Is it THAT bad???
 

If I don't eat breakfast? I have never been a breakfast person and every morning I just have strong cup of black coffee and then eat lunch at lunchtime. I have always heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day etc. etc.

What do you all think? Anyone skip it all together?

Here's my opinion: Breakfast is just the meal that "breaks your fast" from the night before, your first meal of the day. It can be eggs or pizza at 9:00 am or at 4:00 pm.

Now if you postpone your first calorie-containing meal (breakfast, no matter what you eat) too long, it can make it harder to eat sensibly.

Old research found that people who "skipped breakfast" (I would instead say people who "postponed breakfast until early afternoon), ate more later in the day.

However newer research has shown that calorie-intake for the day is more important to weight loss than how you distribute those calories. If you're not hungry until noon, this shouldn't be a problem. However, if you're waiting until you're absolutely, and rabidly, chew-off-your-own-leg HUNGRY!!! this could make it really hard to eat sensibly.

Overall, calorie intake is going to be the biggest part of the equation.

Carb-intake can influence the equation, and of course so does activity level... but all things being equal, time of intake isn't going to be as important as overall intake. How much you are eating is more important than when you're eating it, unless when you're eating it is stopping you from resting/sleeping or exercising (then things could be a bit more complicated).

Some of the IF (intermittant fasting) folks disagree. They reduce their eating "window" to a specific time, and do very well.

More and more research is finding that there are many different strategies to lose weight, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

I'd always firmly believed that I HAD to eat within 2 hours of waking to succeed, and I'd force myself to eat breakfast, even though I was somewhat nauseous in the morning.

Now I find that I do quite well on a somewhat later breakfast if I'm eating when I'm hungry (and not before or later).

As with most strategies, you have only trial-and-error to guide you. It really doesn't matter what works for most people, it only matters what works for you, so use a food diary and write down everything you eat, when you eat it, and how you feel before and after eating (and anytime anything drastic changes in your physical or emotional feelings).

By keeping good records, you can discover what works best for you, and you can try any strategy that suits your fancy. You can learn which type of diet you feel best on, which meal times work bet for you, whether low-carb works better for you (either with more weight loss, or less hunger, or both), or whether you lose the same on any plan with similar calorie contents.

The "common wisdom" is a great place to start, but it's not the only strategy that works. You may find an early breakfast very helpful, or you may find that a later breakfast works better for you.

For me, it depends on when I'm going to be exercising. I can't go to the gym before eating breakfast (or too shortly after eating breakfast). If I'm not going to be very active until later in the day, then postponing breakfast until I'm hungry for it makes more sense. Eating within 90 minutes of waking up often results in severe nausea, so that's not a very good idea (no use eating breakfast if it's in danger of coming up on you).

"Morning sickness" may be a sign of health issues (pregnancy obviously, but others too), so if you're feeling nauseous in the morning, talk to your doctor about it. For me, my doctor says it's likely a combined effects of my evening medications and my blood sugar issues (I'm insulin resistant and on metformin a blood sugar lowering medication).

My doctor told me that I should take my pills and eat when the morning nausea passes (This is advice meant only for me, so I'm not saying you should do this. If you have any doubt that there might be a health issue (and even if you don't) it would be a good idea to see your doctor and get a decent checkup and run any experiments you want to try past your doctor.

Well, I disagree with the above LOL. I think breakfast is extremely important, and I think research does back that up. But most of all I recommend talking to your doctor and getting his/her input, assuming you have a supportive, caring doctor.

You have already lost 65 pounds! Way to go! Seems like waiting until your hungry to eat is working for you. Losing weight is hard and it seems like no matter how you do it there is someone around to tell you that you are doing it wrong. Its all trial and error. Congrats on your weight loss!


ETA I don't have breakfast until after me and the dogs go for our morning walk.

I try to eat breakfast to wake up my metabolism and get me going with my first exercise of the day.
I think it is important to eat something just to get the day started energized.
just my thought... :)

I struggle with this, too. I never have enjoyed eating right when I wake up, even when I was a kid. These past two months I've been invovled in fitness challenge, one component of which was a nutritional regimen that we had to follow. Step 1: eat within 30 minutes of waking up each day. Ugh. Had to be protein/good carb combo (i.e., apple with almond or peanut butter, etc.) Well I did it, but I never enjoyed it, I don't know if it contributed significantly to my weight loss, and I'll never do it again.

If you're curious, just try it for a week and see if you feel/look any different. You can do anything for a week or two.

Good luck!

Good point, toobig! Hey, it's working... "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." :dance:

And I don't eat breakfast very first thing either because I leave for work at 5:45 am. I take it with me and eat it at work, and often an hour or so into the work day.

I personally find I do much better when I eat something in the morning. Typically I have a protien bar and protien shake. I keep it around 300 calories, it is something I can grab on my way out the door and eat on my way to work. I used to grab a donut and frappicino on my way to work. This is a healthy diet friend version of that.

I find I lose more weight when I eat breakfast, I also seem to have better mental clarity throughout the day.

First of all, Tschaff04, congratulations on loosing 67 lbs.! It's working for you.

A lot of folks on here give the advice that you need to follow a plan that you will stick with. If you hate breakfast, but force yourself you probably won't stick with it, so go with how you are most comfortable. JMHO.

I have never been a big breakfast eater, but in my case, I think it was because I ate so much later in the day or in the middle of the night that I just wasn't hungry. When I am not eating all the time, I am more hungry at mealtimes. Big scientific discovery, right?

I say, go with what works for you! You've lost a significant amount of weight doing what you're doing. I personally do not eat breakfast

I started intermittent fasting three days ago and it's gone very well I've lost 2 1/2 lbs (but I was due for a woosh) I eat from 12:30-8:30 around that time. I'm pretty happy with my results and I feel clear when I do my fasted jog.

For me if I eat breakfast it seems to set me up to eat more through the day. If I wait to eat until between 10:30 and 11:30ish I can stay under control. So far anyway, no binges for over 3 weeks now. I eat a couple of hours after I workout. There are a few times I eat earlier but not often.

Not long ago, I read an article that really made a lot of sense to me. It argued that when you eat, should be based on your activity and your hunger. If your active throughout your day, and hungry throughout the day spread your calories throughout the day. If you're practically motionless until early afternoon and not hungry until then either, it's alright to postpone those calories until you're hungry and are going to be burning them (I'll admit this is often me, because my pain levels are the most unmanageable in the mornings).

This strategy has worked very well for me. If hubby and I wake up and have an outing planned, such as going to the farmers' market, and get up early, I will force myself to eat a breakfast as soon as I can (as soon as I feel it won't come back up on me). If I have to, I'll take it with us in the car. I do this because I know from experience that if I don't, by the time I am hungry, I may be TOO hungry - or worse the activity level will trigger a blood sugar crash and I'll feel like passing out.

I have more of a "hair trigger" for such things because of my blood sugar issues. I can go from "not hungry yet," to "better eat or you're going to pass out."

Ordinarily I don't schedule much physical activity in the morning for that very reason. I have unreliable hunger triggers at the best of times, but in the morning especially I can't trust my body. The morning nausea makes morning eating difficult, so it's difficult to know how much food to eat to sustain the activity I have planned (so I don't get any nasty, dizziness and vertigo in the middle of it) and yet somehow not upset my queasy stomach.

So the best plan for me is to wait to eat (and to do much moving) until later afternoon.

Hubby is extremely active in the evenings (he's a night owl), so if he eats breakfast when he wakes up, and meals at typical meal times, he's out of fuel before he starts moving.

We actually stopped eating most meals together because we're most active at different times of the day, and so what we eat and how much we adapt to our schedules not to the clock.

The only way to discover which times of day you can be most active, most comfortably, and to discover which meal patterns and eating styles are best for you, is to experiment.

I never gave low-carb much of a chance (because I did so poorly on extremely low carb) and so it took me almost 35 years to discover that I lose best and feel my best on a relatively low-carb, but not too-low carb diet. I just had never tried such diets, because I didn't know they existed (until South Beach). South Beach Phase I worked well for me (Phase II not so much).

Then I found Paleo (and the idea of IF). I still don't mess around too much with IF, because I'm on blood sugar controlling medication which makes me prone to low blood sugar, but I have been able to shrink my eating window a bit, learning that eating immediately in the morning isn't necessary. I don't have to choke down something just because I just woke up.

More and more research is (FINALLY) looking at finding which styles of eating are most successful for which people (as opposed to the old research trying to determine which diet was most successful - assuming there was a one-size-fits-all diet that worked best for everyone).

One day you'll probably be able to use some sort of diagnostic tool (maybe a questionaire, maybe a blood test, who knows) which will tell you which style of eating and exercising will work best for you, but (despite some claims being made) that day is probably long off, so we're all mostly left with trial and error.

Damn it or bless it, it's all we've got, trial and error.

I used to eat my first meal at about 11:00 am because that is when I got hungry. I could never stick to my plans to eat sensibly because I would get uncontrollable cravings in the early evenings. I knew that people who are a healthy weight usually eat breakfast, but I just didn't think eating earlier would make any difference for me. A couple months ago I decided that I was going to make myself eat breakfast (high in fiber)soon after waking. That did it!!! I no longer felt ravenous in the evenings!!! It's now been almost 2 months and I'm doing great on my diet. It was kind of difficult eating that early at first, but now I'm pretty much used to it and I even wake up ready to eat.

My 2 cents...for what it's worth. I've lost and gained a good amount of weight. This time feels different (although I'm ONLY (kidding) down 30 pounds). I have thrown right out of my head everything I have ever heard about dieting, nutrition and weight loss, which was really becoming an obsession and causing me to second guess every decision I made eating and working out. I decided to make a few simple rules for myself. Listen to MY body, get rid of processed stuff, eat when I'm hungry, if I'm hungry between meals eat fruit...lots of it if I need to. And the rest....nada.....I feel free of the "shoulds" for the first time. And it's working in results and mind. I'm not obsessing over "dieting" or losing weight or I shouldn't have as many carbs, or I should eat breakfast. The thing is, you are the only expert of YOUR body and mind. You do what works for YOU...and it looks like a later breakfast is working just fine!! Good luck and keep up the great work!

I see no earthly reason for you to eat breakfast if it's not natural for your body. For whatever reason, some people's stomachs don't seem ready to eat in the morning. Other people (raising hand) wake up hungry and ready to eat. I would never skip breakfast because it's my favourite meal and I get very hungry if I postpone it. My mother was even more extreme: she would literally throw up if she skipped breakfast.

The purported metabolic boost from eating breakfast is negligible, so the breakfast-versus-no-breakfast debate boils down to personal preference (as do many of our firmly held tenets, as Kaplods has so rightly pointed out in previous posts).

F.

I used to skip breakfast but I found once I started eating it, I would wake up and be hungry right away...id also stop my night eating if i ate breakfast...seemed to keep me on track

There are a couple of different schools of thought on the subject and I agree if it's not broke, don't fix it. Do what is working with you. Intermittent Fasting people sometimes don't eat until 1pm, and often workout on an empty stomach, and the people that follow that diet swear by it

However, if this *stops* working I think changing up your eating patterns could help you break through a plateau. It's always good to have another option in your arsenal!

I'm a member of the National Weight Control Registry (the group that surveys people who have lost significant weight and kept it off), and they are often quoted as saying that most of the members eat breakfast daily, as though that is an important factor to maintaining weight loss.

HOWEVER, they've never asked us if we ate breakfast daily before maintaining our weight loss! I have always eaten breakfast - for 20 years as 100 lb overweight person, for the nearly 2 years I was losing the weight, and for more than 2 years as a maintaining person. So personally I think timing of your first meal is likely not important unless it causes you to overeat because you're overly hungry.

All the news and websites indicate it's important to start your day with breakfast.

I did two months of IF last year and it worked very well... no hunger, weight loss at a good rythm...

The reason I ultimately left it was that I wanted to eat as normally as possible, and that means having breakfast with my husband and children.