Is It Ok?

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MandaLen13
MandaLen13 Posts: 151 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
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...
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Replies

  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    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
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
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    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
    tarachannel Posts: 6
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    Yay! Thanks for this. I have been wondering the same thing.
  • Huskeryogi
    Huskeryogi Posts: 578 Member
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    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
    Michelle_M2002 Posts: 301 Member
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    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
    LittleFootHafner Posts: 302
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    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
    ambercanfly Posts: 150 Member
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    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
    AEcklar813 Posts: 184 Member
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    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
    ckspores Posts: 52
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    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
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    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
    withchaco Posts: 1,026 Member
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    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
    slimmingdownsteph Posts: 201 Member
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    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
    Loko_Ino Posts: 544 Member
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    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
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    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
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    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
    MrsCon40 Posts: 2,351 Member
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    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
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    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
    MrsCon40 Posts: 2,351 Member
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    double post - fail
  • Loko_Ino
    Loko_Ino Posts: 544 Member
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    hmmm..guess i can learn something new.
    those studies do prove my opinion wrong. I stand corrected.
    Thanks MFP for setting me straight.
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    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.

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