The short answer is simply, NO. It’s a common misconception that skipping meals will accelerate weight loss because you are eating less. In fact, exactly the opposite is true.
Why?
Skipping meals can lead to food cravings, binge eating and weight gain. Studies show that folks who skip breakfast and eat fewer times during the day are heavier than those who eat breakfast and four to five small meals a day.1
“Our results support the advice for eating a healthy breakfast as part of the dietary prevention and treatment of obesity,” says Tony Goldstone, MD, PhD. He’s a consultant endocrinologist with the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre at Imperial College London. Dr. Goldstone explains, “When people skip meals, especially breakfast, changes in brain activity in response to food may hinder weight loss and even promote weight gain.”2
So, it’s best if you try not to skip any meal, let alone breakfast.
Regular eating helps you maintain a higher metabolic rate. Your “metabolic rate” is the rate at which you burn calories. Aside from burning more calories, it helps control your appetite. To “speed up” the metabolism, you must eat on schedule.
We need food because we need the calories for energy. Think for a moment about the function of a furnace. A furnace needs “food” to fuel the fire, The more you provide it, the more intense the heat. More food, as opposed to less, expedites the burning process until it reaches its maximum burning capacity. Beyond that point, however, providing it with further fuel won’t increase the heat or the speed at which it burns. And the fuel will simply remain unburned.
Likewise, anything you eat will ultimately turn to fat if you eat over and beyond your daily requirements.
Remember, food is energy. Any food that isn’t used for energy will be stored as excess energy. Think of fat as is nothing more than stored energy.
References
1 http://www.healthcentral.com/diet-exercise/c/92/2982/meals-wont-lose
2 http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090615/skip-breakfast-get-fat
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