Which meal is best to skip for weight loss: Comparing meal skipping and intermittent fasting and defining tips for effective weight loss

Which meal is best to skip for weight loss? Whether it’s simply refusing a certain meal or following a fixed intermittent fasting schedule, it can help you reduce calorie intake and stimulate fat burn. Generally, intermittent fasting can offer more benefits in terms of consistency and discipline. Yet, deciding which meal is best to skip requires an individual approach because every option has certain pros and cons.

Weight loss is a common issue facing millions of women out there. Whether due to natural body composition, insufficient physical activity, or underlying health conditions that affect metabolic functions and fat storage, losing weight can be incredibly overwhelming and hard, especially when you’ve got plenty of other commitments on your plate, such as kids and work. Thus, when facing the problem of not losing weight, women naturally start seeking approaches that can stimulate the process. That’s where tactics like skipping meals and intermittent fasting step in.

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Understanding the Concept of Meal Skipping

In a nutshell, skipping meals means eliminating one of your habitual daily meals. For example, if you are used to eating three times a day, it can mean, for example, skipping breakfast or dinner. Doing so can help you cut down the total amount of calories you eat during the day. 

While this approach can lower your blood sugar levels and lead to a lower caloric intake, it lacks consistency and can eventually lead to:

• Overeating
• Stronger hunger
• Slowed resting metabolism

Understanding the Concept of Intermittent Fasting

While meal skipping means simply refusing one of your daily meals, thus, reducing the average calorie intake, there’s an alternative, more structured approach called intermittent fasting. This approach isn’t that much about skipping meals purposefully but rather about defining specific times during which you can and can’t eat.

The schedules can vary depending on your energy needs and body goals. For example, common approaches include 12:12, 14:10, 16:8, and 18:6 fasting.

Now, let's look at a specific example for a better understanding. Let’s say you choose a 16:8 intermittent fasting. It means that you should not consume any calories from food or drinks for 16 hours a day and only eat during the remaining 8 hours. You can adjust the hours to your lifestyle. For example, you can eat from 12 pm to 8 pm and fast for the rest of the time.

Skipping Meals vs Intermittent Fasting

One of the core goals of weight loss, when you need to get rid of excess fat, is to get your body in a state of ketosis–the state in which your body is deprived of its preferred energy sources, such as carbohydrates and glucose, and starts fueling itself by burning fat and producing ketones. Pretty obvious that the best way to reap the benefits of this state (aka burn more fat) is by ensuring the consistency and continuity of ketosis, and that’s where intermittent fasting is better.

Unlike simply skipping meals, which can be done somewhat chaotically, intermittent fasting implies getting on a fixed schedule. It can help secure a better consistency in when and how much you eat. Furthermore, intermittent fasting typically implies following a specific diet, which gives more control over your calorie intake and food choices. Needless to say, such discipline is important for healthy weight loss.

Besides, skipping one of your daily meals doesn’t necessarily mean eating less. In fact, studies show that skipping a meal typically leads to a greater calorie intake at subsequent meals. When you do so, your hunger hormones will typically take a hit, causing you to overeat. With intermittent fasting, on the contrary, you don’t necessarily have to refrain from certain meals. You can consume just enough food and have many smaller meals but only during a fixed eating window.

Which Meal Is Best to Skip for Intermittent Fasting?

So now you know that intermittent fasting is generally a more disciplined approach to weight loss that can offer greater benefits than randomly skipping your meals. Nevertheless, prolonged fasting windows in this dietary approach still force you to choose whether you want to stay calorie-free during breakfast or dinner time. So let’s try to answer the question–is it better to fast in the morning or evening?

Intermittent Fasting Morning

Morning intermittent fasting is a common practice as skipping breakfast allows you to extend your overnight fasting window and stick to prolonged schedules like 16:8. It’s also rather easy to follow as many of us don’t feel very hungry in the morning.

As for the benefits, maintaining your fast in the morning can help reduce stress, regulate hormones, promote fat burning, and reduce morning blood sugar spikes.

However, when you are considering whether to have breakfast or intermittent fasting in the morning, it’s also important to consider the potential cardiovascular risk factors. And it’s important to consider potential energy dips and a stronger feeling of hunger later in the day.

Intermittent Fasting Dinner

Potentially, you can still follow more advanced schedules like 16:8 if you decide to have intermittent fasting skipping dinner. This way, you can prolong your night fast by closing your eating window around midday and consuming calories only in the first part of your day. Now what about the reasons to skip dinner intermittent fasting? 

Following an intermittent fasting skip dinner approach might be better aligned with your circadian rhythm. This way, you can improve digestion and sleep by preventing late-night overeating. Beginning your intermittent fasting with breakfast early in the morning can also help reduce your overall calorie intake. Studies show that people who eat breakfast tend to consume more fiber, folate, iron, vitamin C, vitamin A, and calcium throughout the day, cutting down the amount of added sugar they consume.

There is another scientifically-proven reason for skipping dinner intermittent fasting–one study found that early time-restricted feeding (when you eat from 8 am to 2 pm and fast in the evening) is linked to better outcomes on insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and oxidative stress. 

On the downside, however, evening fasting can feel more overwhelming by forcing you to skip habitual family and social meals. It can also increase your food cravings at night, which can affect sleep quality.

Fasting at Night vs Morning: What’s Better?

Now that you have more details, you must be wondering which option is best for you–intermittent fasting morning or night? The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Some people may find it naturally easier to have their eating window in the first part of the day, whereas others will prefer skipping breakfast and eating after 12 pm.

In order to find an option that suits you best, it’s important to consider the following individual factors:

• Lifestyle and daily schedule
• Hunger and eating patterns
• Energy needs and level of activity

Additionally, if you are considering intermittent fasting, it’s always a good idea to consult with a healthcare provider or nutritionist in order to see which fasting schedule will work best based on your health condition. For example, if you have insulin resistance, you may be advised to follow an early time-restricted feeding.

All in all, it’s best to assess your individual needs and pick a fasting option that’s the easiest and most beneficial for you.

What Is the Best Meal to Skip?

Now, what if you don’t want to engage in such a restricted and fixed approach as intermittent fasting but still want to cut down your daily calories by skipping a certain meal? In this case, you need to assess your energy needs and expenditure, as well as lifestyle and other individual factors to find the best meal to skip.

Let us give you a few recommendations on this.

Is It Better to Skip Breakfast or Lunch?

Once again, whether it’s intermittent fasting or breakfast skipping, avoiding food in the morning might be the easiest to implement if you’re one of those people who aren’t hungry in the morning. It can also let you get into a sort of intermittent fasting by prolonging your fasting window from evening to lunch. Yet, it can potentially lead to energy dips and may affect you if you’re an active person and work out in the morning.

Skipping lunch might be a good choice for people who don’t feel hungry at midday. It can help you fuel your body starting from the morning, yet reduce calorie intake by avoiding unhealthy lunch snacks. Yet, it can also cause energy crashes and lead to overeating.

Is It Better to Skip Breakfast or Dinner?

If you want to maintain lunch in your daily meal plan, you can skip either breakfast or dinner. The latter can help support your metabolic function and avoid overeating late at night. However, it might be inconvenient in terms of social meals.

FAQ

Is skipping meals the same as intermittent fasting?

Not really. Skipping meals is just skipping meals. It often lacks a schedule and structure. Intermittent fasting, on the other hand, implies establishing and following a fixed schedule of fasting and eating windows, as well as following a healthier diet. Generally, intermittent fasting is a more consistent and disciplined approach to weight loss.

Is it better to fast in the morning or at night?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. On the one hand, getting on an intermittent fasting breakfast only can have a better impact on insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and oxidative stress. Skipping dinner can also help digestion and sleep. On the other hand, skipping breakfast and moving your eating window to around midday-evening might be easier to maintain. 

Can I skip lunch intermittent fasting?

Not really. There is actually no such thing as intermittent fasting breakfast and dinner only, in which you eat the entire day but don’t have lunch or midday snack. This just means skipping lunch.

Can I skip a day of intermittent fasting?

Yes. Intermittent fasting can come in many different forms. While some people prefer to follow a fixed fasting schedule every day, it’s also okay to get into intermittent fasting for 5:2 days or decide to take a break from it for a day or two. The answer depends mostly on your needs and goals. And it’s important to break a fast gradually in order to prevent negative impact.

What meal is best to skip?

If you don’t want to get into intermittent fasting but are thinking about stimulating weight loss by skipping certain meals, the answer to the question of “what is the best meal to skip” requires a personalized approach. It depends on your lifestyle, hunger patterns, energy needs, and other individual factors.

Conclusion

So intermittent fasting skip breakfast or dinner–which is best? As you now know, skipping each element of your daily meals can have certain benefits, in terms of ketosis and fat burn, as well as regulation of blood sugar levels, reducing oxidative stress, and so on.

Eventually, the decision on whether you should fast in the morning, follow intermittent fasting no dinner, or simply skip one of your meals gets down to your individual needs and goals. Make an informed decision and don’t hesitate to consult a healthcare provider for the best outcomes!