Does Skipping Meals Contribute To Weight Loss?

The equation to weight loss is to keep your calorie intake less than the calories expended. In an attempt to; reduce the calorie intake for weight loss, many individuals attempt a meal skipping diet. People try to bypass either breakfast, lunch, or dinner to cut down the calorie count. Now the question is, does calorie reduction mean skipping meals or vice versa?

In this blog, we’ll discuss the impact skipping meals regularly; can have on your body. Does skipping meals contribute to weight loss?

 

NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY

weight loss diet

When you practice skipping meals, your quality of meals reduces (because you’ll limit the variety of food you consume) as a result of which, you may miss out on essential nutrients. By skipping meals, you’ll reduce your intake of dietary fiber, micro and macronutrients, which in the long run leads to nutritional void, deficiencies, and impaired immunity. Individuals who skip breakfast particularly, run the risk of losing out on the crucial nutrients (vitamins found in fruits, calcium in milk, minerals, and fiber found in fortified cereals) that the first meal of the day.

 

LOW ENERGY FEELINGS

weight loss dietSkipping meals or not eating for long hours can drop your blood glucose levels. This will ultimately; leads you to slow down due to tiredness, making you feel lethargic and dizzy. Skipping meals reduces your daily energy intake, causes the body to lower its metabolism, and leads to increased production of cortisol. The cortisol provides the body glucose via breaking down muscle protein or gluconeogenesis in the liver. When blood glucose level falls, your brain won’t run efficiently. Our brain needs glucose as its main source of energy and requires continuous supply of glucose from blood. When you go for long hours without meals, it can lead to disturbed glucose metabolism and make you feel irritable, dizzy, stressed, and surround you with clouds of constant tiredness.

          

YOU MIGHT OVEREAT AT YOUR NEXT MEAL

overeating due to skipping meals

If you skip meals, you only tend to feel hungrier by your next meal time. As per studies, individuals who skip meals make up for the lost calories by having larger portions sizes; during later meals after skipping an earlier meal. This is your body’s way of demanding and storing energy in times of starvation. You may think that by skipping breakfast, you’ll cut down on calorie intake, but the studies say that people who skip breakfast eat more calories from lunch, dinner, snacks, and their diet tends to be of a lower quality. The food that we eat eventually turns into blood sugar to give our cells energy, and when cells have drained much of the sugar from the blood stream, we feel an urge to eat again. People who skip breakfast eat more sugars and total fat over the day because of higher levels of snacking.

 

MOOD IMBALANCE

skipping meals causes frustrationSkipping meals means your blood sugar levels take a dip which causes mood swings, irritability, lack of focus and emotional disturbance, leading to compromised quality of life. If you don’t get the nutrients your body needs, your body will feel tired, and your mental energy goes flagging. Low energy feelings can cause increased levels of cortisol secretion making you feel hungrier, and leave you feeling anxious, stressed, nausea, fatigue, poor concentration, confusion. The symptoms will worsen if you make it a habit, you tend have angry outbursts, feel moody, jittery and face trouble in making decisions. Digestive issues like acidity, acid reflux associated with skipping meals may further worsen the condition.

 

SLOW METABOLISM

weight loss diet

Our body uses food as fuel to produce ATP. When you skip meals, your body goes into starving mode; this makes your body; think that you are fasting and turn on the energy save mode. As your metabolism rate slows down, your body starts to store fat; and starts burning muscle mass for energy. If you skip your dinner, your body runs out of glycogen which; increases cortisol levels. When you skip breakfast, the elevated cortisol levels will continue to increase to maintain adequate blood glucose levels which eventually causes insulin resistance.  

 

EXPERIENCE CRAVINGS

skipping meals causes excessive cravings

When you skip meals, you’re going to feel tired as a result of; nutrient deficiency. If you have noticed, when you skip meals, you’ll find the smell of fast foods or fried foods very appealing? Skipping meals on a regular basis can cause serious metabolic changes, cause elevated fasting glucose, delayed insulin response, and make unhealthy food choices. Essentially, when your body begins to starve, it will crave foods that pack more calories to supply the energy. Just like; when during lack of sleep, the ongoing stress will cause your cortisol levels to go up, increase your hunger feelings and cravings for sugary foods, fatty foods and junk foods. Feeling deprived from skipping meals can lead to binge eating or late-night cravings that foster poor eating habits.

 

Skipping meals for weight loss could lead to uneven distribution of calories throughout the day which could actually turn up to self sabotage and backfire…

Instead of skipping meals, if you split your calorie intake throughout the course of the day, your body will use those nutrients more efficiently and it may contribute to weight loss…

 

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