What should I really eat for breakfast? (and snacks too)

curlyt1974

Hi.....I really struggle with what is the right breakfast to have. I work at7:30 AM and typically don't eat my breakfast until about 9 or 9:30. I usually bring cottage cheese and fruit. Sometimes I will have weight watchers bread with nut butter or sometimes cereal. I never know if I should have more calories at breakfast, or if I should snack in between and then I don't know what to snack on. Lunches and dinners are simple for me. I find it much easier to portion out veggies and protein. Any suggestions?

Thanks

MikePTY

You can eat any food you want for breakfast. "Breakfast foods" are a marketing and cultural distinction, not a health one. So you would be completely fine eating the same type of foods you eat for lunch or dinner during breakfast.

As far as when to eat breakfast or how many calories for breakfast, there is no right answer. You can eat it whenever you want and as many calories as you want. Or you can skip breakfast and not eat it at all. You can snack, or not snack. What matters is not how many meals you have or how you distribute your calories throughout your meals, but how many calories you intake overall over the course of the day. As long as you hit your calorie goal, it doesn't matter how you distribute them.

For most of us, it takes a bit of trial and error to figure out what type of eater we are. If we eat several small meals or a couple of big meals, if we like to snack or not, etc. So you can experiment and see how it makes you feel. There is no wrong way to divide it up.

jayemes

Do you like eating breakfast? If so, eat what fits into your daily calorie goal.
Do you prefer snacking? Break up what you would eat for breakfast into a few smaller meals.
The timing doesn't matter. You just want to be happy and satiated

kgirlhart

You should eat whatever you like for breakfast that will keep you satisfied until your next meal. If you want something smaller and a snack before lunch then that is fine. If you want to eat a little larger breakfast and then not snack until lunchtime that is fine too. And you don't even have to eat breakfast if you don't want to. It really is just personal preference. I usually eat greek yogurt, fruit, boiled eggs and coffee for breakfast. If you are looking for breakfast ideas then that is my suggestion, but it isn't necessarily something one "should" eat. That is just what I like to eat because I like it and it is easy to eat at my desk.

LyndaBSS

Eat what you like when you like. Just remain in a calorie deficit.

lgfrie

There is no rule that you have to eat a certain kind of food for breakfast, or that you have to eat breakfast at all. The "most important meal of the day" is utter marketing hype. Lots of us prefer not to eat anything for breakfast, either because of being on an intermittent fasting program, or preferring not to eat before a morning workout, or whatever. All you have to do is meet and not exceed your calorie target for the day; everything else is optional.

pinaycoco

I recently noticed that I probably only eat breakfast out of habit. I think actually I'm fine with just black coffee?!

Hannahwalksfar

I love steel cut oats cooked in almondmilk and blue berries with hemp seeds and maple syrup. Other days I like egg white omelettes or yoghurt. Breakfast is whatever you want to eat

cbihatt

If you are still hungry after you eat your breakfast, that is a good indication you should eat more calories. But, in general, I wouldn’t worry so much about it. Some days I eat breakfast, some days I skip it. Depends on a a lot of factors including my hunger level and whether I have plans to eat out for dinner. As a result, my breakfast calories range anywhere from 40 to 450.

grimendale

I don't care much for breakfast, but often get a little snacky an hour or two before lunch, so my dietitian recommended a cup of Greek yogurt with high fiber cereal mixed in (I prefer the Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal, which is only 80 calories a serving and surprisingly sweet given the fiber content). It's simple and filling.

corinasue1143

Are the breakfasts you are eating now working? If yes, keep eating them. If no, change them. It’s really that simple.

LAT1963

Dunno if what I do is of use to you but here goes...

My calorie goal at my current weight is 1750 cals. I go big on breakfast (500-600 cals) and small on lunch, focusing on protein at breakfast, but I like to end with something sweet, so I have some fruit. Its summer so right now I'm having exotics (eg: lychee, melons), but a wiser choice year round is apples because of the fiber content.

So--2 eggs, 2 bacon, hami melon (a summer-only fruit), green tea, comes out to about 500 calories depending on how much melon (that's for about 300g, which is generous portion). Microwave the bacon, use the paper towels from the bacon to grease the pan for the eggs. For variety you can spiff up eggs without adding calories by using truffle salt.

Notice the lack of toast. 2 pieces of bread can be 220-300 calories, then add another 50-100 calories of butter and 60 calories of jam and you're up to 300+ calories just for the toast. Not Worth It.

I also like Japanese food so sometimes I'll have grilled salmon or mackerel on (a limited quantity of) high quality rice with a couple of tablespoons of Japanese pickled vegetables from an Asian market. This usually comes out around 600 calories because I'm overly generous putting sesame seeds on it. This can also be made ahead and eaten cold, which might work for you since it sounds like you bring your breakfast to work and eat it there. If you want to be a bit more structured about it go to "cooking with dog" (the dog, Francis, narrates in a French accent) on youtube and look up Chazuke.

For arcane reasons, the bio-accessible carbs in rice decrease if it sits awhile after being cooked, but how much is hard to quantify so you have to use the standard freshly cooked values in your logging. Just know you can gain a slight advantage by using rice cooked the night before. (you can look this up using google scholar; I found it while trying to find out which varieties of rice have the lowest glycemic index)

If you really need to cut the calories but want to feel fed, home-made miso soup (not the instant packet kind) works well for me and comes out at under 200 calories. Suggest making the dashi/miso broth ahead, bringing tofu, wakame seaweed (which is dried), and any other veggies you want in it in a separate container, assemble and microwave at work. If you are going to do this it is worthwhile to find a local source for tofu because most national brands go sour before they get to you. *Fresh* tofu is a wonderful thing.

texasredreb

Eat what you want. I "eat" coffee with sweetened cream as my only breakfast.

curlyt1974

Thanks so much everyone, this helps. Some days I wish I could skip breakfast-especially If I want to splurge on dinner and drink but most days my blood sugar dips way too much if skip and then I end up "bingeing" at lunch.

DancingMoosie

I'm really enjoying iced coffee with milk and a little whole milk yogurt with fruit. Maybe a little peanut butter or nuts, too. I might also have a small protein snack before lunch. It all depends on what you like and how you feel. I work out in the morning, so I'm hungry before lunch.

psuLemon

Bacon... The answer is definitely bacon.

Danp

While in Malaysia and Indonesia we most often ate a fried rice dish (Nasi Goreng) for breakfast
While in Germany our breakfast was usually bread, cold cut meats, cheese and sausages
While in Turkey our first meal of choice was a oven baked flat bread with toppings (Pide).

Point being. Is food is food and what is considered 'breakfast' food is largely a cultural thing so forget the 'rules' and eat whatever you feel like eating.

Viva-la-breakfast-revolution!

lgfrie

Breakfast was the first thing I dumped when my wife and I started dieting 4 ish months ago. Best decision I've made so far. That took 200-300 calories of useless refined carbs in the form of cold cereals and deployed them into lunches and dinners where they could actually do some good in the form of nutritionally sound foods. Plus, after a week or so my body had completely adjusted and I wasn't hungry at all in the mornings ... and haven't been ever since. That was an eye opener. I literally have no interest in food in the morning at all, whereas for most of my life I would wake up thinking about breakfast.

Hannahwalksfar

I couldn’t live without breakfast. It literally starts my day off happy lol