Morning is the start of a new day, but for many people, it often passes in a hurry. Many people choose to skip breakfast simply because they don’t have time, or think that skipping breakfast is a way to cut calories to lose weight faster. However, the truth is quite the opposite, skipping breakfast can make weight control more difficult and affect your overall health.
What are the negative effects of skipping breakfast?
The human body operates like a machine that needs fuel. After a long night without eating, your energy level is almost depleted, and breakfast is the “first fuel source” to help you restart your metabolism.
If you skip breakfast, you are forcing your body to operate in a state of low energy. At that time, feeling tired, losing concentration, and even irritability can easily appear. Worse still, when it comes to lunch or dinner, you will easily eat more than usual to compensate for the feeling of hunger, leading to a higher overall calorie intake during the day.
Some people choose to snack to “fight hunger”, usually cakes, candy, soft drinks, which makes weight loss efforts counterproductive.
How important is breakfast for weight loss?
Breakfast is considered “the most important meal of the day” not only by word of mouth advice, but also scientifically proven. A healthy breakfast can bring you the following significant benefits:
1. Provide energy and increase work performance
After a long night, your glycogen (energy reserve in the liver and muscles) has decreased. Eating breakfast helps replenish energy, supporting the body to function more effectively in the morning.
When the body has enough energy, you will work more focused, react faster and feel more refreshed.
On the contrary, skipping breakfast causes blood sugar levels to drop, making you sluggish, reducing your ability to remember and lose concentration. That is why people who regularly eat breakfast often have higher productivity in studying and working.
2. Control hunger, limit overeating
A balanced breakfast helps you feel full longer, stabilizes blood sugar and reduces the risk of overeating later in the day.
When you skip breakfast, the hormone ghrelin (a hormone that stimulates hunger) increases, making you more likely to “surrender” to foods high in fat or sugar.
In addition, fasting for too long can cause the body to react by increasing insulin secretion, leading to energy storage as fat, especially belly fat, which anyone who is trying to lose weight wants to avoid.
3. Helps maintain healthy eating habits
People who maintain a regular breakfast habit often have a more balanced diet during the day. They tend to choose healthier foods, eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and less fast food.
Meanwhile, those who regularly skip breakfast are more likely to fall into a cycle of unhealthy choices, such as drinking soft drinks, eating fried foods, or consuming empty calories from fast food.
Therefore, breakfast is not only the start of the day but also the orientation point for your entire diet.
4. Contribute to preventing chronic disease
A little-known benefit is that eating breakfast regularly can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
People who skip breakfast tend to have higher levels of bad cholesterol, are more resistant to insulin, and have higher blood pressure.
Conversely, a balanced breakfast (rich in fiber, protein, and complex carbohydrates) helps stabilize blood sugar levels and supports long-term heart health.
What to eat for breakfast to support weight loss?
Not only is “breakfast” important, but eating the right way is the key to effective weight control. A healthy breakfast should balance protein, fiber, and complex carbohydrates, while limiting refined sugars and saturated fats.
Some good options include:
- Whole grains or oats: provide steady energy, rich in fiber to help you feel full longer.
- Fresh fruits such as bananas, apples, blueberries, avocados, or oranges: add vitamins, antioxidants, and natural sweetness.
- Eggs, Greek yogurt, or low-fat cheese: rich in protein to help reduce hunger and maintain muscle.
- Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, chia seeds, or flax seeds: contain good fats, support metabolism.
For example, a perfect breakfast can be as simple as a bowl of oatmeal cooked with fresh milk, adding a few chia seeds and a few slices of banana, or a slice of whole-wheat bread with a boiled egg and avocado.
These small but nutritious meals will help you start your day lightly yet full of energy.
The best time to eat breakfast when losing weight
In addition to what to eat, when to eat also plays an important role in weight loss. Nutritionists say that the ideal time to eat breakfast is about 30–60 minutes after waking up, so that the biological clock (the body’s natural biological rhythm) works most effectively.
1. Why should you eat earlier in the day?
The human body operates according to the biological rhythm (the system that regulates sleep cycles, hormones and metabolism). In the morning, the metabolic rate is fastest, helping the body burn calories more effectively. On the contrary, at the end of the day, the body slows down, and the energy consumed is easily stored as fat.
Therefore, eating breakfast early, instead of eating late or late at night, will help you lose weight effectively and maintain a more stable weight.
Several studies have also shown that eating late (after 9am) is associated with significantly higher weight gain and metabolic disorders than those who eat early.
2. Meal intervals matter
If you eat dinner at 7pm, you should eat breakfast around 7am or a little later, which is about 12 hours later.
This time not only gives your body a “rest” to recover, but also triggers the fat-burning process thanks to overnight fasting (natural intermittent fasting).
A recent study found that people who ate breakfast between 6:45am and 7:30am lost more weight over 12 weeks than those who ate breakfast later, between 8:10am and 9:10am.
This shows that not only the type of food you choose, but also the timing of your meals directly affects your ability to lose weight and your metabolic health.
In short, eating breakfast is not just a habit, but a smart strategy for both health and weight. Instead of seeing breakfast as a “nice to have or not to have”, consider it a moment to recharge your energy, maintain focus, and most importantly, help you control your weight naturally and sustainably. Starting each morning with a simple, healthy, and timely meal is the first step on the journey to a fitter and healthier body every day.
