Breakfast: Yes or No?

princessmommy122

Absolutely, I eat breakfast. If I skip breakfast I end up hungry late at night when my defenses are down.

RadioactivePirate

I've been reading a new book, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff's "The Diet Fix" and one of his recommendations is to eat a breakfast that is at least 1/5 of your total daily calories, with a minimum of 20g of protein. He promises that this will decrease my hunger and urges to snack later in the day, and especially at night which is when I have issues. Trying it today for the first time! I always eat breakfast, just not usually this much.

weather_nerd

As soon as I wake up, I have to have a coffee. I will eat breakfast/early lunch around 10:30 am or so. I'm just not hungry first thing in the morning, but I sure do crave a coffee!

sstolii123

MrM27, I like the way you think. Please show actual studies either way here. I spent a little time using "The Google" this morning and I have not been able to find a study that supports either theory. Lots of articles but no research.

I have also noticed no one else here has any facts to support their claim as well.

I do have breakfast every day because I try to break my meals into 6-7 small meals and I am hungry when I get up. My body feels better when I have a shake in the AM.

MinnieInMaine

You don't "have" to do anything.

Some people find their bodies work better when they have breakfast, others dont. It depends on many many factors.

Some people like to get their work out in before they eat, others find they need to fuel beforehand.

Some people following intermittent fasting regimes find they skip breakfast on certain days of the week, but eat it on others. Other IFers still have breakfast.

I would also add to this that how your performance is fasted or not can change from day to day. I like to run early in the morning in the summertime before it gets too hot. Some days I can get right out of bed and go and do great and some days if I do that, I lose energy really quickly. It probably also has something to do with how you eat the day before and maybe even hydration levels..but that's just speculation. Someone else probably knows a lot more about this than me.

When I was heavy, I started trying to skip breakfast to save my calories for larger dinners and evening drinks. That backfired on me because once I ate lunch it was like the dam broke and I was ravenous which led to snacking on junk all afternoon and still being hungry for dinner. For me, it's much better to spread meals out throughout the day to keep my blood sugar level and keep me from getting too hungry.

So, do what works best for you. As far as weight loss is concerned the only thing that matters is calorie balance.

cookiealbright

I didn't eat dinner last night because I just wanted to go to bed. Does that count as IF? I slept for 10 hours and ate lunch at about 1:00 p.m. but I had a snack at around 3:00. I ate breakfast this morning at about 8:00 a.m. so I didn't eat for 17 hours. This seems so complicated. I'm gonna eat dinner tonight because I'm not tired today! Good luck to ya all finding what works for you! :flowerforyou:

MrsG31

Some people report increased mood and focus when they eat breakfast. Others react the opposite. Some people find that they stay fuller longer when they eat breakfast. Some are hungrier after eating in the morning.

Meal timing will not affect your weight loss. It may affect your gym performance, concentration, and hunger levels throughout the day. Eat it if you want. Skip it if you want.

Agreed! When I was younger, no kids, and slept in, I rarely ate breakfast. I usually would get to work at 8am, drink coffee, and then a little while later eat a granola bar or something. But now I have kids, drink coffee in the car, and am starving when I get to work so I always bring my breakfast with me and eat when I get to work. It really depends on you. If you're hungry, eat. If not, don't.

sstolii123

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22963033

This study shows if you skip breakfast you will eat more calories throughout the day, (if your a mouse)

http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

These facts show that 78% of the people who participate in the National Weight Control Registry and have lost weight and keep it off eat breakfast every morning. (80% of the NWCR participants are women)

I can not find any studies that support skipping breakfast will help you loose weight at this time.

DebbieLyn63

I have never heard any opinions that you shouldn't eat breakfast. You should absolutely eat breakfast.

She has obviously never met Steve! BTW Where is Steve?? I have one more page to catch up on, but thought for sure he would have surfaced by now!

ninerbuff

I have never heard any opinions that you shouldn't eat breakfast. You should absolutely eat breakfast.

Argumentum ad ignorantiam. Why should one "absolutely" eat breakfast? Will they not succeed if they don't?

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

The studies have shown that eating breakfast is highly necessary to get your metabolism started.

Link one peer reviewed study showing that breakfast is highly necessary to get metabolism started. Metabolism runs 24/7. If not, one would be deceased.

If you were to rank the 3 main meals, breakfast should have to most calories, then lunch, then dinner. It takes energy to digest the food. So if your body has to get to work right away, it is already working as your day gets started.

TEF (thermic effect of food) is equal regardless of what time of the day you eat. It DOESN'T increase at breakfast and decrease at dinner.

If your body is scared it will not get food, the metabolism will naturally be slower as a self protection mechanism. That's why any sort of "starvation" method is ineffective. The body always fights to stay alive and survive INCLUDING slowing down all metabolism in the absence of food.

You do realize that ANY calorie deficit (even a slight one) will lower metabolic rate? If one assimilates needed calories per day (regardless of time) metabolism regulates pretty evenly.

Peer reviewed clinical studies are better sources for reference rather than fitness/diet industry articles the submit to information that sounds good.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ahronich

I'm never really that hungry in the morning, so I just make a green shake before I head to work. That way my metabolism starts working and I don't have to eat. Works for me.

diannethegeek

I'm never really that hungry in the morning, so I just make a green shake before I head to work. That way my metabolism starts working and I don't have to eat. Works for me.

You could skip the shake and your metabolism would still work just fine. By all means, if you want or need breakfast then you should eat or drink it. But it's not doing what you think it's doing.

ninerbuff

I can not find any studies that support skipping breakfast will help you loose weight at this time.

Here you go:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1550038

Fifty-two moderately obese adult women were stratified according to their baseline breakfast-eating habits and randomly assigned a weight-loss program. The no-breakfast group ate two meals per day and the breakfast group ate three meals per day. The energy content of the two weight-loss programs was identical. After the 12-wk treatment, baseline breakfast eaters lost 8.9 kg in the no-breakfast treatment and 6.2 kg in the breakfast treatment. Baseline breakfast skippers lost 7.7 kg in the breakfast treatment and 6.0 kg in the no-breakfast treatment.


A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

runitskat

I'm not hungry when I wake up so I've never been a breakfast person. The only thing I can think about is coffee.