Majority of us confuses intermittent fasting with skipping breakfast,however,these two are completely different things.
Intermittent Fasting
As you all know what is intermittent fasting is,its when you are not actually restricting calories but you are eating less often or i can say that the your eating time period is smaller.Most common of which is 16:8 where we eat within 8 hours of time period and then fast for 16 hours however some people do 20:4 or 23:1 for more fat loss.
Intermittent fasting has recently been shown to be extremely helpful in fat burning process as it
1-Improves insulin sensitivity
2-Balances the hormones in the body
3-Kick starts the fat burning process in the body.
4-Also eating for a smaller interval allows our body to absorb and store the nutrients properly.
Thus by eating in a smaller interval really turns the body into a fat butning machine.
Intermittent fasting has become a lifestyle for many people nowadays.Some people follow it alternatively with normal eating days,usually 3-4 days per week.
Skipping breakfast
Now most people confuse it with skipping breakfast.Skipping breakfast means that you are going to skip your one entire meal which is not healthy for your body.
In other words you are cutting off the calories of your one entire meal from your diet which badly effects your body.
It not only slows down your metabolism but also disturbs the hormones and is not good for losing weight.
Whats the difference...
Now if we compare these two it comes to the following things
1-In intermittent fasting there is no calorie deficit thus it does not slows down your metabolism as in skipping an entire meal and decreasing your calories drastically.
2-Skipping your entire meals with the purpose of drastic calorie drop can lead to muscle wasting which in turn decreases your metabolism and can lead to weight gain if you eat slightly more than yout normal calories.
Intermittent fasting however allows the body to be in the protein saving mode hence does not lead to the muscle wasting which is extremely good as you are burning fat without wasting muscles.
Thus skipping breakfast during intermittent fasting is not actually skipping a meal as you are not going to be in a calorie deficit,you are just going to prolong the period of fasting and is going to break your fast later without being in calorie deficit.