For many years, the belief has been that skipping breakfast is detrimental to your health and weight loss. It turns out, however, that the opposite can be true. Not eating breakfast can help you lose weight if you do it correctly.
People who skip breakfast consume around 260 fewer calories every day. This can result in losing a couple of pounds each month, making a dramatic difference. You’ll surely reach your weight loss goals if you pair it with other healthy options.
Other theories about skipping breakfast included that skipping it may deplete energy levels and productivity. These theories have been disproven, as well, as research now shows there is no correlation between breakfast and energy levels.
After being told for most (or all) of your life that skipping breakfast can cause weight gain, this new information may be hard to believe. Luckily, studies offer valuable information regarding how not eating breakfast can help you lose weight.
The Science Behind Skipping Breakfast to Lose Weight
Not eating breakfast has many health benefits, and weight loss is big. One reason for this is intermittent fasting, which is when you go without food for 16-18 hours. By skipping breakfast, you will save calories for later in the day and consume fewer calories overall.
Another benefit is that skipping breakfast also leads to more stable insulin levels. It improves insulin resistance, allowing your body to burn fat without exercising. During intermittent fasting, the neurotransmitter and stress hormone norepinephrine causes cells to break down more fat.
Not eating breakfast also helps with hunger suppression and appetite control. Additionally, many breakfast foods contain high amounts of sugar, even if they are marketed as healthy. For this reason, you will experience fewer cravings throughout the day and significantly fewer sugary ones.
It was once believed that skipping breakfast would slow your metabolism, but this is not the case. Instead, there is no difference in the metabolism of someone who eats breakfast and someone who does not. With this being the case, it can no longer be said that not eating breakfast could cause weight gain.
This was all discovered through a series of thirteen randomized studies of people from different countries. In all instances, it was found that those who eat breakfast consume more calories each day than those who skip it.
All countries included in this study were high-income so the comparisons would be fair. Furthermore, all participants’ breakfast content had to follow guidelines, including the timeframe in which it was eaten in.
After seven weeks, the results of the study were clear. Whether the participant was overweight or of normal weight, those who ate breakfast gained more than one pound. Likewise, the non-breakfast group lost weight during the trial as they consumed fewer calories overall.
However, This does not mean everyone should skip breakfast to lose weight. You should not skip breakfast if you do not think you can get all of your essential nutrients in your later snacks and meals.
The Nutrition You Might Miss if Skipping Breakfast
The National Institutes of Health published a study that shows people who skip breakfast tend to miss out on valuable nutrients and vitamins. These nutrients and vitamins include:
- vitamin D
- calcium
- iron
- magnesium
- Vitamin A
- Phosphorous
- Zinc
When these nutrients are deficient, you could experience insomnia, depression and be more susceptible to infection. So, if you choose to skip breakfast, be aware that you have to consume more nutrients later in the day.
So, Should You Skip Breakfast?
This answer depends solely on your lifestyle and health habits. As stated before, you should not skip breakfast if you do not think you can make up the nutrients in your later meals. On the other hand, if you are confident you will make up the difference, it may be an option.
Pay attention to the snacks you choose later, too, after you have skipped breakfast. If the snacks you are choosing are healthy, that is perfect. It is a good indicator that skipping breakfast is the right option for you.
However, if you choose anything lacking protein or other nutrients, your snack may indicate that you should eat breakfast. This signifies that you won’t make up the nutrients and’ll likely crave sugar often throughout the day.
If you are diabetic, hypoglycemic, or pregnant, you should eat breakfast daily. It is vital for your glucose levels and should not be skipped.
A good rule to follow is if you are hungry in the morning, you should eat breakfast. If you are not hungry, you can skip it.
Other Things to Consider
When you skip breakfast to lose weight, you have to remember that the rest of the day counts, too. You have to consider portion control at meals and choose nutrient-rich snacks. If you skip breakfast but then indulge in unhealthy junk food for the rest of the day, it will not work.
Plus, you must ensure your lunches and dinners are relatively healthy. This is so you can make sure you make up for the nutrients lost in the morning. However, you can increase your portion sizes, so that helps make up for much of it.
Five More Surprising Benefits of Skipping Breakfast
Surprisingly, weight loss is not the only benefit of not eating breakfast. There are many other benefits, as well. These benefits include:
- anti-aging hormone increases
- boost in mental alertness and ability to focus
- more energy
- you will be able to eat larger lunches or dinners
- treats will be easier to allow into your diet
Anti-Aging Properties
Aside from anti-aging hormones increasing when you skip breakfast, there are other anti-aging properties. This includes a process of cellular cleansing, which helps eliminate dead or damaged cells and the products they leave behind. Those damaged cells cause aging and diseases related to aging to set in more quickly.
Boost in Mental Alertness and Ability to Focus
Believe it or not, it takes quite a bit of attention from your body to digest food. By forgoing breakfast, you are allowing your mind to focus on mental and creative processes.
An Increase in Energy Levels
There are a couple of reasons that skipping breakfast leads to an increase in energy levels. The first reason is that many breakfast foods contain high amounts of sugar and carbs.
Even foods that are portrayed as healthy breakfast options are often not entirely healthy. Eating these foods may increase energy initially, but an energy crash will happen shortly after. This will leave you feeling even more tired than if you had skipped breakfast.
The other reason that not eating breakfast increases energy levels is because it burns stored body fat. It works much better when body fat is used instead of sugar for an energy increase. It helps keep your energy level stable all day without the usual crash that follows a sugary breakfast.
Ability to Eat a Larger Lunch or Dinner
While you still won’t want to overeat, you can eat a bigger meal later. You will be able to increase your portion size to make up for any lost nutrients. Plus, if your favorite dinner is on the menu, you won’t have to feel bad for going back for seconds.
Room for Treats
Like with eating a larger meal later in the day, not eating breakfast allows room for treats. You won’t want to indulge all the time, but it is wonderful occasionally. If you skip breakfast, a treat is less likely to put you over your calorie goal.
If You Can Not Skip Breakfast
Some people cannot skip breakfast. Whatever the reason for this, this method of weight loss is not for everyone. If that is the case, there are other options.
Breakfast should be about healthy foods and giving your body a healthy start. This means you should not choose foods with high amounts of sugar. Pancakes smothered with syrup are out.
You should also try to avoid high amounts of carbs. Instead, choose healthy options such as eggs, avocado, whole grain toast, nuts, and fruits. If you do this, you will still experience the weight loss benefits of skipping breakfast.
Final Thoughts on Understanding the Science Behind Skipping Breakfast to Lose Weight
So, contrary to long-term belief, skipping breakfast can help you lose weight. As long as you get all of your essential vitamins and nutrients, you will experience the benefits. The choice is entirely up to you, and it does not matter if you switch it up, either.
If you like breakfast, go for it. Just make sure to choose healthy options so that you can still lose weight if you want to. Healthy options will also help you later in the day.
However, if you want to try skipping breakfast, you can experience weight loss and many other benefits. The choice is up to you. Now that it is known, breakfast is optional when it comes to your health.
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