Why would you say this? The OP hasn't specified anything about what he eats during the day or his exercise routine. You're reaching a bit to suggest that he's losing muscle just because he's skipping a meal, that's not a fair assessment here. (OP, sorry if I'm wrong to assume you're male?)

Anyway, these sorts if conversations come up a lot during the holidays as everyone is indulging themselves guiltily and making plans on how to get healthy in the new year and trading diet secrets. I was involved in such a conversation just yesterday at Christmas dinner when one person said they didn't eat breakfast and everyone jumped down her throat. Another person said she ate a piece of cheese for breakfast and the other lady thought that was really unhealthy. It was an annoying conversation and I can't understand why people argue about these things? Why does everyone have to be the same?

Because it is into most people's minds to always announce that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." I never regularly hear any common saying about any meal, except for breakfast and how it is the most important meal.

Same with the term "skipping meals" - it just tends to cause a kneejerk reaction in people to say that it'll "cause starvation mode" and "to eat more often to kickstart the metabolism." However, commenting on how healthy eating breakfast is way more common.

As far as why they argue about these things in the first place, its probably stems from the same giddy feeling that triggers people on the internet to make incredibly long threads about any issue, big or tiny.

http://cdn.thegloss.com/files/2010/1..._internet1.jpg

Not everyone in our everyday lives wants to talk at length about the issues that plague us.

While I don't pupu anyone on what works for them I'm weary of when people say stuff like that "I lost a bunch of weight and ALL I had to do was ...." Because for me it's not as simple as that and it will never be. Being healthy is a huge list of dos, donts, and effort at the end of the day I've had to change a lot.

I have done the IF...without knowing what it was called lol! I do this a lot when I know that I'm going to have a meal with a large amount of calories..it's my way of trying to balance out the day. It has worked for me :-)

Some people do really well with IF and skipping breakfast. I am unable to do it though, so I stick with a small, high protein breakfast. :)

Yes! Yes! Yes! As soon as I eat on any given day, I tend to just want to keep eating, but before I've eaten, I'm usually fine. So what works great for me is one meal late in the day, low carb, but I don't worry about calories. I eat until I'm satisfied. Sometimes I find that I don't have much appetite for dinner, and then I'll have a snack, too, so I'll have enough fuel to get to dinner time the next night.

And I think a huge part of why this works for me is that when I get in a groove w it, I totally forget about food. There was one night not too long ago when I was laying down to get my kids to sleep at 9 pm and I realized that I had forgotten to feed them and myself! Oops!

I can't skip breakfast or I faint. But you've obviously found something that works for you and that's the whole point of weight loss, it's entirely individual. Great work.

I've tried skipping breakfast but it throws me for a loop. I joke that the days I skip breakfast are the days that whatever classes I teach before lunch get The Beast. To Pixelllate's point about just thinking "morning coffee," I've been having luck with bulletproof coffee, as I try to lean more Paleo/primal so that's cool. If skipping works for you, that's wicked awesome!

@Pixelllate: I love that there's a relevant xkcd for everything.

I definitely think there are breakfast and non-breakfast people. This morning at the gym BF and I smelled the gym owner's 8 am breakfast of turkey and stuffing.

Our reactions were quite telling - BF had already eaten breakfast but reported that smelling food was making him hungry, and I found it a mildly nauseating nuisance. He has to eat within an hour of waking or he'll be cranky - I can't even think about eating before noon on most days.

The NY Times often has interesting and informative articles on diet, nutrition, and weight loss. A couple on breakfast:

Myths Surround Breakfast and Weight


Diet: Bigger Breakfast, Bigger Calorie Count

Some will say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I guess it all depends on how you look at it.

I learned that just as there is a whole lotta ways to gain weight, there are a whole lotta way to lose it. I personally skip breakfast because I almost never want to eat--just have coffee. I can barely understand the concept of making yourself eat when you're not hungry. I'm hungry the rest of the day, and I'll eat then.

That said, I know that skipping any meals (even dessert) is tantamount to admitting you are starving yourself, so I don't actively promote it. I'm fine with people eating breakfast--small, large or somewhere in between.

I have always loved breakfast.. fruit, oatmeal, toast with peanut butter, cinnamon, maple syrup...
Yet lately, I haven't been into it. I wake up, sometimes I'm hungry, but I don't want to eat. Instead, I have a snack a couple hours after getting out of bed and a couple hours before lunch.
Since I'm vegan, breakfast is often fruit + grain. If I keep the fruit as a snack and cut out the grain, it's a lot healthier too since grains are so rough on the gut.

What memememe said- if you're hungry, eat; if you're not hungry or don't feel like eating, don't. If skipping breakfast works for your schedule and your stomach rumbles, then do it :)
But some people need breakfast to have energy throughout the day, and those people should eat breakfast

According to the National Weight Control Registry, for people that have lost and have successfully maintained their loss, 78% eat breakfast.

For what it's worth...

Perhaps we should also define what people mean by "eating breakfast". Are we talking about a full on meal?

I was one of the posters who said that I cannot last the morning without breakfast but to me, breakfast means a cup of coffee and a banana, nothing else. I have never had a "full" breakfast as such at home.