Skipping breakfast vs delaying breakfast...?

vasinger1

Pardon my ignorance, but when people talk about you shouldn't "skip" breakfast", do they mean you shouldn't avoid eating something relative to your waking time, or are they talking about having 2 meals instead of 3? (not including snacks, etc)?

The only reason I ask is because when I get up every morning (usually I don't get up til 10AM) I am almost never hungry. My thought is unless you're truly hungry, you shouldn't eat, or force it, because you will train yourself to eat when you are not hungry. So... some times I just delay my "Breakfast" meal for about 4 or 5 hours after I get up. I don't feel "ravenously" hungry in doing so. In fact, I find it easier to control my appetite that way. So, is that what they mean? Because essentially, "breakfast" is the first meal we do eat during the day, regardless what time we eat it, it's still breaking-fast. Am I right?

kommodevaran

You are completely right. In addittion to the "semantics", there are two aspects of this. The first is that to sell books and plans and superfoods and supplements, the diet industry (and media and food industry) need to keep people guessing, make them confused, scared, helpless, so they are willing to buy stuff to "help". Introducing concepts like "eat small meals often so you don't get ravenously hungry", "eat breakfast to start your metabolism", is some of the tactics they use. The other aspect is that to succeed, you have to work with your natural inclinations, your appetite and preferences, your work, social and family schedule, trust yourself, and learn to see through scams like that.

fb47

vasinger1 wrote: »

Pardon my ignorance, but when people talk about you shouldn't "skip" breakfast", do they mean you shouldn't avoid eating something relative to your waking time, or are they talking about having 2 meals instead of 3? (not including snacks, etc)?

The only reason I ask is because when I get up every morning (usually I don't get up til 10AM) I am almost never hungry. My thought is unless you're truly hungry, you shouldn't eat, or force it, because you will train yourself to eat when you are not hungry. So... some times I just delay my "Breakfast" meal for about 4 or 5 hours after I get up. I don't feel "ravenously" hungry in doing so. In fact, I find it easier to control my appetite that way. So, is that what they mean? Because essentially, "breakfast" is the first meal we do eat during the day, regardless what time we eat it, it's still breaking-fast. Am I right?

You`re thinking too much over nothing. What matters for the whole day is that you eat the calories you need for your goal and it doesn't matter when your `break`your fast which is why the concept of Intermittent fasting exists.

fr33sia12

It always makes me laugh when people say they don't eat breakfast, you mustn't skip breakfast etc, because, as you say, everyone eats a breakfast as breakfast is just the first meal you eat in the day. When some people talk about breakfast them mean eating as soon as they get up or eating a breakfast meal like cereal or toast etc. In the end do what works for you. I don't eat my breakfast till 1-2 hours after getting up as I'm not hungry straight away and this works for me.

MegaMooseEsq

I put the "don't skip breakfast" advice into the same bucket as "never eat after dinner/6 pm /dark" - it's good advice for some people but over-simplistic. Your body doesn't know or care what time it is when you eat. It just cares how many calories you eat compared to how many you use. Many but not all people find that they eat less overall when they make sure to eat something shortly after waking up. Likewise, many but not all people find that they are prone to mindless snacking in the evening. Whatever works for you is absolutely fine - to the extent that any metabolic advantage has been found by one method or another, it's pretty tiny and easily wiped out if you're trying to stick to an eating pattern that doesn't work for you. It's far more important that you find a way of eating that you can stick with.