Breakfast
 

Can someone please tell me when breakfast is still breakfast....I know that 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day'....but how soon after you get up do you have to eat?
When I'm working I get up at 5am (which to me is the middle of the night!), I leave the house at 5:30, get to work at 6:30, have several cups of coffee, then get a 20 minute break at 8:30 for breakfast (which is usually toast, tomato and grapefruit).
Would eating earlier be more beneficial to me???
p.s. I don't get another break until 1pm by which time I'm usually very hungry.

I wake up at 6:30-6:45, am walking with the dogs at 7. Done and out of the shower and ready to leave for work around 8:30. I have an 8 oz glass of milk before I leave the house (I'm trying to make a concerted effort to get my dairy in). I eat my breakfast (that I've packed the night before) at about 9:15 after I've gotten to work and settled in.

How many calories are in your toast, tomato, and grapefruit? Those items (especially the toast) can really vary. My breakfast is usually 250 to 300 calories, plus 90 calories for the glass of milk.

If you are starving by lunch I'd eat something more for breakfast- my breakfasts usually range between 200-300 calories- but I pick fiber rich foods to eat in the morning. I usually have lunch a few hours later.

I get up at 6, am at work at 7, then eat breakfast around 8, lunch around 11:30, then a snack around 2:30 and finally dinner at 5:30-6 pm.

If anything I'd add a snack around 11-11:30 to help tide you over.

From what I have read, the sooner you eat after you wake up, the better. If you wait too long then your metabolism and blood sugar can get out of whack. I would at least try to eat something small as soon as you can just to get something in your stomach and keep your metabolism from dropping.

I agree with this! I know you said you don't get another break until you eat lunch, but do you have the sort of job where you could manage to scarf down a string cheese or something?

If your getting up that early Id suggest eating at least an hour after getting up. As mentioned the metabolism starts slowing if you dont. Also having a healthy snack such as an apple or a cup of grapes or strawberries or something mid morning in your case id say 10-10:30 to keep the metabolism moving. Cause if your waiting between breaky and lunch to eat well it could start slowing then too. Eat often. Just smart choices.

I get up around 4:45, and have a couple of cups of coffee with soy milk and don't get a break till about 8:15. Although I am drinking coffee, I am getting nutrition from the soy milk, so I consider it a "snack", so my metabolism gets going. I eat throughout the day and keep my metabolism going and have not encountered any problems losing weight or maintaining this way. I also don't eat the same number of calories every day--I "zig zag" which works for me.

I can't eat for a minimum of 1 hour after I take my morning pill. That means if I take my pill at 5:45am I can't eat until 6:45am. That being said I always try to eat something, but on weekdays I am not a big breakfast person so my weekday breakfasts are usually 200 calories, Weekends they are closer to 300-350. You have to figure out what works for you. I eat small snacks too. I eat a total of 6 times a day, 3 meals, 3 snacks.

Thanks folks,
to be honest I don't count calories, but I've got to the point that I just feel unfit and stressed. Which is why I'm here. I need to make a change. I know what I need to cut out of my diet (i.e alcohol and 'bad' snacks), but generally I have a fairly healthy diet.
I need to get back into training. This decision has just been made so bear with me if I rant and moan for a while! I used to have a fairly active life but a couple of years ago I had knee surgery (skiing accident) and changed to a sedentary job.
Jillian Michaels (via DVD) is about to kick my ***!
x

Actually yes...from what you've all said I now plan on eating a piece of fruit on my way to work, or as soon as I get up, and another piece mid morning to keep me ticking over.
;)

Yup I keep a supply of oranges for myself at work and anytime I start feeling hungry I eat an orange- only about 50 calories and really helps me out :D

I think instead of having coffee and then breakfast, i think you should get up and have breakfast and then may be coffee. but if your breakfast should be heavy, as its the first meal of the day and the eight hrs of gap from dinner.

my personal rule is within one hour. that doesn't always happen in the weekends, but it does during the week, mostly.

so I get up at 4.40-ish and if I run in the morning, then I eat a kiwi before I go run. If I don't run then I eat a kiwi or a half a grapefruit before I leave the house at 6.30. On the train I eat my "breakfast" - so between 7 and 7.30 I'm having fruit, yoghurt, all-bran on the way to work. I arrive at work at 9am and I pretty much immediately get a latte (because I'm hungry again at this point) (I have a Triple Tall Non-Fat Latte every morning). And then at around 10.30 I'm hungry again so I have another piece of fruit.

My breakfast is always split up because of my commute. I can't eat a full breakfast before I leave because then I would need another one before I even get to work!!