As conventional diet wisdom goes, you should eat breakfast every day. It's "the most important meal of the day" and so on. According to some research, people who don't eat breakfast eat more calories later in the day, more than negating the calories that they didn't eat at breakfast. Many who have successfully lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off eat breakfast. Some people also suggest that breakfast "jump-starts" your metabolism (although personally, I don't believe this.)
That said, I've never been much of a breakfast eater. I find that I generally eat more total calories on days that I eat breakfast; it doesn't seem to have the hunger-dampening effects for me. Who decided that we need to eat exactly 3 meals per day, anyway? It is worth noting, however, that typically I don't go more than or 4-5 hours without eating after waking up or eat after 8-9 pm (as I understand, late night snacking seems to make up a significant amount of the calorie difference for non-breakfast eaters.)
All and all, I chalk it up to individual differences.
What do you think?
When you do eat breakfast, what do you eat? I've never liked cereal (which makes sense since finding out that I have a wheat allergy), and I quickly grow tired of eating oatmeal and eggs more than twice a week. A piece of fruit and/or some greek yogurt is more my style, or perhaps some leftovers from the day before.
I never eat anything till around 4:30 pm, sometimes later, and I've lost great eating this way. I also snack less at night and tend not to even think about food at night. You'd think I'd be starved at dinner time, but I feel much more in control of my appetite this way. I never overeat unless I slip up and eat earlier in the day. I usually come in at between 900 and 1300 calories per day even though I am not trying to limit cals. I eat until I'm satisfied.
As conventional diet wisdom goes, you should eat breakfast every day. What do you think?
[sarcasm]
You should listen to me about this, because I am absolutely right and I know what I'm talking about.
[/sarcasm]
That particuarly wisdom was based on a study commissed by breakfast food companies. (Unbiased, much?) I can't look up sources right now, but the last thing I read indicated that time of day eating (including breakfast and at night) were not correlated to health or weight loss.
This advice is for everyone, even those who didn't ask:
If breakfast works for you and helps you overall follow your plan, then you should definitely have breakfast. If you don't like breakfast and you prefer not to eat it, you should definitely not eat breakfast. If you are inconsistent and prefer to sometimes eat breakfast and sometimes not, you should definitely be inconsistent based on what works best for you.
Sarcasm aside, I personally eat breakfast and include both carbs and proteins. I function best that way. DH hardly ever eats anything at all for breakfast. I don't know that he functions best that way, but he doesn't like to make time for it in the morning.
For breakfast, I eat Puffins cereal with milk, fruit, and a side of turkey sausage, or this week, leftover breakfast casserole with fruit, or eggs (sometimes fried, sometimes scrambled) with toast and fruit, or a frozen breakfast entree.
I really truly don't think there are any universal answers to weight loss and weight control beyond that there isn't a universal answer--we're all different and can respond to the same thing differently.
Do what works for you. If it turns out to stop working or not work as well as you want, then re-assess and try something else.
I have to eat breakfast somewhat regularly. I am always very hungry upon waking and if I skip breakfast it makes me irritable and my day drags AND I have a higher tendency to binge. My breakfasts are 2 eggs, or a Greek yogurt, or a banana. It doesn't have to be anything big, I only have to eat something.
Now, lunch or dinner are meals I can do without. Usually just forget to eat lunch (Like today). I'm trying to make myself snack at specific times so I remember to eat something while I'm at work. On Friday nights my fiance isn't home and I CONSTANTLY forget to eat dinner on Friday. I just get so busy doing my own thing that it doesn't occur to me to eat.
If eating breakfast doesn't come naturally to you, I say don't eat it! The metabolic benefits are likely minuscule (and I share your doubts about whether they exist at all).
I eat breakfast every day because I wake up hungry and ready to eat, and breakfast foods are my favourites. My go-to breakfast is two slices of buttered whole-grain toast and a fried egg. I sometimes have Greek yogurt instead of the egg, and occasionally have either either a large bowl of granola, a large carrot or bran muffin, or fruit-topped pancakes for breakfast.
I would find it much easier to skip supper than breakfast.
I see no value in eating breakfast unless I am hungry. I personally believe that advice to dieters to always eat breakfast is bogus. It makes no difference, it is total calories consumed that really matters, at least to me.
Some weeks I will eat it every morning because I am hungry. Other weeks, I won't even eat until 4:00pm because that is when I start getting hungry. It really depends. I will never force myself to eat just because its "breakfast time".
If eating breakfast doesn't come naturally to you, I say don't eat it! The metabolic benefits are likely minuscule (and I share your doubts about whether they exist at all).
I eat breakfast every day because I wake up hungry and ready to eat, and breakfast foods are my favourites. My go-to breakfast is two slices of buttered whole-grain toast and a fried egg. I sometimes have Greek yogurt instead of the egg, and occasionally have either either a large bowl of granola, a large carrot or bran muffin, or fruit-topped pancakes for breakfast.
I would find it much easier to skip supper than breakfast.
Freelance
Oh, it's all so individual isn't it? I'm like Freelance in that I wake up hungry. Part of this is a result of trying my best to stop eating by 7:30 p.m. whenever possible. Also, I often work out or run on an empty stomach in the very early morning so it's imperative that I eat something for breakfast or I feel like I could gnaw my own arm off if I don't! I'm a big fan of breakfast foods as well so much so that I'll eat breakfast for dinner pretty often.
You're getting a lot of good feedback but in the end, do what your body needs it to do to keep it healthy and sane
For me, breakfast is not as much a matter of opinion as it is a necessity. I wake up hungry and unless I have a brakfast within an hour or so, my blood sugar drops and I get a terrible headache. I don't understand how anyone can live without breakfast, I could easily skip dinner if I had to, but breakfast - never!
That said, I've been realizing that much of my weight issues have been related to insulin resistance and generally unstable level of blood sugar. Once I get it balanced (which for me means skipping all sorts of grains and sugar), I have much more energy, I don't need to be fed so often and most important, I have very little cravings. I'm sure not everyone is like that, but this is certainly the reason why breakfast is a must for me.
Even though I love breakfast foods, I rarely eat breakfast any more. I find that for me -- and I do believe that every person has their own eating requirements -- if I eat breakfast I actually eat more during the day. I count calories and my hunger time naturally occurs after noon. But if I eat breakfast, then I want lunch and supper and a snack and before I know it I'm way over on calories and still hungry. So breakfast is reserved now as a special occasion which usually means it become brunch.
[sarcasm]
You should listen to me about this, because I am absolutely right and I know what I'm talking about.
[/sarcasm]
If breakfast works for you and helps you overall follow your plan, then you should definitely have breakfast. If you don't like breakfast and you prefer not to eat it, you should definitely not eat breakfast. If you are inconsistent and prefer to sometimes eat breakfast and sometimes not, you should definitely be inconsistent based on what works best for you.
How can we argue with such sound advice???
I don't eat on a schedule, I eat when I'm hungry. I also don't always eat conventional breakfast items. If I want a turkey sandwich for breakfast I'm having a yummy turkey sandwich (which actually sounds good right now!).
Last edited by PreciousMissy; 05-09-2013 at 03:32 PM.
Sometimes on weekends I'll have a breakfast sandwich or something around noon. During the work week I tend to not eat solid food until after 1 PM. Never was a natural breakfast eater.
I can't eat breakfast. I'm hardly ever hungry when I first wake up. If I wake up hungry,I know it's going to be a bad day, plan-wise. I love breakfast food though, so we have breakfast for dinner regularly. Just last night I made homemade sausage egg and cheese McMuffins.
Thank you for bringing this up! I've been wondering about skipping breakfast myself, specifically if regularly skipping meals could mess with insulin production/health in the long-term. I don't have any answers, but I have been skipping either b-fast or lunch on most days. It makes it so much simpler to limit myself to 1500 cals, and I'm usually rushing around getting kids prepared in the morning...so the time saved is a bonus. Glad that others have had success doing this!
What's your opinion on eating breakfast?
