Wednesday 2 March 2011

Should I Skip Meals to Lose Weight?

No.

"But in your article: Losing weight and losing fat, which one? you said that if I burn more calories a day than what my body absorbs I'll lose body fat. Skipping meals helps me lower the calories my body absorbs so I can lose more fat this way right?"

Burning more calories a day than what your body absorbs will make you lose body fat. However, skipping meals is counter productive and works against losing body fat. Here we'll have to understand how the body works. When you skip meals or leave long gaps between meals, what happens is that our body plans ahead in the event that it won't get food anytime soon. Your body's metabolic rate will drop and it will burn muscle first before fat. Why it burns muscle first? Muscles burn more calories than fat as discussed in my previous article at this link here, when your body takes that into consideration with the thought that it might not get food soon, it cuts its losses in the most logical manner. It makes the decision that other organs in your body need the energy more than the muscles because they're more important to ensure the body's survival (eg. heart, lungs, etc).

So to lose fat effectively, you should have meals at regular times, smaller meals are better and if your schedule permits it perhaps a few small meals a day. Stay realistic! =)

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