Does skipping meals help you lose weight?

Dinner may not be the most important meal of the day but is important for your general health. Busy work schedules, lunch that leaves you feeling full past dinnertime and fasting diets are some of the reasons many people skip dinner.

The timing of evening meal varies considerably among households but can be anywhere between 6pm and 8pm. Late night eating is also not recommended because there is increased gastric acid secretion after you lie down for bed according to Ivan Philip Baguma, a nutritionist.

 “The secretion causes esophageal irritation, heartburn, and discomfort. The body requires a lot of energy to digest the food and you actually burn fewer calories than you have consumed as your metabolic rate slows down when you sleep,” he says.

Dinner is not just the third meal of the day but also the last opportunity to give your body the calories and nutrition it needs to thrive before you sleep.

What skipping meals does to your body

Many people are in the habit of eliminating meals as a shortcut to losing weight but according to Baguma, this will not give the desired results.

He says such a person will be hungry, sad and depressed and before they lose any, they have actually gained more weight. Losing weight, he says, requires a change in the type and quality of foods consumed.

“When you skip a meal, it triggers a series of reactions in your body impairing your ability to regulate appetite. This is because varying a daily eating routine disrupts the 24-hour cycle that governs many bodily functions,” he says.

Skipping meals can lead to fluctuations in blood sugar that can leave you feeling shaky or lacking energy. This leads to stress and makes it hard to sleep.

Depression

According to a study published in March 2023 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, adults who skip meals, especially dinner are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms. Also, eating just one meal a day was linked to a higher mortality risk, and skipping lunch or dinner specifically increased the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Skipping dinner was the biggest predictor of weight gain in a study published in January 2021 in the journal. Also, according to a study published in April 2022 in the journal Eating and Weight Disorders, not eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner may make you more vulnerable to developing an eating disorder.

“When you eliminate meals, you limit your opportunities to get the energy and nutrients you need. Even when you lose the weight, you will look malnourished,” Baguma says.

Recommendations

Baguma instead reccomends ensuring that you eat smaller but quality meals consisting of non-starchy foods, cruciferous vegetables, fibre rich foods, unprocessed and whole foods. These keep you feeling satisfied for a long time but also provide you with the essential nutrients.

He also recommends consulting a registered dietitian or nutritionist to help you come up with a meal plan or suggest an intermittent fasting programme to cover your nutritional needs.

The better approach to losing weight through meals according to Baguma is to eat more calories at breakfast and lunch to give you a boost of energy through the day and fewer calories for dinner.

It is also important to note that losing weight is a combination of lifestyle changes that include exercising. Dinner should also be the time of day when people make an effort to eat their vegetables.

Tips to avoid skipping meals

If you are extremely busy, it does not mean you should deprive yourself of nutrients. Here are some tips to keep your body and mind running at full throttle.

● Plan ahead. Keep healthy snacks and no-prep foods on hand such as fresh fruits, baby carrots and sliced vegetables, yoghurt, cheese and nuts, among others. If your work has a fridge, label refrigerated items.

● Prep ingredients for the week. Wash and chop vegetables and pre-portion out herbs, spices and condiments so that when it comes time to make the meal, most of the work is already done. If breakfast is tough in the morning, try overnight oats, yoghurt and hardboiled eggs as a quick and easy breakfast option on-the-go.

● Cook larger portions. Dinner can be great for lunch the next day. Create larger portions and pre-portion the leftovers into containers for lunch-on-the-go during the week.

● Schedule lunchtime. Block off your calendar in the middle of the day, so you do not overbook yourself or fall behind. And try to stick with this sacred time.

Source: www.bannerhealth.com

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