[niafabo]

well today i learned a valuable lesson, even if you are waiting on someone it is a terrible idea to miss breakfast. my sister didn't have to go in to work until 12pm so we had plans to go out for breakfast but she ended up being to tired to go and i didn't eat until 11am and when i did i eat i ended up eating 900 calories in one sitting and feeling very sick and sluggish afterwards and got horrible cravings all evening. ended the day eating about 1800 calories which is around maintance so i should be alright but i was just shocked how badly my body reacted to missing a meal. it's crazy to think before i started this journey i almost never ate breakfast. it certainly explains a lot. not going to let this happen again even if i just eat a piece of toast i will not go all morning without eating something!

has anyone else noticed their bodies can't take missing meals anymore?

[berryblondeboys]

Actually now that my blood sugars are stable (I'm not in a sugar coma all the time), I can skip meals no problem. I don't get the shakes or get panicky about food. It's been kind of nice! 4 months ago the idea of going to get my blood work done while fasting was a doozy!

[niafabo]

Originally Posted by berryblondeboys

Actually now that my blood sugars are stable (I'm not in a sugar coma all the time), I can skip meals no problem. I don't get the shakes or get panicky about food. It's been kind of nice! 4 months ago the idea of going to get my blood work done while fasting was a doozy!

Strange. I've been on plan pretty much for nine months and I've never had problems with blood sugar before. Do you think that was the problem?

[berryblondeboys]

I don't know. I know I had blood sugar issues and as soon as I dropped the carbs to a net below 100 I got a lot less needy for food right now.

But I think your body gets used to routines. So, if it's used to eating at 7 am, it's going to anticipate food. And will not be happy if you change up the routine. I thi k much of our feelings of hunger are habits. So, now you k ow for you.... Breakfast is important.

[Arctic Mama]

I have no prediabetes but I am prone to hypoglycemia. Missing a meal gives me headaches and shaking, I feel nauseous. I also tend to binge and have the same issues you do. My blood sugar in tests is pretty picture perfect, and even during pregnancy I am nowhere near even elevated sugars (on a one hour test with the glucose drink my sugars are in the 70/80 range).

It can be an issue with diabetes, sure, but I know plenty of chemically healthy people who don't do well with skipping meals.

[gagalu]

i'm perfectly fine with it. either way, i end up consuming the same amount. i guess i don't get freaked out over the thought that i may or may not eat when it's ideal for me.

[JohnP]

Originally Posted by niafabo

i didn't eat until 11am and when i did i eat i ended up eating 900 calories in one sitting and feeling very sick and sluggish afterwards and got horrible cravings all evening. ended the day eating about 1800 calories which is around maintance so i should be alright but i was just shocked how badly my body reacted to missing a meal.

This is one reason why people who tend to skip breakfast tend to be heavier. In 2009 a group from the Imperial College in London hooked people up to functional MRIs to measure brain activity and found that when skipping breakfast participants brain “reward” centers were activated more by the sight of high-calorie than low-calorie foods. In otherwords, our brains are pushing us towards making a poor food choice when we miss a meal.

Once you ate that big meal at lunch you're not used to your cravings continued. Based on my own experience if you had eaten a smaller lunch you would have still had additional cravings but they would have been less.

This isn't to say skipping breakfast is bad because there is no specifc reason for adults who are not hypoglycemic to eat breakfast but there are plenty of reasons to not skip a meal we're accustomed to eating especially if it normally one of the larger ones we eat (like in your case you've previously said your breakfast is larger than your lunch.)

Disclaimer: I'm sure you know how I feel about breakfast since I haven't eaten before noon in over a year.

[Horo]

Oh, yes- missing breakfast for me isn't fun. The first thing I do when I wake up is fix myself from breakfast, but when I don't, within an hour I get shaky and lightheaded and my vision will go black/I'll momentarily feel like I'm about to pass out several times(usually when I make any sort of sudden movement) until I eat.

[JenMusic]

I was always a breakfast eater, but what's been shocking to me is realizing how what I eat for breakfast affects the rest of my food (or cravings) for the day.

If I eat my usual protein/fat heavy meal for breakfast - eggs/turkey bacon/thin slice of sharp cheddar with slice of whole grain bread, about 350 calories - I am good to go for the rest of the day. My sugar cravings are easy to fend off and I'm satisfied with my planned food.

Every once in a while I'll have a different breakfast. Either Nutri-grain waffles with PB, or a whole wheat tortilla with PB and a banana, or something sweetish like that. Even if the calories are the same, and the volume of food is about the same, I know that I will have to rein myself in a lot during the evening, when my sugar cravings come. This happens even if lunch and dinner are the same, the only difference is breakfast.

Kinda crazy how the body works, huh?

[Katydid77]

I am not a breakfast eater at all, though every now and then I wake up hungry. If I do, it's for something substantial and I almost always eat eggs.

I will say that if I eat breakfast, it's the most important meal to make sure is protein heavy for me. If I start the day with carbs or sugary cereal, I am going to crave crap for the rest of the day.

Normally, I eat about 1pm the first time, and with IF I have been pushing that to 4pm. One thing I do notice now, is that recently I start to get genuine hunger pains right around 3:40pm. I can about set my watch by it. lol. I suppose because my body has gotten used to that time and knows it's getting time to eat.

I do have hot tea first thing in the morning though.

[niafabo]

@Artic Mama that does sound very similiar and a lot of the symptoms on wikipedia fit. is there any way to know if that's the problem when something like that happens without using a blood sugar monitor?

@JohnP that also makes a lot of sense. i ended up eating two pieces of fried chicken thighs because they are high in protein and they aren't that bad calorie wise and then i made the mistake of getting almonds and those can get seriously calorie wise when you aren't careful. breakfast is my second biggest meal of the day and i don't usually eat until late in the afternoon after that so i guess my body could have just been freaking out because it didn't know what was going on.

@jenmusic i usually eat a very protein fat heavy breakfast too and that makes me good to go for the most of the day. one egg, a jennie o turkey sausage, and a piece of plain toast. i tried doing the carby thing with cereal or a thin sliced bagel in the morning and it did not keep me full at all.

[walking2lose]

Originally Posted by berryblondeboys

Actually now that my blood sugars are stable (I'm not in a sugar coma all the time), I can skip meals no problem. I don't get the shakes or get panicky about food. It's been kind of nice! 4 months ago the idea of going to get my blood work done while fasting was a doozy!

Berry, that's funny. I am EXACTLY the same way. I have been a lifelong breakfast eater, but I just don't eat it anymore, except on the weekends (but not right when I get up). I think the fat I put in my coffee (coconut milk or HWC or both) acts as a meal and fills me up.

[Laneyy]

I skipped breakfast one day, before work, so I didn't even get a chance to take a break and have a snack, then one of my neighbors caught me outside and started talking to me for a good hour or so. Meanwhile I was getting dizzy/lightheaded and starting to see weird floaties in my vision...

Pretty scary, but now I listen to my body when it tells me to eat and I'm fine.

[bellaella]

YES!! i cannot skip a meal.. ESPECIALLY breakfast. I find that when i skip a meal, by the time the next meal comes, i am STARVED. when i see the food, my brain just shuts off and i eat and eat and eat. and before i know it, ive eaten too much. i lose all self control because hunger just takes over

now i try to plan my day and have small meals available for me throughout the day. that way i dont get hungry and overeat.

[hpnodat]

I despise eating breakfast but if I skip it it ruins my whole day. I typically eat a piece of toast with almond butter or an English muffin with almond butter. Yah, I know it's not interesting but I like it that way.