We’ve been told for years that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Eat your Wheaties so you’ll be energized and ready to take on the day!

While I acknowledge there are tons of benefits to eating breakfast in the morning (I almost always do), there can also be a lot of positives to skipping the meal entirely. I thought I’d take some time to break down this topic today, as it’s one I frequently get asked about by clients, family, and friends. Purposely skipping breakfast is even a strategy me and my clients use on a regular basis.

So let’s dive in…

Is it OK to skip a meal?

First and foremost, it is 100% OK to skip breakfast. I think there’s some fear that it may be unhealthy to skip your morning meal, and I’m guessing a lot of that fear comes from the “conventional wisdom” we’ve heard for decades.

As long as you’re not severely under eating or over training on a daily basis, I think it can be your choice as to what meals you do and do not consume.

Why would you want to skip breakfast?

Well, most roads lead back to weight loss when it comes to this topic. If you’re trying to control calories to lose weight, skipping breakfast is often a prime candidate to help eliminate food on a daily basis.

Why? Well, it seems like generally a lot of people are less hungry for breakfast than they are for lunch and dinner. We’ve just woken up, we haven’t expended much energy at all while sleeping, and we most likely had a big meal for dinner that is still digesting.

A cup of coffee can normally suffice and hold us over for a few more hours until it’s time for lunch.

Skipping breakfast is a common strategy for those participating in intermittent fasting. Click the link to read more about IF, but in a nutshell it’s where you withhold calories for a longer period of time than usual — normally something like 16 hours — and reduce your window of time to eat to eight hours. Your sleep is included in the fasting window, so you’re looking at something like eating dinner at 7 p.m. and not eating again until 11 a.m. or Noon.

This is effective, because if you have a smaller window of time to eat, you’re most likely going to have a tough time consuming the same amount of calories as you would when you have zero restrictions

But what about overall health? Doesn’t your body need food in the morning?

Research and opinions are across the board. Some research will tell you breakfast is the key to living a long life. New studies will tell you consuming breakfast might not be a good strategy for weight loss.

I stick to the golden rule I use with my clients: If you enjoy it and it’s working for you, keep doing it.

Sustainable habits that promote health and wellness are no-brainers. Do it. Do that thing as long as you can and for as long as it’s providing you with benefits. Don’t overthink things.

Now, I suppose that golden rule applies to goals other than weight loss, too. If you’re trying to maintain weight, or gain lean mass, I don’t think the answers are any different. If skipping breakfast works for you, and you can still get your calories in each day (and adequate protein!!!), go for it.

It seems so simple on the surface, but the communication of things like this in the health and fitness world are unfortunately so convoluted and confusing. There are people left and right saying a certain diet or training program is magic — it’s the key to success.

The reality is success takes a long time, and you need to find healthy and sustainable lifestyle habits that you can carry with you through each and every day.

Stick to the basics and find what works. And if that means skipping breakfast, you have my permission to give it a shot!

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If you have questions about dieting, intermittent fasting, or nutrition in general, please feel free to contact me and we can discuss it more. And if you’re interested in coaching, check out my coaching page for more information.

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CG