WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY WHEN YOUR SKIP A MEAL?
You woke up late so you skipped breakfast, you had meetings during lunch so maybe you skipped lunch or you’re trying out intermittent fasting to help you lose weight.
Your body’s reaction to a missed meal depends on your age, health, diet and activity level, but skipping a meal can have both good and bad consequences. Here’s what can happen:
You’ll lose weight, but there’s a catch: People tend to skip meals because their goal is to lose weight. But there is a certain way to partake in intermittent fasting. If you skip a meal early in the day just to indulge later that evening and overeat. A 2017 study from The Journal of Nutrition found that the way to break up your meals during the day is to have a large breakfast, an average sized lunch 5-6 hours after and fast overnight.
You may overeat: In a 2018 study from the International Journal of Obesity it was found that stress adds to hungry which can be on of the prime reasons people overeat or binge eat. If you are skipping a meal, but that makes you grab all the sugary snacks later on you won’t be reaping any of the benefits for intermittent fasting.
You may start to get tired: When you skip a meal it’s not just your stomach that misses out but your brain too. Your brain signals the rest of your body its time to shut things down because your levels of blood glucose have dropped. Intermittent fasting can be beneficial if you stick to a set schedule and when you do eat you eat foods that will fill you up for long periods of time.
Your mood will change: Skipping meals consistently makes your blood sugar drop and that can affect your disposition. “Hangry” is a term most people have heard of. Glucose is what fuels our brains so when we don’t have it that puts us in a bad mood and that leads to overeating.
You might not maintain your weight loss: The main benefit of skipping meals is to lose a significant amount of weight but in a 2017 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association a healthy diet and a diet with intermittent fasting share similar results in the long run.
While there are benefits of skipping meals and trying intermittent fasting like lengthening your life, your brain getting a boost, weight loss and feeling less bloating there are also consequences to skipping meals. The best way to lose weight is a healthy diet and consistent exercise.
Comments