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Intermittent Fasting: The Evening vs. Morning Approach for Rapid Weight Loss

11 September, 2024

From a metabolic standpoint, skipping meals can be beneficial as it allows for a shift to utilizing more fat for fuel and releasing fat, better managing one’s fuel reserves. However, a common question arises: Is it more effective to skip breakfast or dinner for weight loss?

Skipping Breakfast

Breakfast is often the meal that people choose to forgo when practicing intermittent fasting. Specifically, they will fast until 11 am or 12 pm before having their first meal, and the second meal will end before 8 pm. People tend to find skipping breakfast easier as, generally, it is a meal consumed during a rushed time when one is hurrying out of the door in the morning. This, coupled with the fact that, out of the three meals in a day, breakfast tends to be the lightest meal. On average, people consume about 20% of their total daily intake at breakfast and 80% in the remaining time, so skipping breakfast seems more manageable.

Skipping breakfast may be easier due to the time of day when hunger is typically at its weakest, around 8 am.

But beyond calorie reduction and convenience, another unique outcome of skipping breakfast as compared to other meals is that it allows one to harness the benefits of exercising in a fasted state. This is quite popular among athletes, and delaying breakfast until after morning training has been widely adopted as a way to utilize the body’s fat reserves as fuel.

However, skipping breakfast is also considered by many experts as not advisable. Breakfast is touted as the most important meal of the day, as it is the first opportunity to fuel your body for work and labor. Additionally, some individuals may compensate by eating more during subsequent meals, potentially leading to weight gain instead of loss.

Exercising on an empty stomach can aid in depleting fat stores in the body.

Skipping Breakfast Suits the Following Types of Individuals:

– Office workers

– Those who sleep late and wake up late

– Night shift workers

– Individuals with severe insulin resistance.

– For those with weak spleen and stomach conditions, skipping breakfast can allow these organs to rest.

– It can help individuals with diabetes or prediabetes control their blood sugar levels.

Skipping Dinner

Skipping dinner is slightly less practiced as most are accustomed to refueling heavily in the evening. But while it may be more challenging to skip dinner compared to breakfast, if one can manage it, the impact is greater since the amount of energy not consumed will be much higher than skipping breakfast. Similar to skipping breakfast, you will still reap the benefits of intermittent fasting as you are prolonging the fasting window.

Dinner is typically a social meal, making it harder to skip as we often share this time with family and friends.

Furthermore, in the evening, people tend to take in more energy but release less due to reduced physical activity compared to the daytime. Hence, for many, consuming a large dinner, especially a late one, can easily lead to weight gain.

However, skipping dinner is not without its challenges as we have more free time after work in the evenings, which can lead to overindulgence. Particularly, dinner often carries a social aspect, such as gathering with family and friends.

Regularly skipping dinner can significantly impact our social lives, making it challenging for individuals to maintain this practice in the long term.

Skipping Dinner Suits the Following Types of Individuals:

– Morning shift workers

– Those who sleep and wake up early: Typically, one should not eat within three hours of bedtime, as it affects the body’s digestive function, which in turn impacts sleep quality. So, if you tend to go to bed early, you may consider skipping dinner.

– Individuals with physically demanding jobs

– Those who need to take medication after breakfast

– Individuals with weak digestion and a cold physique tend to have weaker constitutions, so adequate nutrition and calorie intake in the morning are essential, focusing on foods that warm the spleen and stomach.

Skipping dinner will reduce a more significant amount of calories compared to skipping breakfast.

Alternating Between Skipping Breakfast and Dinner is an Option

For those with good health and flexible schedules, alternating between skipping meals is possible, such as skipping breakfast one week and dinner the next. This approach allows you to experiment with different intermittent fasting methods and enhance your body’s metabolic function.

Whichever approach you choose, the fasting window will include the hours after 7 pm, including sleeping hours. These periods are crucial for the body’s maintenance and repair. If the relevant organs cannot rest during these times, it can lead to the development of various metabolic disorders, affecting endocrine and autonomic nervous system functions over time.