Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Skipping Meals :The Road To Fatville

Don't Be a Skipper

Many people believe that skipping meals can help them lose weight. Contrarily, Skipping meals never helps you to lose weight. It confuses the body, causing your metabolism to slow down and preventing you from burning calories the next time you eat. In short, it can actually make you gain weight. If you're trying to lose weight by skipping meals, you could end up gaining weight instead. According to the literature on nutrition and regimen, people who skip meals, especially breakfast, are more likely to overeat later in the day. That's because when meals are skipped, your body's natural cycle gets on a deprivation mode. If you skip meals when you're trying to lose weight, you're doing yourself more harm than good.
Skipping meals can start a difficult cycle whereby the body burns fewer calories. It often results in subsequent fat gain in which you need to starve even more. It is a self-defeating cycle.

Losing weight doesn't happen by skipping meals and using dangerous starvation tactics. When calories become scarce, the human body goes into a survival mode. And that's where the problem begins. When you skip meals, your body packs away fat, saving it for later. Eventually the body stores enough fat to help it survive the next time food is in short supply. So it packs fat around the stomach area; fat that takes little effort to maintain and lots of effort to burn.

Skipping meals often leads to unhealthy or binge eating patterns and it can affect your overall health. When you skip a meal, your body calls out for more fuel, and you end up eating more to curb your cravings. Skipping meals can easily lead to a diet disaster. The easiest way to overcome the habit of skipping is to plan ahead and prepare your meals. The individual who skips meal may experience fatigue, irritability, and possible nutrient deficiencies that may eventually affect their skin, hair, and nails.

Skipping meals is the last thing you should do. Muscle needs food for it to survive, a person who is consuming little or no food will become skin and bone. Meal-skipping can set you up for sluggishly calorie-burning all day long and ravenous hunger and as a result, overeating at night. Skipping meals or embarking on starvation diets is NOT the answer. There is a misconception that skipping any meal saves calories. The truth is that most people who eat fewer than three meals usually end up eating more calories during the course of the day.

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