Meal skipping for weight loss

This is going to controversial, possibly taking everything you know about weight loss and throwing it down the drain. I am going to advocate skipping meals as a method of weight loss. There, I’ve said it. How many times have you read in ‘Mens Health’ magazine, or ‘Womens fitness’ magazine that you absolutely must eat every 2-3 hours. The rationale behind this is that it fuels your metabolic fire, ramping up your internal engine to burn more and more calories. The main problem with this is that it’s bullshit, and absolutely NOT supported by science.

This myth probably started with rat studies, seeing that the metabolic rate declines when a rat skips a meal. This was then further added to by studies which linked breakfast eaters with lower obesity rates. Cue a bandwagon of idiots believing that if you don’t have a constant supply of energy running through your veins, your body will shut down and cower in a corner in a metabolic mess. Men magazines produced scare tactics claiming that their muscles are going to waste away unless they supply protein on a consistent 2-3 hour interval. The protein powder industry cleaned up, along with the ‘healthy’ snack industry. But it’s all rubbish.

Stop fuelling this bullshit deceptive façade 

Firstly, we are not rats. Our metabolism is much more stable than that of a rodent. Yes, a rat will start to experience a drop in metabolism if it goes a few hours without food. How long does it take for a human to experience a drop in metabolism? Around 72 hours – that’s 3 days of absolutely NO FOOD! This idea is actually supported by research.

Many fasting studies actually show an increase in metabolic rate for short term fasting (up to 4 days). Like the study from Zauner et al (2000) showing an increase of 14% in Resting energy expenditure after 3 whole days of fasting before it started to drop off. The results were put down to an increase in norepinephine ( a hormone that inhibits the release of insulin helping you to burn more fat). Mansell et al (1990) also found an increase of 3% in resting metabolic rate after 48 hours of fasting, again proving wrong the myth that skipping one meal (or breakfast) will slow your metabolism down. The body also releases small amounts of Ghrelin, Adrenalin and Cortisol which help motivate us to go out and look for food. The shaky feeling you get when you are low on energy is not often down to low blood sugar levels, but small amounts of these other hormones in your blood charging you for hunting/gathering.

What about my blood sugars?

There is a common misconception that if you don’t eat every 2 hours your blood sugar levels will drop dangerously and your body will start shutting down. Actually, the human body is very adept at keeping the blood sugar levels very stable. When they fall, our body releases the stored sugar in our liver and when that has gone we can convert fats and proteins into sugar keeping our blood levels very constant in a process called gluconeogenesis. The only time this system starts to fail is in subjects that are hypoglycaemic.

A meta analysis of all the meal frequency studies (La Bounty et al. 2011)recently reported no benefit to resting metabolic rate or to body composition by increasing meal frequency. ‘Fuelling the metabolic fire’ as the media would put it, does not exist. This is all you need to know.

So how do I do this?

If you enjoy preparing small, bird size meals and snacks every 3 hours, then go ahead. If, on the other hand, it is more convenient, for you to eat 2 much bigger meals in a day, then follow what I do.

I would much rather eat this, than 5 bird sized meals

Look at the typical female dieter; she may need only 1500 calories a day whilst dieting. Split 5 ways (the typical protocol for many diets) and you are looking at a pathetic 300 calories per meal. That’s a pint of beer, or 3 tablespoons of olive oil. On the other hand, this same person could have a massive 750 calories in 2 meals, feeling fully satiated at the end of each meal, so they don’t even feel like they are dieting. I know which one I would prefer. Sometimes, I would even split it to a 500 calorie meal, and a 1000 calorie meal later at night, when I feel hungrier. The choice is yours.

What meal should I skip?

Again, the choice is yours here. Depending on when you generally feel the least hungry during the day, you could skip this meal, or just eat a very small snack, like an apple (50 calories). Some people feel the need for breakfast and so could have a big breakfast, skip lunch, and then have a large evening meal. Personally, I prefer to skip breakfast, As I have never really been a fan of it, and simply do not feel hungry at this time. Some other people may prefer to eat a bigger lunch, and then skip dinner. Maybe they have digestion issues at night which would make them sleep poorly if they were to have a big dinner. Personally, I sleep like a baby after having a massive late night meal (Before you start talking about how eating late at night is bad, I will also tear this myth apart in due time).

Summary

So call this meal skipping, or calorie combining, or decreased meal frequency (with increased meal size). The choice is yours, the freedom is yours. Use it wisely, along with your calorie counting. Skipping a meal, followed by a free for all feeding frenzy will not make you lose weight. Use it as an intelligent tool to allow you the ability to have larger meals when you would like. Calories in V’s Calories out is the main thing we need to look at for weight loss. If you skip one single meal, you are not going to see a drop in metabolism, hence energy out. Study after study proves this point. People who eat their calories in 10 meals a day, or 2 meals a day will lose the same amount of weight, if their overall calories for the day are controlled.  

I have personally experimented in the past with meal frequencies of 8 small meals a day, and even just 1 big meal a day. Keeping calories the same, weight loss/muscle loss was identical. However, the lower meal frequency was much easier to adhere to. I only had to endure hunger for a small time whilst dieting. With the higher meal frequencies, I was hungry all throughout the day, and it never went away. 

I have to put a disclaimer in that, if you have diabetes or blood sugar control problems or other pre-existing illnesses, it would be best to consult your physician before making any radical changes to the way you eat. 

References

Christian Zauner, Bruno Schneeweiss, Alexander Kranz, Christian Madl, Klaus Ratheiser, Ludwig Kramer, Erich Roth, Barbara Schneider, and Kurt Lenz. (2000). Resting energy expenditure in short-term starvation is increased as a result of an increase in serum norepinephrine. Am J Clin Nutr. vol. 71 no. 6 1511-1515

·        Mansell PI, Fellows IW, Macdonald IA. (1990). Enhanced thermogenic response to epinephrine after 48-h starvation in humans. Am J Physiol. Jan;258(1 Pt 2):R87-93

·         Paul M La Bounty, Bill I Campbell, Jacob Wilson, Elfego Galvan, John Berard, Susan M Kleiner, Richard B Kreider, Jeffrey R Stout, Tim Ziegenfuss, Marie Spano, Abbie Smith, Jose Antonio (2011) International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: meal frequency. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 8:4