It just makes sense, doesn’t it? If you skip a meal, then surely that should help with weight loss because you’re eating less. If you normally have three meals a day, but now want to lose weight, knocking that down to two meals a day should help, right?
Not necessarily, and like the answer to so many other questions in the nutrition world… it depends.
We’ve been made to believe that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, and you need to eat breakfast to “stoke your metabolic fire!” or to “kickstart your metabolism!”
As cool as it sounds to be able to “kickstart” your metabolism as if you’re starting an old motorbike, when it comes to weight loss, the research seems to show that having breakfast makes no difference. It simply comes down to personal preference.
Is Skipping Breakfast Good For Weight Loss?
If skipping breakfast is something you’re thinking about doing simply because you want to lose weight, then there’s a good chance it won’t help you much with your weight loss goals. In fact, if you normally have breakfast, but then start skipping it to help with weight loss, some research shows this can end up with us eating more later in the day to make up for it. This doesn’t necessarily mean we overeat, just that the body wants to make up for the energy missed from not having breakfast [1].
For example, if someone normally has 2000 calories per day eating three meals per day, but then starts to skip breakfast and miss out on, let’s say 500 calories, chances are that they’ll eat more later in the day to make up for those 500 calories missed at breakfast.
Is Including Breakfast Good For Weight Loss?
Again, another “it depends”.
If you don’t usually have breakfast and tend to have just two meals a day, then some research has shown that including breakfast could actually have the opposite effect and result in weight gain, or at least make weight loss more challenging as you’re likely to just end up eating more calories per day when adding in an additional meal that wasn’t previously there [2].
It sounds like it makes so much sense when people tell you “you need to include breakfast!”.
No, you don’t. If you prefer not to have breakfast, then you don’t need to, and including it if you don’t normally have it is unlikely to prove beneficial. You’re simply adding in extra calories where you normally wouldn’t have them, all in the name of “stoking your metabolic fire!”.
However, if you normally have breakfast, then continuing to include it is likely to be your best bet, otherwise you may end up eating more later in the day to compensate for the calories you didn’t have at breakfast.
Do You Normally Have Breakfast?
Some people salivate at the thought of their breakfast when they’re lying in bed the night before.
Some people’s faces scrunch up in disgust at the mention or thought of breakfast as they simply can’t stomach food that early.
Some people say “oh my god, how can you possibly function without breakfast?! I can’t function without it!”
Ultimately, the best approach is the one that is going to work best with your personal preferences. Imagine that, a dietary approach based on you and not a programme that “works for everyone!”
If someone who doesn’t like having breakfast is persistently told to have breakfast, that’s probably not going to go well. They just don’t want to, and that’s fine!
Does Having Breakfast “Kickstart” Your Metabolism?
We often think of our metabolism as how many calories we burn a day. Human metabolism is ridiculously complex, however, for the sake of simplicity, we can think of it as all of the chemical processes involved in both providing our body with energy, and storing energy.
Some research has shown that having breakfast can increase your metabolism through what’s known as diet-induced thermogenesis, which is a fancy way of saying how much energy your body uses to break down the food we consume (and the heat it releases doing so). Of course, when you consume food, naturally, your body is going to use more energy breaking down that food at that time.
However, overall, skipping or consuming breakfast doesn’t make a significant difference to the amount of energy you burn each day as we often make up for the energy missed at breakfast through larger meals later in the day [3].
So, no, you can’t “kickstart” your metabolism, nor do you need that shiny bottle of “fat burner” pills that claim to do so either.
Does What You Have For Breakfast Matter For Weight Loss?
When it comes to weight loss, one of the most challenging things is dealing with hunger, and this is where food choice genuinely makes a difference.
It’s important to remember that, as long as you consume fewer calories than you need on a consistent basis, you will lose weight (also known as being in a calorie deficit). However, if the calories you consume mostly come from foods that are not filling and leave you feeling hungry not long after, it’s going to be way more difficult to maintain for very long at all.
Several pieces of research have found a higher protein breakfast to be significantly more filling than a high carbohydrate breakfast, which is supported by the fact that protein is known to be the most filling out of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. For example, a breakfast containing eggs (source of protein) is going to be more filling than some cereal [4], [5].
Conclusion
To breakfast or not to breakfast? That is the question!
While research is always improving in this area, there’s been plenty of research to show that, whether you consume breakfast or not, your overall daily energy consumed and burned tends to remain the same. If you consume breakfast, you’re more likely to eat less in later meals, however, if you don’t have breakfast, you’re more likely to make up for the missed energy at breakfast in later meals. It pretty much balances itself out.
It comes down to your personal preference.
If you like having breakfast, then cutting it out is not likely to benefit you and you might struggle with increased hunger and eating more later in the day. However, if you’ve always skipped breakfast, then feel free to ignore everyone who tells you “breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” and go about your business not having breakfast. You’ll be absolutely fine.
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References
- Chowdhury, E. A., Richardson, J. D., Holman, G. D., Tsintzas, K., Thompson, D., & Betts, J. A. (2016). The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in obese adults. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 103(3), 747–756. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.115.122044
- Sievert, K., Hussain, S. M., Page, M. J., Wang, Y., Hughes, H. J., Malek, M., & Cicuttini, F. M. (2019). Effect of breakfast on weight and energy intake: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ, l42. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l42
- Kobayashi, F., Ogata, H., Omi, N., Nagasaka, S., Yamaguchi, S., Hibi, M., & Tokuyama, K. (2014). Effect of breakfast skipping on diurnal variation of energy metabolism and blood glucose. Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, 8(3), e249–e257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2013.01.001
- Fallaize, R., Wilson, L., Gray, J., Morgan, L. M., & Griffin, B. A. (2013). Variation in the effects of three different breakfast meals on subjective satiety and subsequent intake of energy at lunch and evening meal. European Journal of Nutrition, 52(4), 1353–1359. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-012-0444-z
- Blom, W. A., Lluch, A., Stafleu, A., Vinoy, S., Holst, J. J., Schaafsma, G., & Hendriks, H. F. (2006). Effect of a high-protein breakfast on the postprandial ghrelin response. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 83(2), 211–220. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/83.2.211
