-6 times per week. I went from 80% exercise and 20% diet... to 20% exercise (walking) and 80% diet. I dropped just shy of 10 pounds in 3 short weeks. So, for me, breakfast was the key to lose the last of my weight.

onevision

First, BMR actually isn't effected by muscle mass - it's pretty much purely age, height, weight, with a tiny bit of genetics. But the activity level factor IS very dependent on muscle mass - the higher the LBM %, the higher the activity level you need. But BMR stays essentially the same.

LBM% will generally have a much higher effect on your energy expenditure than any eating SCHEDULE (as in meal timing/frequency, if the cal levels are equal) you adopt. But the actual amount of intake you have can have just as much of an impact. This is because your calorie level can effect LBM; too high of a deficit from maintenance will decrease RMR AND decrease LBM% - so if you're losing LBM, on top of decreasing RMR, due to too low of an intake, then you're effecting metabolic rate in two different ways.

So are you saying that if you take two people of identical age and weight, where one is a bodybuilder with very low bmi and the other is obese with a very high bmi, that their base metabolic rate is roughly equal? I would have thought that the age aspect is only really because most people (I say most) lost lean muscle mass as they get older, so its a generalisation rather than a factor.