True or False: Skipping Breakfast Helps You Lose Weight

Written by Branda Polk

Lisa is a highly motivated and successful manager at a large corporation. She works long hours, arriving early and leaving late each day. By 9 AM she has consumed three to five cups of coffee but nothing else. Lisa notices that her energy level, creativity, and mental focus all begin to drop around 10AM, so she either grabs more coffee or a diet soda to try to get her through to lunch. Even though Lisa is successful in her job, she struggles to lose weight. So she has chosen to reduce her calorie intake and make her mornings more efficient by skipping breakfast. Here’s the problem: she is not losing weight, she is actually gaining weight and attributing it to stress. While stress may contribute to her problem, it is not the only culprit. 

True or false: Skipping breakfast helps you lose weight. FALSE. Like so many people, Lisa has bought into a half truth. It is true that reducing calorie intake is a part of weight loss plan, but skipping meals, especially breakfast is counter-productive to accomplishing your health and weight loss goals. Many studies prove that skipping breakfast leads to greater calorie intake later in the day. People who skip breakfast often eat larger lunches and dinners and tend to eat more late night snacks.

God designed our bodies to use less energy during rest. After a night of sleep, you need fuel to “kick start” your system so it burns calories and uses energy efficiently during the day. Breakfast is the meal that “breaks the fast” from your nights sleep and gives your body a fresh start for the day ahead.

The rate at which your body uses calories for energy is your metabolism. Think of your metabolism as a fire in a fireplace and the logs placed on the fire to keep it burning is the food you eat. The best fires are those that are regularly fueled with just the right amount of wood to keep the fire burning consistently. The same is true with your metabolism. Fueling your body with smaller, more regular meals keep your metabolism fired up and burning strong. Breakfast is the first fuel your put into your metabolism fire to get it going for the day. 

Along with fueling your metabolism, breakfast benefits the body by fueling the brain, providing vital nutrients to keep the body healthy, improving energy levels through the morning, improving alertness and mental clarity, and helping to curb cravings that may come later in the day. A healthy balanced breakfast includes complex carbohydrates like whole grain bread or cereal, protein like eggs, milk, yogurt, and healthy fats like peanut butter. Fruit is also a valuable addition to breakfast. The carbohydrates in fruit metabolize quickly, so you get a burst of energy and the vitamins necessary to promote healthy cell development.

Breakfast is the power meal of the day. If you are in the habit of skipping or skimping on breakfast, set an evening time when you will stop eating. A good rule of thumb is to stop eating two hours before bedtime. Then eat a healthy breakfast within one hour of waking up. If you are hungry mid-morning, plan a healthy snack to get you through until lunch. Allow time for your body to adjust to your new eating plan. As you adjust you will see the benefits of a power breakfast. 

Branda Polk, B.S. Exercise Science, is a certified personal trainer, wellness coach, conference speaker and health writer in Lebanon, Tennessee. Sign up for Branda's newsletter, Wellness Connection, to receive encouragement and coaching in the areas of nutrition, exercise, and stress relief. Follow Branda on Twitter.

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