Skipping meals means less calories consumed, which should result in weight loss, right? Studies show that people who skip meals, especially breakfast tend to be heavier than those who eat regularly 4-5 times a day. A possible reason for this is that those who skip meals tend to eat more when they do eat which is also usually later in the day. So the old advice of breakfast being the most important meal definitely holds true.
Altered Metabolism
You typically skip meals for two main reasons. One, you are ultra busy and don’t have enough time to grab a quick snack, or two, you are trying to lose weight. If you are one of the people who are trying to lose weight, you may be actually sabotaging yourself by skipping meals. When you eat, your metabolism, which is one of your body’s functions, works to break the food down into smaller, usable parts. When you skip a meal, your metabolism has nothing to do. In a way, your metabolism is like a muscle. You must use it, or you will “lose it.” When your metabolism does not have to work to break down food, it begins to slow down. Then, the next time you do actually eat something, your metabolism is not able to break the food down as quickly, and as a result the food is stored as fat. Therefore, in order to maintain a healthy weight (or even lose weight), it is essential that you eat regularly throughout the day. Recent research has found that five to seven small, regularly timed meals eaten over the course of a day works best when trying to maintain a healthy weight.