Should You Skip Breakfast?

I'm sure you've heard the saying "skipping breakfast is bad for you" or "skipping breakfast can slow down your metabolism". Listen here sis, I'm here to clear this up for you. Because it is all about context. Most fitness/health claims you hear are CONTEXT DEPENDENT. Meaning, depending on the situation, it could be true and vice versa. So, what about breakfast?

 Here is the truth. It DOES NOT matter if you skip breakfast WHEN calories are equated. For example: if I was eating 1,800 calories a day to try and lose some body fat, whether or not I got those calories in through 3 meals beginning around 1pm or through 5 meals beginning around 9am, will not matter. So, what does that mean for you? Well, it's up to what works best for you and your lifestyle. The best diet for you IS ONE YOU WILL STICK TO. Say that 10 more times to yourself. Here are some example scenarios:

• If you LOVE eating breakfast, there is no reason to skip it! Breakfast is probably one of my favorite times of my day. 
• If you notice that your brain is a bit foggy until you eat breakfast, eat it! I personally don't do my work well until I have food in me. But some people feel totally opposite which is 100% okay! 
• If you train in the mornings, it might not be the best idea for you to fast until 2 in the afternoon. If you want to train fasted (I literally hate it lol), I'd suggest eating a decent sized meal right before bed then having a whey protein isolate and carb source directly after! 
• If you are super busy in the mornings and until around lunch time, waiting for your first meal until later in the day may work well for you! 
• Whenever I have a super busy morning or I had a huge meal late the night before, sometimes I will wait until later to eat. But again, my calorie intake doesn't differ- just the timing. 
• If you are dieting and are wanting to have bigger meals throughout the day, pushing food to a later start time can be helpful! You will have less meals total but those meals will be bigger since you will have more calories to work with. 
• Fasting also works well for some people in aiding in areas like digestion, but these things are minor benefits if it's not something you enjoy doing or can stick to. If you are looking to get those benefits from fasting but really enjoy breakfast, you can look into doing a longer fast once a month or so. I've heard this work well for lots of people!

In summary, nope. Skipping breakfast is not "bad". The real issue is when people skip breakfast in an attempt to restrict their calories day after day. When calories are restricted too much/for too long, the metabolism will slow down in order to be more efficient with the given calories. That is where the claim that skipping breakfast will slow your metabolism comes from. If you are fueling your body correctly, this will not be an issue. The metabolism will naturally slow down a bit in any fat loss phase but it is exaggerated with major restriction. I could also argue make the argument for protein intake here, but I'll leave that for another blog post ;) Spark-notes for you so I don't leave you hanging there too much: 0.8-1.2 g protein/lb. lean body weight per day for muscle building/maintenance (recommendation). 

If you want to eat breakfast, do it! If you don't, great! Just be sure calories are equated either way because that is what matters in the bigger picture.