How much weight can you lose by skipping one meal a day?

October 13, 2025 •

4 min read

According to NHS guidelines, a safe and sustainable weight loss rate is 0.5 to 1 kilogram (1 to 2 pounds) per week. If you're wondering how much weight can you lose by skipping one meal a day, the answer depends on numerous factors, including the resulting calorie deficit, your metabolism, and the long-term sustainability of the approach.

Quick Summary

Skipping one meal creates a calorie deficit, potentially leading to weight loss. However, it may cause hunger, overeating, and nutrient deficiencies if not done carefully. A more structured intermittent fasting approach, combined with a balanced diet, is often more sustainable.

Key Points

Limited Weight Loss: Skipping one meal might cause initial weight loss due to a calorie deficit, but the amount is unpredictable and varies based on individual factors like metabolism and activity level.
High Risk of Overeating: Unplanned meal skipping can lead to intense hunger and cravings, often resulting in overeating or bingeing later, which can negate the calorie savings.
Metabolic and Health Risks: This approach can disrupt your metabolism, lead to nutrient deficiencies, cause energy crashes, and negatively impact mood and focus.
Intermittent Fasting is Different: A structured intermittent fasting plan, which involves timed eating windows, is a more disciplined and consistent alternative to haphazardly skipping meals.
Balanced Approach is Best: For safe and sustainable results, a moderate, consistent calorie deficit achieved through balanced nutrition and regular exercise is the most recommended strategy.
Not a Long-Term Solution: Due to potential side effects and low adherence rates, skipping one meal is not a recommended long-term strategy for healthy weight management.

The Science Behind Skipping a Meal for Weight Loss

When you skip a meal, you are essentially reducing your total daily caloric intake. If this creates a consistent calorie deficit—meaning you consume fewer calories than your body burns—you will lose weight. For example, if you typically eat 2,000 calories a day and your metabolism requires 2,200 calories to maintain your current weight, skipping a 500-calorie meal would put you at a 700-calorie deficit. Over a week, this could result in a weight loss of about 0.5 to 1 kilogram, provided you don't overcompensate with your other meals.

However, simply skipping a meal is often an unpredictable and unsustainable method. Many people find that skipping a meal leads to intense hunger later, which can trigger cravings and binge eating, undoing the initial calorie reduction. This can be particularly true when skipping dinner, as nighttime eating can disrupt sleep and lead to poor food choices.

The Difference Between Meal Skipping and Intermittent Fasting

It's important to distinguish between haphazardly skipping a meal and a structured intermittent fasting (IF) plan. Intermittent fasting involves planning specific eating and fasting windows, which fosters greater discipline and consistency. While the weight loss results from IF are comparable to continuous calorie restriction, IF can help control when you eat, rather than just what you eat. This can prevent the reactive binge-eating that often follows an unplanned missed meal.

Potential Health Risks of Unplanned Meal Skipping

Metabolic Disruption: Regularly and haphazardly skipping meals can disrupt your body's metabolic processes. It can trigger a metabolic adaptation, lowering your resting metabolic rate and potentially leading to long-term weight gain.
Nutrient Deficiencies: Missing an entire meal can mean missing crucial vitamins, minerals, and other macronutrients, potentially leading to a weakened immune system and other health issues.
Energy and Mood Swings: Your brain relies on a steady supply of glucose for fuel. Low blood sugar from skipping meals can cause fatigue, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.
Disordered Eating: Chronically skipping meals can trigger an unhealthy relationship with food, potentially contributing to eating disorders over time.

Comparison: Skipping a Meal vs. Balanced Calorie Restriction

To better understand the pros and cons, let's compare skipping one meal a day with a balanced, calorie-restricted diet.


Feature	Skipping One Meal a Day	Balanced Calorie Restriction	Result on Weight Loss
Calorie Control	Unpredictable; relies on willpower to avoid overeating later.	Measured and consistent, preventing overcompensation.	Generally less effective long-term due to higher risk of overeating.
Nutrient Intake	Risk of nutrient deficiencies is higher; harder to get all daily requirements in remaining meals.	Allows for planned, balanced meals that ensure adequate nutrient intake.	Supports healthy, sustainable weight loss without sacrificing nutrition.
Metabolic Health	Can cause metabolic slowdown and disrupt hunger hormones (ghrelin).	Maintains a more stable metabolism and blood sugar, especially when paired with exercise.	Reduces the risk of metabolic damage and leads to steadier, more predictable weight loss.
Sustainability	High dropout rates due to hunger, cravings, and social inconvenience.	Easier to sustain over time by focusing on portion control and healthy swaps.	Higher long-term success rates because the diet is more adaptable and less restrictive.

Creating a Sustainable Plan: What to Do Instead

Rather than just skipping a meal, which carries risks and often backfires, a more sustainable approach focuses on mindful eating and controlling total daily calories. Here are some steps to take:

Plan Your Meals: Prepare healthy, balanced meals and snacks in advance to avoid impulsive, high-calorie choices.
Prioritize Nutrient-Dense Foods: Fill your plate with protein, healthy fats, fiber-rich fruits, and vegetables to boost satiety and provide essential nutrients.
Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water throughout the day. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger, and proper hydration supports metabolism and digestion.
Listen to Your Body's Hunger Cues: Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're satisfied. This prevents overeating and helps regulate your relationship with food.
Incorporate Exercise: Combining a calorie-reduced diet with regular physical activity is the most effective and sustainable path to weight loss. Exercise also helps maintain muscle mass, which is crucial for a healthy metabolism.

The Role of Intermittent Fasting (IF)

If the idea of a timed eating window appeals to you, a structured intermittent fasting approach, like the 16:8 method, can be a safer alternative to haphazardly skipping meals. This involves fasting for 16 hours and eating all your meals within an 8-hour window. This structure provides a consistent, planned approach to reducing overall calorie intake while minimizing the risk of a binge-restrict cycle.

Conclusion

While skipping one meal can create a calorie deficit leading to some weight loss, it is not a recommended or sustainable long-term strategy for most individuals. The amount of weight lost is highly variable and depends on individual metabolic rate and whether the resulting hunger leads to compensatory overeating. This method carries significant risks, including slowed metabolism, nutrient deficiencies, and triggering disordered eating habits. For a safer, more predictable, and more sustainable outcome, focus on a consistent, moderate calorie deficit through balanced nutrition and regular physical activity, or consider a structured intermittent fasting approach under professional guidance. The best approach prioritizes overall health and well-being, not just the number on the scale. For more detailed information on safe weight loss, consult resources like the CDC's guidelines on healthy weight loss and the Mayo Clinic's insights on intermittent fasting.

Frequently Asked Questions

For many, skipping one meal is not an effective long-term weight loss strategy. While it creates a calorie deficit initially, the risk of overeating or bingeing at later meals is high, which often negates any calorie savings and can lead to weight gain over time.

There is no single "best" meal to skip, as it depends on individual lifestyle and preferences. Skipping breakfast or dinner, for example, each have different pros and cons. A structured approach, like time-restricted intermittent fasting, is often more sustainable than haphazardly skipping any one meal.

Yes, regularly and haphazardly skipping meals can trigger a metabolic adaptation where your body lowers its resting metabolic rate to conserve energy. This can make weight loss more difficult in the long run.

Yes, it can. The intense hunger that follows skipping a meal often leads to overeating or choosing calorie-dense, unhealthy foods later. This can result in consuming more total calories than you would have otherwise, ultimately leading to weight gain.

No. Skipping meals is an unplanned, unstructured action, whereas intermittent fasting follows a deliberate schedule with specific eating and fasting windows. IF focuses on timing, while simply skipping meals is less consistent and more prone to triggering overcompensation.

Regularly skipping meals can lead to numerous health issues, including nutrient deficiencies, low energy levels, mood swings, blood sugar fluctuations, and in some cases, can contribute to disordered eating patterns.

A healthier, more sustainable alternative is a consistent calorie deficit achieved through balanced nutrition, portion control, and regular exercise. A structured intermittent fasting plan can also be a more effective strategy than randomly skipping meals.