Skipping Breakfast Does Not Cause Weight Gain
As mentioned above, people who skip breakfast tend to weigh more than people who eat breakfast.
This may seem paradoxical, because how can not eatingmake you gain more weight?
Well, some claim that skipping breakfast causes you to become very hungry so that you overeat later in the day.
This seems to make sense, but isn’t supported by the evidence.
It is true that skipping breakfast causes people to be more hungry and eat more at lunch, but this is not enough to overcompensate for the breakfast that was skipped.
In fact, some studies have even shown that skipping breakfast may
reduce overall calorie intake by up to 400 calories per day (
9,
10,
11).
This seems logical, because you are effectively removing an entire meal from your diet each day.
Interestingly, the eat/skip breakfast dilemma was recently tested in a high-quality randomized controlled trial.
This was a 4-month long study that compared recommendations to eat or skip breakfast in 309 overweight/obese men and women (
12).
After 4 months, there was no difference in weight between groups. It simply didn’t matter whether people ate or skipped breakfast.
These results are supported by other studies on the effects of breakfast habits on weight loss. Skipping breakfast had no visible effects (
5,
12,
13).
Bottom Line: Higher-quality studies show that it makes no difference whether people eat or skip breakfast. Skipping breakfast makes you eat more at lunch, but not enough to compensate for the breakfast you skipped.
Skipping Breakfast May Even Have Some Health Benefits
This includes the
16/8 method, which consists of a 16-hour overnight fast followed by an 8-hour eating window.
This eating window usually ranges from lunch until dinner, which means that you skip breakfast every day.
However, it’s important to mention that intermittent fasting and/or skipping breakfast does not suit everyone. The effects vary by individual (
19).
Some people may experience positive effects, while others may develop headaches, drops in blood sugar, faintness and lack of concentration (
20,
21).
Bottom Line: Skipping breakfast is a part of many intermittent fasting protocols, such as the 16/8 method. Intermittent fasting can have numerous health benefits.
Breakfast is Optional
The evidence is clear, there is nothing “special” about breakfast.
It probably does not matter whether you eat or skip breakfast, as long as you eat healthy for the rest of the day.
Breakfast does not “jump start” your metabolism and skipping it does not automatically make you overeat and
gain weight.
This is a myth, based on observational studies that have since been proven wrong in randomized controlled trials (real science).
At the end of the day, breakfast is optional, and it all boils down to personal preference.
If you feel hungry in the morning and you like breakfast, go ahead and eat a healthy breakfast. A
protein-rich breakfast is best.
However, if you don’t feel hungry in the morning and don’t feel that you need breakfast, then don’t eat it. It’s as simple as that.
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