When is breakfast?

photo_kyla

I've been seeing tons of articles saying that it is easier to lose weight, and more likely to stay off, if you eat breakfast. My question is, how much does it have to be and how early does it have to be?
I've never been a breakfast fan and if I eat even a yogurt before my workout, I feel so sick during. (Don't even start on bananas. They make me feel sick at any time.) My usual morning (without early classes) goes like this:

7:45 wake up & dress
8:00 leave for gym
8:10-9 circuit workout
9-10 Zumba
10:15-10:30 arrive home
Food by 11

Is that technically still a breakfast? I don't really want to get up an hour earlier just to eat and feel ill during my workout. (That would also cut into the recommended sleep for healthy weight.)

Do any of you do morning workouts? What do you do about food?

SheRa1964

I eat immediately when I get up. Because I'm starving and I have to take medication.

If it makes you physically ill to eat I'd just eat when I was hungry.

SheRa1964

I worked out at 10. I woke up at 8:30 and ate and drank a protein drink. Worked out. Ate lunch. I'm not working right now so my schedule ROCKS. LOL

raelynne629

What about some sort of shake, that way you're not technically eating, but your getting some calories to jump start your day.

Jennloella

I also can't eat before I workout, unless it's hours before but I don't have time for that! I'm up at 5, coffee, workout, breakfast by 7 or 7:30!

aimeeturner

I get up at 5:15 a.m., eat a healthy low fat breakfast, wait about 30 minutes, then do my first workout for the day. I do my second workout on my lunch break and then my third when I get home from work. I go to bed at 9:00-9:30 every night, before my kids...LOL.

Sp1nGoddess

I agree with above - try a protein shake, you ideally want some good carbs & protein in your system before working out so that your body has the fuel to rebuild your muscle. You are doing a tough 2 hour workout - without some protein in your system you are more likely to break down muscle rather than repair it. I like 1/2 a protein shake blended with berries or peaches pre workout, then a full shake w/ ground flax added afterwards.

wendyannie1976

I'm a up early 5:30am eat a full breakfast - porridge, toast or eggs or all of it if I'm hungry and have a long workout planned plus coffee, a pint of water and a peppermint tea and then after getting my daughter up dressed and to childcare I'm normally working out for 7:30 for up to 90 mins if I can - haven't managed it much lately but this is my preferred and normal circumstance routine even changed my work hours to start at 10am so I could :-)

UponThisRock

Breakfast needs to be within 24 minutes, 35 seconds of waking up or your metabolism falls off.

Pretty sure this is common knowledge.

LethaSue

I have heard that your metabolizm will not start until you consume some sort of calories. There are no strict rules on what breakfast is made up of. Even if you eat a cheese stick, or a peice of beef jerky, it is something and no need to wake up early for it. You could just eat it on the way to the gym while driving.

caveats

Breakfast is whatever your first meal of the day is, regardless of the time of day. (Just look at the words -- break fast. )

Etymology aside, I usually don't eat breakfast until ~noon. (Later on weekends but only because I'm not getting up for work that early!) That's just what my body's accustomed to, and while I'm not working out in the mornings, I usually do have a very active work day in the mornings, and I'm fine mentally and physically to just wait until lunch to eat.

Don't let mainstream media dictate what you should do with your nutrition. Look into intermittent fasting if you want information on why eating breakfast is not a hard-and-fast rule to sustainable weight loss, as a lot of those Internet articles will tell you. Some who follow that lifestyle even do hard workouts before eating and don't have a problem getting through them. They just make sure they have complete nutrition and fuel by the end of the day. Personally, I also have never had a problem with my weight from skipping breakfast, and it prevents me from wasting calories by choking down food I don't really want in the morning.

Acg67

as far as the articles go that you've read, keep this in mind, Correlation =/= causation

SinIsIn

Breakfast needs to be within 24 minutes, 35 seconds of waking up or your metabolism falls off.

Pretty sure this is common knowledge.

24 minutes, 35 seconds!?!?! Damn.. I'm doing it wrong!

dirtbikegirl5

I can't eat before I work out or I will be sick. I get up at 5:15, work out, get the girls ready, we are off to work and school by 7:45 am and I eat an apple in car. I eat oatmeal (or something) around 10 am. I usually call my apple "breakfast" and the oatmeal "snack".

cbu23

Breakfast needs to be within 24 minutes, 35 seconds of waking up or your metabolism falls off.

Pretty sure this is common knowledge.

Clearly I have also been doing this wrong! Lol

MercenaryNoetic26

Jamie Eason (fitness model) suggests 1 hour after waking up. I find this impossible after my morning rituals, but manage to do it within' 2hrs after waking up. I pack my bkfst/lunch and start eating at work. Plus, I'm figuring the casein shake from the night before is enough to keep me running those 2hrs in the morning... how much depends on your personal needs.

kassandra81

I wake up at 7:30am, and eat at 9am. I love my breakfast, but I also don't work out in the morning, I go after dinner.

dalgirly

Breakfast is basically whenever I get up.

If I work nights, breakfast is at 4pm. If I'm not working at all, breakfast is usually at 11am (as I hate mornings). If I'm working days, breakfast is a two parter (usually a piece of fruit when I get up @ 5am), then a real breakfast at around 9am on a break.

havalinaaa

The only reason eating breakfast is a habit of fitter people is because it can prevent you from over eating at the rest of your meals. I just started eating breakfast, and while I do find it is easier for me to not give in to temptation at lunch time because of it (like breaking down and eating a bagel or chips or some delicious fried thing that is quick and cheap) it isn't really doing anything else. I was already doing well calorie wise, I might make slightly better choices now but it hasn't sped up my weight loss or anything. Study after study has shown that timing of meals has no effect on weight loss. The only thing that matters is staying within your calorie goal (and eating a balanced diet to do so).

If eating breakfast doesn't work for you, don't worry about it. I used to hate eating in the mornings - it made me feel ill as well - but have found I really enjoy waking up 10-15 minutes earlier and having a little 'me' time before the crazieness of the day begins. I don't eat much, usually around 300 calories (typically oatmeal or yogurt and coffee, sometimes just a piece of fruit).

fatty2fit88

Maybe eat straight after gym in your car? well I don't workout in the mornings as I work....if I DO end up working out in the morning I eat straight after...like straight after my workout..... I bring a Pb and J to the gym....

well at 11 can still be breakfast...but that makes lunch at around 4pm and dinner at 10pm? that's no good.

Redlybird

I typically wake up around 6:45am, FALL out of bed and somehow manage to get clothing on and in the right directions, and then go straight to the gym. I'm there for around 1-1.5 hours, and I eat as soon as I get home. My breakfast after the gym is normally a protein-packed breakfast - generally fiber-packed bread with peanut butter and greek yogurt with a half cup of fresh berries. I also drink a cup of black coffee. I've read in numerous places that protein after a workout (and coffee after a work out, actually) help in muscle soreness, and since I wake up and go the next day, anything that is supposed to help muscle soreness is welcome for me!

I've NEVER been able to eat before going to the gym unless it's at least an hour+ beforehand, because it makes me feel sick, too; I don't even start drinking water until I'm more than halfway through my workout. Anything in my stomach makes me feel sick, especially during cardio. I've no idea if this is the "right" way to do anything, but that's my current way of doing it... and it seems to work out just fine for me this way!

hockey7fan

Breakfast needs to be within 24 minutes, 35 seconds of waking up or your metabolism falls off.

Pretty sure this is common knowledge.

LOL! So since I didn't eat until 5 hours and 28 minutes and 12 seconds after waking up this morning does that mean I wasn't breathing and my heart wasn't beating and my blood wasn't pumping through my body until I ate?

sarahgilmore

Breakfast needs to be within 24 minutes, 35 seconds of waking up or your metabolism falls off.

Pretty sure this is common knowledge.

Oh no! Today was 25 minutes 10 seconds.

I'm such a fail. I've ruined so many months of hard work.

BRB gonna go eat everything in the fridge.