Skip a meal or not

sylv1979

Sooo I couldn't sleep last night until around 3am so ended up that I slept in today and had to rush out the door to drive to a hospital appointment. By the time I got home and made something to eat it was 1pm. I have just had a snack but still way under cals for today as skipped breakfast. So do I
1. Just eat the rest of my meals as normal and undereat my cals for the day OR
2. Have a higher cal dinner and extra snacks later ???

SideSteel

Sooo I couldn't sleep last night until around 3am so ended up that I slept in today and had to rush out the door to drive to a hospital appointment. By the time I got home and made something to eat it was 1pm. I have just had a snack but still way under cals for today as skipped breakfast. So do I
1. Just eat the rest of my meals as normal and undereat my cals for the day OR
2. Have a higher cal dinner and extra snacks later ???

2.

jacksonpt

Doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things, but given the options you posted, I'd go with #2.

cwolfman13

Whatever's clever...one day isn't going to make or break anything. I've had occasions when I've been way under my calorie goal due to something happening at work or something and not being able to get to my lunch...my stomach is too small these days to make up for those 500-600 calories in one sitting so I just let it go. It's an isolated event, not routine. If you plan fasting days though, you should plan your other meals accordingly as to meet your calorie and nutrition goals.

SweetestLibby

depends...are you hungry? eat a bigger dinner/extra snack. If not proceed as normal

...or how about dessert?

muziclver

If I were you I would add in some extra snacks later. Not necessarily add them all in for dinner. Be sure to add healthy calories (:

ldrosophila

are you starving or just hungry?

86_Ohms

You can still eat the remaining calories with larger meals later in the day. I really find the whole skipping meals thing a myth for metabolism changes, but it might upset your routine if you're used to eating breakfast every morning. Even WebMD implies to take that research with a grain of salt.

Technically, you could just have one big meal in the middle of the day that consists of all your calories, but not recommended. I'm sure many people would still snack when bored/tired/stressed regardless. Skipping a meal but making it up later won't hurt you.

RunHardBeStrong

Doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things, but given the options you posted, I'd go with #2.

Agreed.

BarbieAS

For a one day isolated incident, it doesn't really matter. Eat if you're hungry (within your daily goal, of course), don't if you're not.

If it's a regular occurrence, find a way to get close to your calorie goal during the times you can eat.

lacharp

This happens to me more than I'd like... 'cause I am not a morning person and sometimes snooze-button-and-coffee-for-breakfast beats getting up a little extra early to actually eat something.

For me, it all depends on how the rest of the week looks. If I've been consistently under my goal, then I'll make sure to get in an extra snack or bulk up my lunch, so I get closer to my calorie goal. Overall, I personally try to avoid having a big dinner, just 'cause I usually end up eating dinner at 8pm (I have a long-*kitten* commute) and going to bed around 10pm, so it doesn't work for me to eat a big meal close to bedtime.

If I've been at or over my goal throughout the week, OR if it's a Thursday/Friday and I know that I'm going to be indulging over the weekend, then I'll just let myself go under, figuring that it'll balance out against the other days' overages.