Is Breakfast Really Good for You? What the Research Says ...

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  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    Running2Fit wrote: »
    I don’t think I’d compare it to tobacco companies funding studies on cigarettes. Eating breakfast isn’t going to cause cancer or even make you gain weight. Nothing in that article says that breakfast is bad for you just that it’s not some miracle for weight loss which yeah, duh.

    Totally true! But the cereal company "research" has given credence to one of the biggest fitness myths still in play today. They created research that supported their bottom line. Overtly harmful? No. But still exploitative in my book.
  • suziecue25
    suziecue25 Posts: 289 Member
    edited January 2019
    One of the best things I like about holidays is......breakfast.
  • OneRatGirl
    OneRatGirl Posts: 124 Member
    I knew the studies only showed a correlation, not causation. True of many studies people quote constantly. I think I saw it mentioned a few years ago now.

    I was well into adulthood before I could stomach breakfast early on regularly. I needed an hour or two up as a kid, I took snacks in to eat at morning break in school.

    I only had to learn for some of my tablets, they're really not ideal taken on am empty stomach. Higher risk of stomach ulcers. But I think some people just aren't morning food people, the culture of the "right" time of day to eat annoys me a bit. It's more pseudoscience that ignores CICO.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for weight loss if......

    You are the type of person that is likely to overeat if you don't have it.

    My guess is that the only reasons any studies come back saying that breakfast is most important with weight loss are doing so because more of the population are likely to overeat by skipping it rather than overeat by eating it. I say this because any study I have read shows that the only relevance meal timing has for weight loss is to do with satiety.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,162 Member
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for weight loss if......

    You are the type of person that is likely to overeat if you don't have it.

    My guess is that the only reasons any studies come back saying that breakfast is most important with weight loss are doing so because more of the population are likely to overeat by skipping it rather than overeat by eating it. I say this because any study I have read shows that the only relevance meal timing has for weight loss is to do with satiety.

    Just anecdote, not data: Breakfast is important to me for weight loss (and productivity in general) because I crash at waking hour 2 or 3 without it. (On early workout days, I might manage 20 minutes at intensity fasted, but will hit a wall about there. With breakfast, no wall, just regular declining output if I try to overdo duration, an effect that comes in for a landing long after the 20 minutes, at equivalent intensity.)

    Skipping breakfast kicks me squarely in the energy expenditure, be it NEAT or exercise.

    I don't know that it has any particular impact on my appetite, either way, unless I'm stupid enough to go all quick carbs for breakfast. (I skip it so rarely, for reasons that should be obvious at this point).

    Not saying this applies to others, but saying I can at least imagine an alternate impact that isn't appetite related.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    edited February 2019
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for weight loss if......

    You are the type of person that is likely to overeat if you don't have it.

    My guess is that the only reasons any studies come back saying that breakfast is most important with weight loss are doing so because more of the population are likely to overeat by skipping it rather than overeat by eating it. I say this because any study I have read shows that the only relevance meal timing has for weight loss is to do with satiety.

    Just anecdote, not data: Breakfast is important to me for weight loss (and productivity in general) because I crash at waking hour 2 or 3 without it. (On early workout days, I might manage 20 minutes at intensity fasted, but will hit a wall about there. With breakfast, no wall, just regular declining output if I try to overdo duration, an effect that comes in for a landing long after the 20 minutes, at equivalent intensity.)

    Skipping breakfast kicks me squarely in the energy expenditure, be it NEAT or exercise.

    I don't know that it has any particular impact on my appetite, either way, unless I'm stupid enough to go all quick carbs for breakfast. (I skip it so rarely, for reasons that should be obvious at this point).

    Not saying this applies to others, but saying I can at least imagine an alternate impact that isn't appetite related.

    I didn't think of that scenario but technically I'd say that is more for medical (and it could be medical for those around me when I become a grumblebum) rather than weight loss reasons. I actually get light headed and dizzy if I don't eat breakfast.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,324 Member
    eating breakfast and regular meals is a great strategy to keep hunger under control...leading to weight loss success. that's why eating. breakfast is suggested so much. for some, it makes them actually eat less all day long.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,272 Member
    Me personally - yes breakfast is important

    Not particular for weight reasons but just general life.

    I always have a small breakfast before work, as I get quite nauseaus and faint feeling by mid morning if I dont
  • brittlb07
    brittlb07 Posts: 313 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    Me personally - yes breakfast is important

    Not particular for weight reasons but just general life.

    I always have a small breakfast before work, as I get quite nauseaus and faint feeling by mid morning if I dont

    I was like this, too, until I started intermittent fasting. I think it was mental for me. Now I feel more alert and less sluggish until lunch! But everyone is different!
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    One major flaw in the article is we're saying two different things:

    "good for you" vs "help you lose weight"

    Not everyone has a weight problem. There's a lot of other "good" you can do for your health apart from weight control. Those in the diabetic category are also told to have smaller meals more often, to avoid spikes and dips in blood sugar. They cannot sleep a whole night, then skip breakfast, and eat a whole heap of food at midday. Personally I've had breakfast every day for almost 53 years, and can't imagine it otherwise. And it's not just about cereal companies advertising breakfast, because breakfast can be a lot of other things.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,272 Member
    brittlb07 wrote: »
    paperpudding wrote: »
    Me personally - yes breakfast is important

    Not particular for weight reasons but just general life.

    I always have a small breakfast before work, as I get quite nauseaus and faint feeling by mid morning if I dont

    I was like this, too, until I started intermittent fasting. I think it was mental for me. Now I feel more alert and less sluggish until lunch! But everyone is different!

    Well, that is good for you.

    I have no intention of starting IF since what I am doing is working perfectly well already.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited February 2019
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for weight loss if......

    You are the type of person that is likely to overeat if you don't have it.

    My guess is that the only reasons any studies come back saying that breakfast is most important with weight loss are doing so because more of the population are likely to overeat by skipping it rather than overeat by eating it. I say this because any study I have read shows that the only relevance meal timing has for weight loss is to do with satiety.

    Excellent point.

    Breakfast has zero impact on my satiety, but I don't think everyone is like me, and studies suggest otherwise.

    I spent many years not eating breakfast and being less hungry when I delayed eating (not an IF protocol, just how I was). Now I like breakfast but a couple days a week don't eat it (for scheduling convenience) and just eat a bigger lunch and dinner.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Do adult people really worry and force themselves to eat at the start of their day because of a study when they don't want to? Eat if you want to. Don't eat if you don't want to. If you have energy and are functioning well without breakfast then don't worry about it.

    In my house we have breakfast eaters and non-breakfast eaters. As far as I can tell it has not made anyone more healthy or unhealthy and is a preference. In the past I was a non-breakfast eater because I was not hungry early in the day. I switched to eating a small breakfast because I started getting hungry with a change in activity or something. Nothing dramatic happened to my weight or health. I do think I benefit from eating around the same times every day instead of eating at 11 AM one day and 8 AM the next and 1 PM another day. I wonder if part of the supposed benefit for breakfast eaters is more a tendency to having a routine

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