The Advantages of Skipping Breakfast

Eating breakfast has long been treated as an unbreakable law of nutrition.  

Miss it, and you supposedly sabotage your metabolism, drain your energy levels, and ruin any chance of losing weight before the day has even begun.

Reality is more nuanced than that.  

If you want to lose fat and get into the best shape of your life, is breakfast really non-negotiable? 

At Ultimate Performance, we do not follow dogma. We follow what works in the real world. 

And when it comes to breakfast, the honest answer is not what most people expect 

Why there’s no one-size-fits-all ‘best breakfast’ 

For many people, a good breakfast can be the best way to start the day. 
 
And no, we’re not talking about the kind of high-sugar, nutrient-poor breakfast marketed as ‘healthy’ by the multi-billion-dollar breakfast cereal industry. 
 
We mean a well-built breakfast with quality protein like salmon or eggs, healthy fats, and fibrous green vegetables. 
 
The kind of morning meal that improves satiety, helps balance blood sugars for stable energy, and supports your body composition goals.  
 
For the majority of our clients, breakfasts following these principles are a staple. They enjoy it, they perform well, and they feel better. 

But a good option for many people does not automatically become a rule for everyone. 
 
In our experience, real life does not work like that. What works for one client doesn’t work for another. 
 
Some people wake up hungry and enjoy eating early. Others have no appetite in the morning. 
 
Some people feel sharper by delaying their first meal. Others don’t feel focused or productive without food in their stomachs.  
 
Some train first thing and need fuel to perform their best, others are happy to train fasted and eat later.  
 
The real question isn’t whether breakfast is “good” or “bad”, but whether eating breakfast (or not) helps you get better results. 

What does the research say? 

The mantra that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has been repeated so often that many people accept it as fact. 
 
Numerous studies looking at breakfast and obesity rates found a correlation existed. But as we know, correlation doesn’t mean causation.  

Much of the older research linking eating breakfast with lower body weight and better health was observational. 

That matters because people who eat breakfast may also tend to have other healthy habits. They may exercise more, smoke less, sleep better, and make better food choices overall. 

So it becomes difficult to separate the impact of breakfast itself from the wider lifestyle of the person eating it. 

In other words, breakfast may be associated with healthier people without necessarily being the reason they are healthier. 
 
A more recent meta-analysis found that the ‘belief’ of the benefits of breakfast ‘exceeds the strength of scientific evidence’. The analysts found problems with the work being done, including strong research bias when interpreting results.  

So, when it comes to research surrounding the benefits of breakfast, more often than not, we have to take it with a pinch of salt.  

 
So does eating breakfast really matter? 

If your goal is maintaining or improving body composition, breakfast is not the deciding factor. 

What matters most is still the fundamentals. 
 
Are you controlling your calorie intake? Are you eating sufficient protein throughout the day? Are you doing resistance training to help preserve muscle tissue while in a calorie deficit? And are you maintaining that deficit consistently for long enough to lose body fat? 
 
If you’re not ticking those boxes, you won’t see results whether you eat breakfast or not. 
 
If you’re getting these things right, it doesn’t matter whether your first meal of the day is at 8am or midday. 

That is why there is no universal rule here.  

Some people feel and perform better when eating breakfast. Others prefer eating later. Both can work if the fundamentals are in place. 

So do not feel you need to force down breakfast simply because you have been told it is better. 

The best meal timing strategy is usually the one that fits your appetite, schedule, training, and lifestyle well enough to sustain. 

And for some people, delaying breakfast can offer a few practical advantages… 

Why skipping breakfast can work for some people  

1. It can make calorie control easier

Skipping breakfast and eating later creates a shorter ‘eating window’ – the time during the day when you are consuming your calories.  
 
Concepts like 16:8 have popularised this – where you extend your overnight to 16 hours and eat your day’s meals within the remaining 8-hour ‘window’. 
 
While it’s not necessary to stick to rigid timeframes that dictate when you can and can’t eat that ‘intermittent fasting’ protocols like this require, some clients find having a shorter eating window makes controlling their calories easier. 
 

2. It can improve hunger management 

 Often, clients we work with are just not genuinely hungry first thing in the morning. Delaying their first meal until they have more of an appetite makes the diet feel more sustainable. Nothing feels worse than having to force yourself to eat when you don’t want to. 
 
It may also allow for larger, more satisfying meals later in the day, which some people find easier both practically and from a physiological stand-point. Why? Fewer larger meals can lead to a stronger feeling of fullness compared to more frequent smaller ones for some. When hunger feels easier to manage, it usually improves dietary adherence. 

 
3. It can suit busy mornings 

For many of the clients we work with – busy professionals, business owners, and senior leaders – skipping breakfast can just be advantageous from a productivity standpoint. 
 
They often wake early and want to maximise the first few hours of the day without needing to be deciding on, prepping, or eating breakfast. That extra simplicity can reduce friction and make healthy routines easier to execute consistently. 
 
Some simply feel sharper and more productive without needing to eat and digest a meal straight away.  

What about the health benefits of fasting?  

Extended overnight fasts have been linked with benefits such as improved insulin sensitivity, reduced inflammation, better blood pressure markers, lower oxidative stress, and cellular repair processes. 
 
Yes, this is interesting. But is it settled science proving everyone should skip breakfast? No. 

Many of these same benefits are also seen with a regular calorie-controlled diet without extended fasting, where people lose body fat, train regularly, improve diet quality, sleep better, and become metabolically healthier. 

So what should you do? 

Firstly, start by letting go of the notion that there is a one universal correct answer to this question.  

You do not need to eat breakfast to get leaner. You do not need to skip breakfast to get leaner either. 

Both approaches can work. 

If eating breakfast helps your energy, training performance, concentration, and appetite control, keep it. 

If delaying your first meal makes it easier to manage calories, simplifies your routine, and feels more natural, that can work just as well. 

The key is not choosing the strategy that sounds best on paper. 

It is choosing the one you can stick to best and execute consistently for weeks and months. 

If you currently force breakfast because you think you should, it may be worth experimenting. 

If you skip breakfast but overeat later, it may not be helping. 

Use your results as feedback.  

Are you staying in a calorie deficit?  Are you hitting protein targets? Are you training consistently?  Is your energy good, and do you feel more focused or able to concentrate at work? Can you sustain the routine?  

If the answer is yes, you are probably on the right track. 

Ultimately, the takeaway is that breakfast is not essential, but skipping breakfast is not superior either.  

It’s simply a lever you can pull, because the best breakfast strategy for you will always be the one that helps you stay lean, strong, healthy, and consistent for the long term. 

That is how we approach nutrition at Ultimate Performance – not with rigid rules, but with intelligent methods that deliver results in the real world. 

Want a truly personalised training and nutrition plan that delivers measurable results? Enquire about working with the world’s leading personal trainers at Ultimate Performance.