Getting used to skipping breakfast

Kate_UK

I never eat breakfast, I just can't face food in the morning, and since I've been doing 5:2 I don't even look for food before lunch time, whether I'm on a fasting day or an eating day.

blambo61

Francl27 wrote: »

I'm always hungry in the morning, but savory food just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore then... so instead of just eating empty carbs and still be hungry after 500 calories, I've started skipping breakfast and end up eating around 11am. It makes the rest of the day MUCH easier, but, well, I'm hungry, and I exercise in the morning so it's not really ideal...

The question is - if you started skipping breakfast, did you stop being hungry at some point? I typically don't eat later than 7pm at night, so it's a pretty long time without food. It's easier for me to ignore hunger in the morning, but it would be easier if I'd just get used to it...

Iv'e skipped breakfast for the last two years and I still get a little hungry but not much. Just drink some water and it goes away. I get a little wave of hunger after I'm dressed to go to work in the morning but a drink of water and I'm not hungry again tell 1:00pm or so (I continue to drink water). I've also done a lot of fasting tell dinner and have lost 44-lbs.

H_Ock12

If I don't eat breakfast, I'm not hungry until well into the afternoon (waking at 6am). I do have a cup of coffee or a caffeine pill and usually about 40oz of water in the mornings.

aeloine

Have you tried finding something SWEET that isn't full of empty calories? I typically drink a LARGE coffee until about 11 am and then eat my "breakfast" which has been pretty sweet this week. I do 1/2 cup Gree Yogurt (you can go vanilla to make it sweeter!) mixed with chia seeds (I make it the night before to let the chia seeds expand). I add a banana and some frozen strawberries.

The Greek yogurt has protein, and chia seeds are fibrous. The bananas are sweeter and carby. Frozen strawberries keep the whole thing cool at my desk until I'm ready to eat it.

sarahlifts

Sounds like you're IF by accident

I IF 16:8 11 am to 7 pm
I do not like sweets in the morning. I still have breakfast just at 11 am

IF gives me the discipline on a cut to actually cut. I can stick to my deficit with a small window to eat.

I wake at 3:45 am. I'm in the gym by 5 am having only had coffee. I have never been an early eater even when I was obese.

The discipline of saying NO until 11 am TO ANY food on plan or not on plan, aids in beginning the process of a disciplined diet through out the day. I sat through HOURS of NO. Now I will eat my beef and broccoli stir fry. I will stay on plan I will not break my fast and be off plan.

kshama2001

Francl27 wrote: »

I usually have two cups of black coffee in the morning.

Add some protein powder, fat, and fiber to your coffee? This is sweet, but satisfying and low cal. (The Teeccino is completely optional - I like the flavor.)

S2Rose

I use to be ravenously hungry all the time, but learned that it was, as Lemurcat12 said, habitual hunger. Or fake hunger. I started listening to my body's signals(stomach pains/lots of noise) and my mind has kind of given up. It doesn't even try it's fake hunger crap with me anymore, haha. Sometimes I wake up and feel hungry, but most times i'm not actually hungry until around lunch time.

Treece68

Francl27 wrote: »

I'm always hungry in the morning, but savory food just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore then... so instead of just eating empty carbs and still be hungry after 500 calories, I've started skipping breakfast and end up eating around 11am. It makes the rest of the day MUCH easier, but, well, I'm hungry, and I exercise in the morning so it's not really ideal...

The question is - if you started skipping breakfast, did you stop being hungry at some point? I typically don't eat later than 7pm at night, so it's a pretty long time without food. It's easier for me to ignore hunger in the morning, but it would be easier if I'd just get used to it...

What if you ate what you wanted for breakfast and only a snack during the lunch do you think that would help? You said you are hungry in the morning if you load up that may keep you satisfied until dinner.
Worth a try.

OHFlamingo

I'm happy that skipping breakfast works for you! I get a terrible headache if I don't eat something within half an hour of getting out of bed, and I certainly wouldn't be able to exercise without food! My favorite snack after the gym was a hard-boiled egg. Do whatever works best for you, but there are plenty of things to eat for breakfast that aren't savory.

Need2Exerc1se

Gosh, it's been so long since I gave up breakfast I'm trying to remember if I was hungry at first. I honestly can't remember, but I don't think I was but the reason I gave it up was that after I married I was eating a much larger dinner. I didn't want to give up the big dinner so I gave up breakfast instead. Eating a big meal late at night (around 8:30 - 9:00) is probably why I'm not hungry in the mornings.

shiverness

I have only started to eat breakfast at work recently. It usually consists of yogurt and some granola, as well as coffee. I'm pretty hectic in the morning so I often forget but I'm trying to get better at eating breakfast.

On weekends I will eat some eggs and maybe some bacon, with the coffee.

I haven't really noticed me being extra hungry or less hungry but eating breakfast but it does help spread calories throughout the day, so I'm not eating an extra big dinner.

rheddmobile

Exercising on an empty stomach and then not eating afterwards just sounds painful. You're not refueling after your workout, so your blood sugar is having to climb out of a hole.

Try just a 4 - 6 oz glass of milk, that's enough protein and carbs to keep you from wanting to gnaw your own arm off before lunch. Simple and uncomplicated, takes no time, only a few calories. There was a study on diabetics which found milk was an ideal post workout snack. Whole milk or 2% so you have a little fat to sustain you. If you need more have a small orange. The fiber in the fruit helps slow digestion so it may not cause as many cravings.

Individual people respond to foods differently, but there should be some combination which works for you.

ahoy_m8

hesn92 wrote: »

I stopped eating breakfast a few months ago to save calories. I didn't stop being hungry but I am no more hungry than I was when I used to eat breakfast every day.

I feel this way, too. My hunger is about the same either way. Half the year I do cardio in the morning before eating anything. I do feel hungry when I start the cardio but by the time I'm done, 3 cups of coffee get me through the morning just fine.

About half the time, I do have a mid-morning fat bomb. It's some variation of an almond ricotta coffee cake (flourless sugarless). This week it has orange zest and black cherries. At <200cal, it does not fill me up, but I do enjoy the heck out of it with my coffee. So more mentally satisfying than anything else.

The worst I can do is eat sweet high carb early in the day. It sets me up for overeating all day, unfortunately. The fat bomb helps me balance my macros but is truly a sweet treat. Maybe you could try something like that?

ETA: I also stop eating about 7PM. I have no problem with fasted morning cardio, FWIW.

blambo61

I hiked 5-hrs today in the mountains with a pack (25-lbs or so) fasted without any problems. You can adapt to burning fat and get better at it.

maggibailey

I'm in the eating in the morning won't stop my hunger boat. I have coffee and tea with a bit of half and half until lunch at one or two. I like to snack and eat a large dinner so it works for me. I often a little hungry in the morning but I ignore it and stay busy.

Agent_Freckles

I can't skip breakfast! I typically eat canadian bacon, cereal, a piece of fruit and 1 piece of toast for breakfast around 10am and that fills me up at about 500 calories. Canadian bacon is super low calorie. I then have a small lunch around 2-3pm and bigger dinner at 7ish. If I skip any meal I end up starving by the end of the day.

Agent_Freckles

Spiderpug wrote: »

I eat brekkie after walking the dog so 10-ish then lunch 2-3pm and dinner 7-8pm. I find I snack less this way

My dad also calls it brekkie. fond memory...

Noreenmarie1234

I eat a LOT right before bed so I think thats why I am not hungry in the morning. After years of not eating breakfast I just never get hungry anymore.

ncfitbit

Loving this thread as I've been finding it easier to stick to my calorie goal when I skip breakfast. Coffee with some half and half is usually enough for me, but I do usually have to be able to eat lunch a little earlier when I do this.

I empathize with you on the weight gain and finding it hard to get back into deficit. I gained 11 pounds last year, very slowly but surely and I couldn't figure out why. I was logging in every day and mostly doing what MFP told me to do, except when I wasn't.

The thing that has helped me is Judith Beck's "The Beck Diet Solution". (Actually, I read through several of her books: The Beck Diet for Life, The Diet Trap Solution. They are slightly different takes on the same approach, but Diet Solution is the main one). Basically, it's about dealing with the thoughts that cause you to sabotage your own efforts. I didn't think I needed that, but it turns out that, yes, I did. I still go over my goal some days, but now I'm better equipped to deal with those slips and I know what to do to get back on track much more quickly. Last year I whenever I got off track, it might cause me to check out for several days, which of course only compounded the problem.

I'm down almost 8 lbs since then, and still have a lot to go, but the best thing has been I feel much more confident in my ability to keep losing now because I know what has been getting in my way.

Chef_Barbell

I prefer a larger dinner so I have coffee for breakfast and sometimes a light lunch.

emmieems

I wouldn't recommend meal skipping, I tried that mentality and if you're hungry you're hungry for a reason. Especially when working out, I would atleast advice you to have a protein shake or smoothie or piece of fruit in the morning. Your body needs food as fuel, when I had the meal skipping mentality it really ruined my metabolism. Even if you eat later in the day your body is going for a long time with nothing to run off of

4theking

I have been skipping breakfast for years now and I found that the hunger in the morning went away over time. But if I over eat the day before and/or eat a lot of sugar than I will wake up ravenously hungry.

angmarie28

Ive never been big on eating breakfast, I usually drink coffee until 10 or 11, then a small snack, the, lunch between 12 and 1. If I eat before 10, Im starving all day. so I eats something like this
10am-snack(150 calories)
1pm-lunch (400 calories)
3pm snack(150 calories)
5pm-snack(150 calories)
630pm-dinner(500 calories)

dlipson30

Chef_Barbell wrote: »

I prefer a larger dinner so I have coffee for breakfast and sometimes a light lunch.

This.

I am on a medication that must be taken on an empty stomach, which naturally is first thing in the morning, and then is best absorbed without food for the next hour. On top of that I was never really big on eating in the morning even before the medication (contrast this with actual breakfast foods, I could eat breakfast stuff all day everyday). So I've found that just having a nice iced coffee (which does have cream and sugar so there are some calories there) and munching on a protein bar throughout the day keeps me satisfied until dinner most days. Then I get home and really enjoy a good sized dinner and even dessert basically everyday.

I agree it's about finding what works for you. Skipping breakfast was an easy thing for me but it may not work for you; I still have those odd days where I wake up for work starving so it's never going to be 100%.

OhMsDiva

Francl27 wrote: »

jayemes wrote: »

I almost never eat breakfast. I have two cups of coffee and that's it.
Occasionally I'm hungry, but like you said, I prefer to ignore it and leave myself more calories for dinner time.
I'd say after a few weeks I got used to it and wasn't looking for food in the morning.
If you don't want savory in the morning but want to eat, what about some kind of protein pancakes or overnight oats or even just a banana?

The problem is that pretty often, I just keep eating because I don't feel satisfied. 600+ calories later and I'm still not satisfied and still hungry by 11am

I'm usually up by 6.30am.

That is me. I get up between 4 and 4:30 to exercise and I tried waiting until I get to work at 7:30 to eat, which normally did not happen because I do not really sit down until about 8:30. By then I am starving and I felt like I could never feel satiated. So what I do is eat maybe a half serving of cottage cheese and some fruit or a piece of a belvita cookie before I leave home at 7. Then I just have a small snack at about 9, usually just some veggies and that holds me until I eat my snack at about 10.

ottermotorcycle

that's essentially 16:8 intermittent fasting, eating from 11am to 7pm... it works well for lots of people. ive been doing it for a few weeks and i still get hungry, but the hunger passes after a little while and i've gotten more comfortable with it.

maybyn

Francl27 wrote: »

I'm always hungry in the morning, but savory food just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore then... so instead of just eating empty carbs and still be hungry after 500 calories, I've started skipping breakfast and end up eating around 11am. It makes the rest of the day MUCH easier, but, well, I'm hungry, and I exercise in the morning so it's not really ideal...

The question is - if you started skipping breakfast, did you stop being hungry at some point? I typically don't eat later than 7pm at night, so it's a pretty long time without food. It's easier for me to ignore hunger in the morning, but it would be easier if I'd just get used to it...

I've tried adjusting my food timings for around a month so that I skip breakfast and have my main meal as dinner. Didn't work for me because I'd be sooo hungry by dinner that I used to binge a lot. So I moved back to my normal routine:

Breakfast: 800 cals
Lunch: 400 cals
Dinner: 200 cals

I'm on a 1400 cal diet and I stop eating around 7pm.

sizesixorbust

My breakfast consists of my thermos of coffee I take to work, I make it but don't really start drinking it until 8am, then end up sipping at it all morning since I'm most productive then and just trying to get through my work, I don't get stomach growly hungry until about 1130 am. I do put about 2tblsp creamer per cup of coffee, I think the cals in that and the caffeine tide me over until I eat my lunch

karahm78

I eat two slices of Dave's Killer raisin bread warmed in the toaster. It is nice and hardy with complex carbs and isn't savory nor overly sweet. 2 slices has 2g fiber and 8g protein, and holds me to lunch when eaten with my coffee.