Skipping Breakfast Proven Not To Be As Bad For Weight Loss After All
It was recently assumed that skipping breakfast could cause you to gain weight or avoid losing weight, but a new study shows this may not actually be the case. It is not to say that you should skip breakfast now, as it is still good for you to maintain a healthy lifestyle and give you energy for the day, but it might not be bad for weight loss, according to the study released in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Why You Shouldn’t Skip Breakfast
Before discussing the study, it helps to know more about why you shouldn’t skip breakfast. The following are reasons to keep eating breakfast, regardless of the results of this study:
- Breakfast offers you more nutrients – This isn’t always the case, but fairly accurate. Breakfast foods tend to offer you more vitamins and minerals than foods served for lunch or dinner. Many people choose fresh fruit, oatmeal or whole-grain breakfast cereal, which contains more nutrients in smaller amounts.
- It helps you avoid overeating – When you eat breakfast, it helps to curb your appetite later in the day so you don’t end up eating too much for lunch or dinner, or grabbing an extra snack you didn’t really need.
- You get more energy – Having more energy is always good for weight loss, so in terms of eating breakfast, it does help weight loss in this way. By eating in the morning, you are fueling your body and getting ready for the day. This is going to supply you with a sufficient amount of energy for the day, whether it is a workout or getting a walk done during your lunch break.
The Newest Study
The newest study about whether or not you should skip breakfast was completed by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study looked at people who were all trying to lose weight; half of the participants were asked to eat breakfast every day and the other half skipped breakfast every day. The study didn’t show much change between them, proving that skipping breakfast doesn’t add on more weight or make weight loss more difficult. This is only in relation to actually adding on pounds. There are still ways eating breakfast can help with weight loss, like burning more calories, boosting energy, and helping to avoid overeating. However, eating first thing in the morning on its own doesn’t seem to make much difference. The study had 300 participants during a 16-week trial. All of the participants were adults between 20 and 65 years of age.
The Results of the Study
Instead of one group losing or gaining weight, neither group had a big change. Neither of them lost much weight, and certainly not in comparison to the other group. Researchers still want to perform more studies to find out what the dietary habits and appetite was like with those skipping or eating breakfast, as well as energy levels and metabolism and how that affects weight loss or weight gain with skipping breakfast.
It is still the general recommendation that breakfast should be enjoyed on as many days as possible. Breakfast foods tend to have higher nutrition, are light and easy meals to prepare, and can provide you with enough energy for the day and to get through morning workouts. People who eat breakfast simply tend to live a healthier, more productive life, but there are no time limits for when you should eat breakfast each day. You also don’t need to worry about gaining weight if you skip breakfast occasionally or are simply not hungry when you wake up.