While occasionally skipping a meal even though you’re hungry doesn’t hurt, research shows that frequent meal-skipping could lead to the development of an eating disorder, per a study in Eating and Weight Disorders. Initially, skipping meals disrupts your body’s hunger and satiety cues. Deprived of regular fuel, your metabolism slows, and your body interprets this as a threat to survival (via Within). To conserve energy, the brain alters hormone levels, increasing ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and decreasing leptin, the satiety hormone (via a paper in Obesity Reviews). This creates the potential for a vicious cycle: The intense hunger that follows can lead to overeating, which triggers guilt and fuels the desire to restrict again.
When you forgo food even though you’re hungry, your focus on food may intensify. Food becomes more than just sustenance; it becomes an object of control, fueling obsessive thoughts about calories, body image, and the “right” foods to eat. This preoccupation can morph into disordered eating patterns (like binging and purging) or restrictive eating, fueled by a fear of weight gain and distorted body perception.
Not everyone who skips meals will develop an eating disorder. However, there’s a clear link between the two, especially when coupled with other risk factors like genetic predisposition, social pressure, and mental health concerns. You can greatly reduce your risk by making sure to stick to regular meal schedules and not depriving yourself of food even though you’re hungry.