Is It Ok?

MandaLen13

Is it ok to skip lunch so that I can have a heartier dinner and some dessert ? I've noticed myself doing this alot lately and I'm just hoping I'm not sabotaging my efforts...

Acg67

yes, it's perfectly fine. at the end of the day all that matters is if you maintain a caloric deficit or not

vim_n_vigor

The time it isn't fine is if you get so hungry that you can't keep within your goals. If it works for you, go for it.

tarachannel

Yay! Thanks for this. I have been wondering the same thing.

Huskeryogi

You just opened a huge can of worms because there's a lot of disagreement on this topic.

IMO - You are only sabotaging your efforts skipping lunch causes you to binge at dinner. If you stay within your calorie counts for the day you should be totally fine. If you weigh daily you might notice on the scale in the morning because more of the food is still in your system than normal.

I skip breakfast for that very reason - I was pulling my hair out trying to do the 5-6 small meals/snacks a day. My dinners are usually between 700-1000 calories. I go to bed feeling full and LOVE it.

Michelle_M2002

If you're not hungry during the day, then it's fine. If you're hungry and then choose not to eat just so you can have a bigger dinner, then that's NOT good.

I personally cannot skip lunch, but then again I don't eat breakfast. So rather than eat 3 meals and 2 snacks, I typically start with a light snack around 10am, lunch around 1pm, then dinner, and then a late snack. Sometimes I eat a snack between lunch and dinner, but not always.

Bottom line.. everyone is different. At the end of the day.. if you haven't been hungry, you're getting at least 1200 calories, and you have a deficit between your burn and you're intake... then it doesn't really matter when you ate.

Do what works for YOU and what makes YOU feel best.

God bless!

God bless!

LittleFootHafner

As long as you are under your calories, you will lose weight!

However, I have often heard that it is a healthy option to eat several smaller meals per day rather than 2-3 larger ones...

ambercanfly

You don't want to put your body into "starvation mode" and sabotage your diet.

When you skip meals your metabolism slows down so you are not burning calories like you should. Your body thinks that you are starving, so when you eat again, your body stores away more than usual resulting in more fat. The best thing is to eat every 3 hours with 5-6 small meals per day.

AEcklar813

I do that a lot on my rest day. I take a rest day on Sundays and lots of times I barely eat a breakfast since I know the rest of the day I'll be eating a lot.

ckspores

If you can do it while staying within your calories and not binging, I'd say go for it. This would derail me personally, though, because I would be so hungry come dinner that I would end up making poor choices.

annacataldo

As long as u keep in mind that ur metabolism runs its fastest if u eat 6x a day and not eating for several hours will slow down ur metabolism and that u wont burn as many calories for ur bigger dinner... id snack throughout the day, instead of meals, to gain extraa dinner calories... like a granola bar for breakfast, a veggie couple hours later, some low cal crackers and cheese for" lunch", a fruit or veggie for afternoon snack...and then ud have tons of cal for dinner. Water will help with hunger urges.

Also, if u got in a workout, u wouldn't need to skip meals, ud have extra calories u earned from your workout...

withchaco

I'd just make sure 1) you're not hungry throughout the day, and 2) you get enough nutrients at the end of the day. Sometimes I find it hard to get enough nutrients when I have a dessert, because desserts are usually full of empty, non-nutritious calories.

slimmingdownsteph

Skipping meals can cause weight GAIN even if you don't binge later it slows your metabolism.
It's best to have 5-6 small meals everyday instead.

It also depends on WHEN you eat dinner.
Eating after 7 p.m. causes weight gain and unwanted fat storage.
Especially if you eat a BIG dinner because you skipped lunch.

If you eat your big dinner before 7 p.m. you SHOULD be okay. BUT if you find yourself not losing weight (or losing weight right away and gaining it back later or having heavy bloating/fatigue) you're body might be fighting against you for skipping meals and you should switch back to eating all 3 meals or 5-6 small meals daily

Hope I helped!

Loko_Ino

It is not ok..the ends do not justify the means in this case..
Skipping a meal makes your body starve and use up a quick resource, that being muscle, for fuel. It is better to grab something to put in your system, even if you drink a protein shake or a banana. Better to go over a little than miss a meal. In a perfect world you want to eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism constantly running. Keep skipping lunch and your metabo gets sluggish. You will know that is happening when you start feeling tired around the early afternoon.

Acg67

to all the people who said skipping meals slows your metabolism and can hinder weight loss, how do these studies back that up?

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/19943­985
This study shows there was no difference in weight loss between subjects with high/low meal frequencie­s.

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/91554­94
Evidence supports that meal frequency has nothing to do with energy in the subjects.

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/11319­656
Yet again, no difference in energy in the subjects compared to 2 meals/d to 6 meals/d.

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/19059­98
Eur J Clin Nutr. 1991 Mar;45(3):­161-9.Link­s
Influence of the feeding frequency on nutrient utilizatio­n in man: consequenc­es for energy metabolism­.

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/11319­656
Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001 Apr;25(4):­519-28.Lin­ks
Compared with nibbling, neither gorging nor a morning fast affect short-term energy balance in obese patients in a chamber calorimete­r.

annacataldo

You don't want to put your body into "starvation mode" and sabotage your diet.

When you skip meals your metabolism slows down so you are not burning calories like you should. Your body thinks that you are starving, so when you eat again, your body stores away more than usual resulting in more fat. The best thing is to eat every 3 hours with 5-6 small meals per day.

Ur body wont go into starvation mode after a few hours...ur body goes into starvation mode if ur consistantly staying under 1200 net calories... yes, ur metabolism slows down and ur not burning calories like u should, but its not because of starvation mode...starvation mode takes days, if not weeks to get in to. Ur probably correct in saying that ur body stores away a little extra, but the term starvation mode is not correct at all.

MrsCon40

You don't want to put your body into "starvation mode" and sabotage your diet.

When you skip meals your metabolism slows down so you are not burning calories like you should. Your body thinks that you are starving, so when you eat again, your body stores away more than usual resulting in more fat. The best thing is to eat every 3 hours with 5-6 small meals per day.

This is false. It takes extreme caloric deficit over a number of days (3 I have heard) to effect your metabolism.

Meal size, frequency and timing is irrelevant so long as you maintain a healthy caloric deficit.

Acg67

Skipping meals can cause weight GAIN even if you don't binge later it slows your metabolism.
It's best to have 5-6 small meals everyday instead.

It also depends on WHEN you eat dinner.
Eating after 7 p.m. causes weight gain and unwanted fat storage.
Especially if you eat a BIG dinner because you skipped lunch.

If you eat your big dinner before 7 p.m. you SHOULD be okay. BUT if you find yourself not losing weight (or losing weight right away and gaining it back later or having heavy bloating/fatigue) you're body might be fighting against you for skipping meals and you should switch back to eating all 3 meals or 5-6 small meals daily

Hope I helped!

sorry, there isn't some magic fairy that shuttles calories eaten after some arbitrary time directly into fat stores

MrsCon40

double post - fail

Loko_Ino

hmmm..guess i can learn something new.
those studies do prove my opinion wrong. I stand corrected.
Thanks MFP for setting me straight.

annacataldo

Skipping meals can cause weight GAIN even if you don't binge later it slows your metabolism.
It's best to have 5-6 small meals everyday instead.

It also depends on WHEN you eat dinner.
Eating after 7 p.m. causes weight gain and unwanted fat storage.
Especially if you eat a BIG dinner because you skipped lunch.

If you eat your big dinner before 7 p.m. you SHOULD be okay. BUT if you find yourself not losing weight (or losing weight right away and gaining it back later or having heavy bloating/fatigue) you're body might be fighting against you for skipping meals and you should switch back to eating all 3 meals or 5-6 small meals daily

Hope I helped!

Id like to say that 7pm is not some cut off point that's the same for everyone... if u go to bed at 10pm, then yea, don't eat past 7, but if ur like me, who goes to bed at midnight, then you can eat up until 9pm...never eat within 3hours of bed, whatever time that may be for you. Also, ur night snack shouldn't be carbs (and ideally u want a low carb dinner) because your body can't burn off the carbs before bed time.. but I always eat carbs with dinner and im fine...they say to have the most carbs with breakfast and lunch so ur body has the whole rest of the day to burn them.

MandaLen13

to all the people who said skipping meals slows your metabolism and can hinder weight loss, how do these studies back that up?

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/19943­985
This study shows there was no difference in weight loss between subjects with high/low meal frequencie­s.

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/91554­94
Evidence supports that meal frequency has nothing to do with energy in the subjects.

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/11319­656
Yet again, no difference in energy in the subjects compared to 2 meals/d to 6 meals/d.

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/19059­98
Eur J Clin Nutr. 1991 Mar;45(3):­161-9.Link­s
Influence of the feeding frequency on nutrient utilizatio­n in man: consequenc­es for energy metabolism­.

http://www­.ncbi.nlm.­nih.gov/pu­bmed/11319­656
Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001 Apr;25(4):­519-28.Lin­ks
Compared with nibbling, neither gorging nor a morning fast affect short-term energy balance in obese patients in a chamber calorimete­r.

Thank you for this! and just to clarify for everybody else, I am not going hungry during the day so that I can binge at night. I usually dont eat breakfast until 10:30 or 11:00 and I do have a snack around 2:00 but lately I just dont feel like eating an acutal lunch. I'd rather save up and have a nice healthy dinner with my husband and a little treat in the evening. Thanks everybody for your opinions and advice

annacataldo

As long as you are under your calories, you will lose weight!

However, I have often heard that it is a healthy option to eat several smaller meals per day rather than 2-3 larger ones...

If your settings are at 2lbs a week, then u will lose weight as long as you don't go over ur calories by more than 1000. If ur at 1lb a week, then don't go more than 500 over and u will still lose weight..and if ur at half pound a week, then don't go more than 250 calories over what mfp tells u.... u don't always want to be under calories, in fact if mfp tells u to be at 1200calories, and u were to stay under that, u would be more likely to go into starvation mode, so staying at ur calorie goal (and not under) is the best, but if u go over, it doesn't matter, as long as u don't go too far over...

AlyRoseNYC

In my experience, I've found that breaking the "rules" every once in a while does not have a negative impact on my weight loss. I've gone through days where I've hardly drank any water, ate 600 calories, eaten really late at night, and it did not have an effect on the scale. Since you are only talking about skipping lunch ONE day, I doubt there will be any consequences. If you were to skip meals everyday, my guess is you might see a drop in your energy level. I skipped dinner last night and was so tired that I went to bed at 9pm lol. But everyone is different.

killagb

Skipping meals can cause weight GAIN even if you don't binge later it slows your metabolism.
It's best to have 5-6 small meals everyday instead.

It also depends on WHEN you eat dinner.
Eating after 7 p.m. causes weight gain and unwanted fat storage.
Especially if you eat a BIG dinner because you skipped lunch.

If you eat your big dinner before 7 p.m. you SHOULD be okay. BUT if you find yourself not losing weight (or losing weight right away and gaining it back later or having heavy bloating/fatigue) you're body might be fighting against you for skipping meals and you should switch back to eating all 3 meals or 5-6 small meals daily

Hope I helped!

Id like to say that 7pm is not some cut off point that's the same for everyone... if u go to bed at 10pm, then yea, don't eat past 7, but if ur like me, who goes to bed at midnight, then you can eat up until 9pm...never eat within 3hours of bed, whatever time that may be for you. Also, ur night snack shouldn't be carbs (and ideally u want a low carb dinner) because your body can't burn off the carbs before bed time.. but I always eat carbs with dinner and im fine...they say to have the most carbs with breakfast and lunch so ur body has the whole rest of the day to burn them.

This is completely false. You can eat right before you slam your eyes shut and as long as you didn't go over your calories for the day...you are going to lose weight. You can eat carbs at any point in the day as well. I really don't know where people get these wacky ideas....your body doesn't turn off for the night and DOES keep burning calories.

Silverkittycat

This is completely false. You can eat right before you slam your eyes shut and as long as you didn't go over your calories for the day...you are going to lose weight. You can eat carbs at any point in the day as well. I really don't know where people get these wacky ideas....your body doesn't turn off for the night and DOES keep burning calories.

what he said.

Lift_hard_eat_big

Id like to say that 7pm is not some cut off point that's the same for everyone... if u go to bed at 10pm, then yea, don't eat past 7, but if ur like me, who goes to bed at midnight, then you can eat up until 9pm...never eat within 3hours of bed, whatever time that may be for you. Also, ur night snack shouldn't be carbs (and ideally u want a low carb dinner) because your body can't burn off the carbs before bed time.. but I always eat carbs with dinner and im fine...they say to have the most carbs with breakfast and lunch so ur body has the whole rest of the day to burn them.

I eat dinner and fall asleep sometimes within half an hour and I have a difficult time gaining weight, "can't explain that" Bill O'Reily reference.

writtenINthestars

yes, it's perfectly fine. at the end of the day all that matters is if you maintain a caloric deficit or not

:blushing:

err wait what did you say?


Oh yeah so OP...um yeah I don't believe it matters. Basic calories in, calories out. Create a deficit and you will lose weight. And it DOES NOT matter if you eat before bedtime..the only thing that matters is what you eat as it may contribute to you feeling like a bloated mess in the morning.

rileysowner

You don't want to put your body into "starvation mode" and sabotage your diet.

When you skip meals your metabolism slows down so you are not burning calories like you should. Your body thinks that you are starving, so when you eat again, your body stores away more than usual resulting in more fat. The best thing is to eat every 3 hours with 5-6 small meals per day.

There is absolutely no evidence in clinical studies for this. In fact the "starvation" effect does not happen for at least 48 and even in studies up to 72 hours of not eating anything at all or after a long term sever calorie deficit. In fact in at least the first 24 hours of fasting your metabolism will actually increase to aid you in hunting down your next meal. Humanity never would have survived for the last several thousand years if people bodies started slowing down after only 2-3 hours of not eating. For that matter in 2-3 hours your previous meal is still digesting, so there is no way your body will go into "starvation mode" if you don't eat every 2-3 hours. This is probably one of the most untrue and hardest to stamp out myths of eating out there.

rileysowner

As long as u keep in mind that ur metabolism runs its fastest if u eat 6x a day and not eating for several hours will slow down ur metabolism and that u wont burn as many calories for ur bigger dinner... id snack throughout the day, instead of meals, to gain extraa dinner calories... like a granola bar for breakfast, a veggie couple hours later, some low cal crackers and cheese for" lunch", a fruit or veggie for afternoon snack...and then ud have tons of cal for dinner. Water will help with hunger urges.

Also, if u got in a workout, u wouldn't need to skip meals, ud have extra calories u earned from your workout...

Eating 6x per day has zero effect on increasing metabolism.

stuffinmuffin

yes, it's perfectly fine. at the end of the day all that matters is if you maintain a caloric deficit or not

:blushing:

err wait what did you say?


Oh yeah so OP...um yeah I don't believe it matters. Basic calories in, calories out. Create a deficit and you will lose weight. And it DOES NOT matter if you eat before bedtime..the only thing that matters is what you eat as it may contribute to you feeling like a bloated mess in the morning.

What these people said...

Do whatever works for you on a daily basis within your goals. I'll often skip breakfast if I know I'm going out for a meal....sometimes I've not eaten until I've gone out for the meal (when my cals were 1200). It all worked out okay in the end! : )