Do You Have To Eat Breakfast To Lose Weight?

“Breakfast is the most important meal and you must eat breakfast to lose weight.”

This has been a common saying in the fitness industry for years.

It’s been deeply rooted in people’s minds that you must eat breakfast.

However, there are certain people who cannot eat for a couple of hours after they wake.

Is this normal?

Let’s take a look into this and all things related to breakfast.

Where did Breakfast is the Most Important Meal Come From?

You’ve seen commercials or certainly have come across it in some medium that breakfast is the most important meal. The theory is that since your blood sugar levels are lower in the morning, you can have more carbs in the morning and that you have to break your fast. This message was pushed by the cereal industry to get you to buy their products. As the sales and conditioning indicates, it has worked really well. People wholeheartedly believe that they NEED to eat breakfast because it’s the most important meal (spoiler, it is not.)

Does Eating Breakfast Make Your Metabolism Faster?

having to eat breakfast to lose weight is a myth

It is a common belief amongst a lot of people that eating breakfast makes your metabolism faster, but this simply is not true. One meal does not have that much power. There are people who biologically cannot eat breakfast for an hour or two after they get up. There is nothing wrong with your metabolism if you don’t get hungry right when you wake.

Therefore, dispel that belief within yourself that breakfast is some special metabolic booster because it is not.

With that being said, there are people who genuinely enjoy getting up and having an awesome breakfast. However, no matter if you enjoy eating breakfast or not, it won’t make your metabolism faster!

How Important is Breakfast For Weight Loss?

You do not have to eat breakfast to lose weight. The only requirement to losing weight is eating in a calorie deficit. There’s no special meal time, meal or foods that are going to help you lose weight. There is a reason why there is so much confusion in the diet industry. The confusion is what helps make the diet industry a lot of money because, without the confusion, people would not be able to sell you their programs, diets, teas and so on.

With that being said, breakfast can be a great way for some, like me, to get good quality protein, carbs, and fats in. For others, they prefer to skip it altogether or wait a few hours. It ultimately comes down to whatever works best for you!

Conclusion

While eating breakfast to lose weight is not necessary, that does not mean you cannot have it. If you enjoy having breakfast right when you get up or within the hour, do it. If you don’t, then that’s fine too. Just know that one is not better than the other when it comes to weight loss. However, what is important is eating in a calorie deficit. Therefore, regardless if you have breakfast or not, the main driver of weight loss is being in a negative energy balance aka a calorie deficit!