I have never been a breakfast eater, and I am finding now that this is a lot of my weight problem... I dont eat breakfast so come noon at luchtime I am just chow down until I am full rather then just waiting and chewing show.
So I guess my question is how can I FORCE myself to eat breakfast? There are some days that the thought of eating in the morning makes me want to vomit..
I know a lot of people where the last thing on their mind when they wake up is food.
You can train your body to eat first thing in the morning. I did. I started with a soy smoothie and worked up from there. Sometimes I only want some fruit, sometimes I want eggs, but now it's just a habit for me to eat breakfast and it has stuck with me.
You can also wait a couple of hours so that you are eating in the morning, but not within an hour of waking up. That works for a lot of people too.
I've always been an eat right when I get up person, but have been trying to wait a while so that I'm not so hungry at lunch. I start with coffee at 8 am, breakfast at my desk at 9, lunch around 12 pm. Could you eat a little later in the am and make it light if necessary?
I've never been much of a breakfast person either, but here are a few tactics that helped me eat in the morning:
First, I like to be awake at least 30min-1hr before I eat, but I don't have a job to fly off to in the morning. Another thing I like to do is not eat at least 3-4 hours before you go to bed at night, you're more likely to be hungry in the AM. I tend to stick to meals that aren't overly sweet or savory, it's usually just bran flakes for me. A midmorning snack helps a long way in making good choices for lunch, the less starved you feel the better. It's hard getting used to eating breakfast, but so worth it!
I have never been a breakfast eater, and I am finding now that this is a lot of my weight problem... I dont eat breakfast so come noon at luchtime I am just chow down until I am full rather then just waiting and chewing show.
So I guess my question is how can I FORCE myself to eat breakfast? There are some days that the thought of eating in the morning makes me want to vomit..
If the thought of eating in the morning makes you want to vomit - well, I don't know - but I couldn't eat if that were the case.
Are you sure this is where your weight problem is coming in?
What if come lunch time, you were to eat a pre-determined amount of food? Maybe start off with some soup - you can't guzzle that, or you'd burn yourself.
Instead of forcing yourself to eat when not hungry, why not force yourself to a) eat that pre-determined amount of food (and no more) and b) force yourself to eat s-l-o-w-l-y.
Or of course you could eat something very light at 9 or 10 o'clock - an 80 calorie yogurt perhaps.
Do you count calories? That can also be your guide. You map out your food schedule ahead of time, budgeting it throughout the day.
Do some experimenting. FIND something that works for you and/or something that you are willing to MAKE work.
Throw some frozen berries, half a banana, skim milk, and lowfat vanilla yogurt in the blender. I put it in a rinsed out McDonald's ice tea cup with a straw and it feels like a drink rather than the sickening thought of an actual meal. I sip it slowly and it fills me up. I've heard of people throwing in protien powder but I never have.
It is definitely not a good idea to go until lunch time with no food. How far do you drive your car without gas? It doesn't have to be a huge meal. Toast and juice, a smoothie, fruit and yogurt or cottage cheese, something light is better. And you are right, it can impact your weight loss because non-breakfast eaters tend to eat more at night, when we need it least. It's best to give our body a little food every 3-4 hours.
I like the soup Idea.. and the smoothie.. I may try this.. Or even waiting till around 10 to eat, I usually drink my coffe at about 7 or 8 somewhere in there.
I Need to just have lunch ready the day before so I am not eating my way through the fridge looking for something to make. I am terrible at meal planning. I hate cooking lol.. But I am getting better and trying to eat smaller portions.
Before diet modification I never ate breakfast and wasn't hungry for it at all. I thought this was going to be a hard change for me.
Now I eat it almost every morning. At first I felt like I was having to force myself to eat, but now I'm actually hungry for it.
I'll usually have something simple like a small bowl of shredded wheat, a thin bagel with some light cream cheese, whole wheat lite waffles with some light syrup, or microwaved scrambled eggbeaters. I don't tend to eat as much for breakfast as some people but it is better than nothing!
As others suggested a mid-morning snack might be your answer instead of an early breakfast. Would you be able to manage that? No matter what you need to find what works for YOU.
I like the soup Idea.. and the smoothie.. I may try this.. Or even waiting till around 10 to eat, I usually drink my coffe at about 7 or 8 somewhere in there.
I Need to just have lunch ready the day before so I am not eating my way through the fridge looking for something to make. I am terrible at meal planning. I hate cooking lol.. But I am getting better and trying to eat smaller portions.
Breakfast doesn't mean the same thing to every one. Not the timing, not the foods, not the amounts, or even if you have it at all.
I had to break lots of diet *rules* in order for me to lose the weight. The only one you need listen to is your self and your body. But, sometimes we don't always hear what our bodies are saying. So do be open to some experimentation.
I am an early riser. Very often 5 o'clock in the morning. Most days I don't have breakfast till 10 or 10:30 and it's very light. And I eat a light snack right before I go to sleep. Diet wisdom says this is all wrong, wrong, wrong. But for me, nothing could be more correct, correct, correct!
Meal planning and planning in general is a big, big, key to eating well, being healthy and losing weight. It's a lot easier than you think - once you get accustomed to it. Challenge yourself. Push yourself. Be creative. I can say the same thing about cooking, which you mentioned that you hate. Well something tells me you may just *hate* being the weight that you are. You don't have to be a gourmet cook either. But it does take some prep work and planning. It's much easier to stay on plan when you've got one. I urge you to map out your food schedule in advance. Know before hand exactly what is going into your mouth for all your meals and snacks.
You mentioned portion size? Do you keep track of your calories? For me, that sets the pace for how much I eat and when. I've got a calorie budget that I adhere to, which determines my portion sizes.
Also make certain to always have the right foods on hand - salad fixings, veggie burgers, fruits, veggies, veggies, veggies, canned tuna, eggs, chicken breasts, veggies, turkey breast, no fat yogurt and cottage cheese, veggies...
Have the right foods on hand and the wrong ones gone, gone, gone. You can't eat it if it's not there.
Plan, plan and than plan some more. It is worth the time, effort and thought.
I have to agree that common sense dieting wisdom is not always the way to go for everyone. I cant sympathize on the breakfast thing. I so utterly enjoy my bowl of oatmeal and orange in the morning, and on the days when my husband tells me he is taking me out for breakfast, I am happy all day. I love going out for breakfast.
But if you truly dont feel like eating breakfast, then don't force yourself to eat. You don't have to draw strict lines. Breakfast at 8 am, lunch and noon and dinner at 5. Perhaps you can just have a nice glass of milk, or some other energy booster in the morning, and then have your larger lunch earlier..say 10:30 or 11. This way, you may not be completely famished when you do sit down to your lunch. If you find yourself famished by the time dinner time comes around, then do your daily snack (a piece for fruit, or whatever you use) between lunch and dinner. Besides making sure that you give your body the nutrients it needs without eating everything in sight, this is not about doing what the book tells you to do, but what works best for you and helps you get to your goal.
I HATE breakfast with a passion. Even smelling food in the morning is gross, but i realized that i eat so much more in the afternoon, because of skipping breakfast. So i usually tend to have a lot of water, and a meal replacement bar. I really like the Luna bars, there pretty delicious, good quality, and not very heavy so that i'm getting some nutrients in.. but it doesn't feel like it.
I also cannot eat early in the morning. I just can't. Nothing is appetizing to me first thing in the morning (except my coffee) and the thought of eating or drinking anything else makes my stomach feel a bit sour.
My solution is to keep a box of cereal at work. (I chose Kashi GoLean, which doesn't taste good enough to tempt me to snack on it the rest of the day, but which has a lot of protein in it.) By the time I get to the office the sourness that prevents me from eating first thing in the morning has passed and I can eat a small bowl of cereal with some milk. I also keep fruit on hand so if I get hungry again before lunch time I have an apple or a banana within reach.
So one answer is, if you don't want to eat first thing in the morning, then don't. You can eat breakfast at 9:30 or 10:00 instead.
I HATE eating breakfast with a passion. The though of food first thing in the morning makes me sick too. I've tried just about everything. My doctor and my nutritionist recommended the sugar free carnation instant breakfast with Snyders super skim milk as a meal replacement. It has the right amount of everything you need to jump start your morning. They just say I should make sure to have a mid morning healthy snack! This seems to be working for me so far!
Last edited by SuddenlyWideEyed; 09-10-2010 at 10:32 PM.
Forcing yourself to eat breakfast?
