Skipping a meal

choose2care84
choose2care84 Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I eat 3 meals a day, with a coffee and/or hot chocolate as a snack.

Myfittnesspal has given me 1,310 calories per day. I have been mostly staying under this guideline, but find that I'm not loosing weight (although it has only been a week and a half).

I know this is sooo not recommended, but would it be beneficial to skip a meal? and just have a coffee instead? I'm thinking if I skipped any I would skip lunch and have coffee. Bad idea, right? or Okay?

Replies

  • ChristieMacK6
    ChristieMacK6 Posts: 1 Member
    Bad idea. Skipping a meal might seem like its helping you lose weight for a few days, but your metabolism will realize your caloric intake is too low and slow down, making you lose weight even slower.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    By skipping a meal, you mean that you just won't eat those calories? No, that is not a good idea, at all. You need to give your body fuel for it to work properly, eating under 1000 calories without medical supervision is a VERY BAD IDEA.
  • choose2care84
    choose2care84 Posts: 8 Member
    Yeah...I have always known it wasn't a good idea.... but I work in a medical field and I see Doctors do it ALL the time. One that I work really close with never eats lunch and has coffee instead. She's soo thin. But I don't think that's really healthy.. I like my 3 meals a day. Maybe I'll change up what I eat for lunch to make it healthier/less calories...
  • palmerar
    palmerar Posts: 489 Member
    You should only skip a meal if you are not hungry, not to drop more lbs.

    1) Give yourself more time! I've been back to logging since January 1 and am hoping to get to 10lbs down by April 1....."slow and steady wins the race" applies to sustainable weightloss

    2) If you have a smaller amount of weight to lose (for example 50 lbs or less) you may want to set your goal to 1 lb or 0.5 lb per week, I found this approach much more fitting to my lifestyle than a lofty 2lb per week goal.

    3) Make sure you have your acitivity level correct walking around all day in a hospital is probably light-moderate activity level

    4) Give any approach at least 4-6 weeks before changing it up, it takes a while for change to take affect in the body.

    5) If interested look into the TDEE approach (search "in place of a road map 3 2013" on the forum).
  • dimsumkitty
    dimsumkitty Posts: 120 Member
    If you make up the calories in your other meals I can't see it being that being a bad thing, intermittent fasting is very popular and that's can be just one big meal a day.

    As long as you hit your calorie guideline you should be fine.

    But if you're not planning to eat back the calories it's a bad idea. You shouldn't be eating much less than 1300 calories a day.
  • choose2care84
    choose2care84 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks. I sit on my butt all day as a counselor...so I don't walk around the halls all day, unfortunately (for weight loss).
  • olores
    olores Posts: 257 Member
    You should never skip a meal as to lose weight you must eat! Now, what to eat is the journey. Google healthy snack oprions and consider small meals on fruits and veggies. If anything you may be eating far to low on the caloric intake. Give it a try! Good luck!
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    You should never skip a meal as to lose weight you must eat! Now, what to eat is the journey. Google healthy snack oprions and consider small meals on fruits and veggies. If anything you may be eating far to low on the caloric intake. Give it a try! Good luck!

    What would happen if you didn't eat anything at all, you'd lose zero weight?
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
    You should never skip a meal as to lose weight you must eat! Now, what to eat is the journey. Google healthy snack oprions and consider small meals on fruits and veggies. If anything you may be eating far to low on the caloric intake. Give it a try! Good luck!

    What would happen if you didn't eat anything at all, you'd lose zero weight?

    Yes. Everyone knows you will actually get fat if you don't eat anything at all...











    J/K

    To OP, if you don't feel like eating every meal, check out intermittent fasting. I don't like eating breakfast and I usually eat lunch late so it was natural for me to slide into leangains.com style fasting. I get to eat larger meals or just constantly eat for a block of time to still hit the same number of calories.

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