I rarely ate breakfast before this weight loss journey. Now I don't have a lot - a bowl of cereal to the tune of 150 calories or so, but it sustains me until lunch.

A nutritionist told me this. If you are a typical person, you eat dinner at around 6PM. If you skip breakfast and then eat lunch at noon, you've gone 18 hours without eating! So your body says "Geez! I don't know when I'm going to eat again, so I'm going to hold onto fat as long as I can in case I don't get to eat for another 18 hours!" On the other hand, if you are spacing your meals out evenly, you body knows it will eat on a regular basis and is more willing to let go of fat.

Your nutritionist should consider a career in writing fairy tales ... that is a really good one! Giving a client simple rules to follow is a good idea - such as telling them to eat breakfast so they avoid binging and/or making poor food choices later in the day but telling your client things that are completely inaccurate just makes me

Your body doesn't work that way. Energy needs will be met and that means mobilizing fat. It takes a whole lot longer than 18 hours to slow down the metabolism.

Bravo. Agreed. There are so many inaccurate things told to us by people who are supposed to be helping. All of the info. can be mind boggling and trying to sift through it all to find the good and the bad is so time-consuming. It seems a nutritionist should know that this is inaccurate info.

I'm a definite convert to the wonders of a good breakfast, but it's got zilch to do with my metabolism. It has everything to do with recognizing signs of hunger and controlling my appetite. I still consider it a very important meal for me, but I don't think everyone needs to eat first thing in the morning to be successful at weight loss.

I hear the "metabolism" thing a lot, though. It's far more than just one nutritionist spreading that particular tale.

how could a nutritionist believe this?! jesus, their education must have blown.

I have had this happen to me a few times. If I don't eat within a few hours of waking up it throws my WHOLE day off.I feel lazy and sick all day

There are a zillion websites that say you need to eat breakfast for metabolic reasons. Some are even reputable.

They're all wrong - but that's conventional wisdom for you.

I'm not really hungry when I first get up, but I like to work out in the AM. I used to workout without eating, but now I have a cup of coffee and a yogurt. I find, for me, my workouts are much better and when I come home and make my real breakfast, I dont feel like I'm starving. I don't feel the need to over eat.

I was told for years how i should be eating, i fought against my natural tendancies because i needed to conform to someone else, i failed, the realization came to me in no uncertain terms, it doesn't matter one iota when you consume your calories, your body needs x amount to function depending on BMR and activities, whether you eat when you wake or when you go to bed - zero difference.
It's like someone turned a light on, i went from listening to the experts and being 400 lbs to listening to my body and being 230, i eat late every night, i hate breakfast and can't be bothered with it... Explain that to me ? My evening bingeing vanished when i fulfilled myself with my meal during the time i crave food.

Everyone is different, your nutrituionist is an imbecile to try and change you, he/she needs to find what you need on a personal level and help you tailor it to fit your life... period.

I thought my issue was my sugar to and I guess it is in a way, but before I started this I would feel like that not eating and then load on the carbs and feel great (if you can call it that). I think its not so much to do with any sugar issues just the fact that my body wanted them and I felt like crap with out them.
Once I started on atkins I felt that way for a couple days and then it started to go away and I realized its not because I need sugar or carbs to live its because my body wants its easy form of energy and when it doesnt get it I feel like crap. Now that I have forced my body to use fat and not refined sugar and starches it knows it can do it another way and I just feel hungry when I dont eat.

If I do not eat within 45 minutes or so of waking, I start to get nauseus. I have light wheat toast with egg, low-fat cheese, peanut butter or almond butter around 6:00; a piece of fruit and cottage cheese, a small yogurt or peanut butter around 9:30 and lunch around 12:30. On the few occasions I have left the house without eating, I have gone the way of muffins/doughnuts/coffee cake, etc.

The same thing happens to me, and I also used to NEVER eat breakfast. I keep a pack of slimfast (190 cal a can) in my fridge for moments like these. I am a full-time college student so missing breakfast, or not having time for it happens a lot for me. On Mondays and Wednesdays I'm in class from 8am to 2 pm and a slimfast does the trick if I dont have the time for real breakfast so that I dont raid the vending machines at school!

I am also in school full time and I have found it best to wake up earlier and eat a good breakfast to get my mind going for the day. I tried slim fast back in the day but it never seemed to last long enough. On the days I got to school around lunch time I try to either pack a bunch of veggies to eat in class or eat a good meal a bit earlier it helps me stay full and keep my brain going for the day lol.

Yup, breakfast is super-essential for me, too! I'm glad you're figuring out what works for you.

I always find it interesting to read that people get nauseous/light headed by missing a meal, and it's usually breakfast they are talking about.

I wonder what causes that?

Honestly, I don't ever get light headed or dizzy from missing a meal. I get hungry and if I don't eat, I get hungrier. LOL.

Do you think it's a sugar low or something? Is it something like carb cravings?

I am trying to think of explanations for it. Obviously we have plenty of stored energy in our bodies where missing a meal is not really a big deal in the scheme of things, and that seems like a dramatic way for our bodies to respond to it.

Like, out of balance to the relatively inconsequential concept of missing one meal.

Now, I do get caffeine headaches if I don't have caffeine but I know that is more of an addiction. And if I eat a lot of sugar, I get a real 'sugar rush' where I'm shaky and my thoughts can get a bit foggy. It actually feels like I took speed or something.