it probably comes from the fact that, if you go without food for a while, your body will kick into starvation mode -
it doesn't know that you are not actually genuinely starving, and so will then retain as much fat, sugar and nutrients etc, in the next piece of food you eat as it can, as a survival mechanism - just in case you are actually in a low sustenance situation - therefore, the hours of not eating that you think are helping you lose weight, are in fact having the opposite effect in terms of weight loss, as your body will hold on to more fat than usual.
with regular food intake, the body feels free to expel any excess fat etc that it doesn't particularly need at that time, because it knows it will be getting more soon.