Eating a lot and then not eating for long periods - bad for metabolism?

Example! It's 12:32 and this morning I've had ....

• Oats, raisins, almonds and sweetened soya milk
• 2 cups of tea and some hot cocoa
• Falafel in a pitta bread
• Spinach, tomato and cucumber salad
• Baby carrots
• Large apple
• Strawberries
• Dried banana

I probably won't have anything until tomorrow morning now. I know this isn't good, but is it actually bad?

Eating nothing for nearly 24 hours will crash your blood-sugars, slow your metabolism and probably leave you feeling fatigued and light-headed. ... fairly bad.  If your total food intake is sub 1000 calories for the day (which it would appear to be) you're missing out on a lot of nutrition as well as energy .... again pretty bad.  If this is a one-off you'll probably get away with it.  However, if you eat like this on a regular basis then you'll ultimately experience all the problems associated with malnutrition...

Thanks. That's very helpful.

It is more of a lifestyle thing than a one-off, but I really can't seem to do anything about it! I know it's ridiculous. (BTW, today was over 1200 and had an OK amount of protein and fat. I know it wasn't really "balanced", but that's not the point ... it's the fact that I ate it all at once that was bothering me.)

People who skip meals are routinely fatter than people who eat meals and snack more regularly.   By allowing very long gaps between eating the metabolism drops so they don't burn fat at the same rate.  When they eat a large amount in a short space of time their insulin levels spike and insulin acts as a 'guard' on the fat stores.   And because their metabolism is very slow when they eat, they store more of the food consumed as fat.

So if it's a lifestyle thing then you need to change your lifestyle.  Regular meals & snacks, evenly spaced.

That's interesting. I knew that something like that was true (hence the thread), but I thought that the correlation between skipping breakfast and being overweight was more down to people coming in from work starving hungry and then pigging out.

Believe me, I don't want to continue eating like this. Eating until you're uncomfortably bloated in the morning and then being kept awake by your hunger at night obviously isn't ideal.

Anyway. I don't want to mess up my metabolism any more than it already is. Thank you for your info!

no offence, but do you actually like living like that?  but i also read on the contrary eating break fast is pretty bad for you because it disrupts your bodies cleaning process. it's ok to have tea or a little bit of fruit upon your first lucid moments but i think waking up naturally is so beautiful i don't ruin it

all of this is being eaten in one sitting? it sounds like binge eating to me. your body is trying to tell you something by eating large amounts after it hasn't been getting enough fuel for a long period of time. to your body it's like being trapped on a deserted island and every 24 hours finding a hidden supply of food - of course it's going to gorge. this can actually make you gain weight because the metabolism slows from not eating and then it gets an overload of calories and fat in one sitting. then it struggles to digest properly.

Thanks. No, I don't like living like it! And ... no, it isn't really binging (I do have big problems with that, so I know the difference!), but it also isn't eating normally. The trouble is that I have to prepare all the food for the day in the morning and on days when I don't go straight out after breakfast I'll just eat it all on the trot. I know it sounds as if I simply lack self-control (which I do!), but it's worse than that ... somehow. Maybe it is a sort of binge? Only it's not enough calories for that, really ... and it's too ... slow?, enjoyable? jndimaria, like you say, the fact that I'm hungry from not having eaten for a long time must make it worse, too. I guess I'll just have to make sure that I go straight out after breakfast each morning. The worst that can happen is that I get more uni work done or have a nice walk/go swimming. Hahh.

I've never heard that eating breakfast is bad for you--has anyone else? I'm curious about the theory behind it. Also, are we talking "jump out of bed and eat" or waking up and have breakfast within the first hour?

what you probably need to do is retrain your stomach and metabolism. give it a good 300 cal meal for breakfast lunch and dinner, and take snacks along with you. it's best to eat 5-6 times a day... although sometimes i eat 8 times! if you're on the go a lot, take things that are easy to eat like protein bars or the carrots or fruits (as you mentioned).

Original Post by jndimaria:

what you probably need to do is retrain your stomach and metabolism. give it a good 300 cal meal for breakfast lunch and dinner, and take snacks along with you. it's best to eat 5-6 times a day... although sometimes i eat 8 times! if you're on the go a lot, take things that are easy to eat like protein bars or the carrots or fruits (as you mentioned).

That is what I try to do! That's the problem. I'll eat all my snacks and meals in one go. It's horrible! Yesterday wasn't so bad, but today it's 11:26 and I'm already at my calorie goal  and feeling disgustingly full. Annoying! Thanks anyway.

Can you give someone else your snacks, and make them dole them out in increments? Just until you get use to it?

I've never seen before that breakfast is bad for you!!  What would be bad would be jumping out of bed at 8am, shovelling a doughnut and coffee at 8.05am and running out of the door at 8.10am.  But if you give yourself a little more time to wake up, shower and relax over a healthy breakfast with the morning newspaper and a glass of orange juice I can't see how anyone would call that harmful.