If you wake up late, should you just skip breakfast?

tigersword

Meal timing and frequency don't have any impact on weight loss. You could eat all of your calories at once right before bed if you want and you'll still lose just the same.

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

Because of my sleeping habits, I usually don't wake up until 10 or 11 (usually don't go to bed until 2 or 3 though).
What I do is, I make breakfast and lunch as 1 (brunch). Is it okay? Will it be harder for me to lose weight?

We are supposed to eat 5 to 6 small meals a day to help prevent overeating and unevenness in your energy levels plus to keep your metabolism up and steady. I'm not sure one day a week will hurt you to bad. I totally understand sleeping in, but even when I sleep in I still eat all my meals, even if I'm not hungry.

This is incorrect..nothing says you have to eat 5-6 meals. Eating when not hungry is what got us all fat in the first place.. no?

NO its not when, what or the frequency of our meals. Its over consumption of calories that made us fat. There are many foods that we think are OK to eat but it turns out to be a high-calorie one. Eating 5-6 small meals doesn't make one fat, its over consumption of calories + sedentary lifestyle that make us fat. Just because you eat frequently doesn't mean you're over consuming calories. You can eat 6 times a day but still not going over your calorie goal & on the other hand, you can eat only once or twice a day but still can end up over 1,000 calories which one factor that makes us fat.

Lift_hard_eat_big

We are supposed to eat 5 to 6 small meals a day to help prevent overeating and unevenness in your energy levels plus to keep your metabolism up and steady. I'm not sure one day a week will hurt you to bad. I totally understand sleeping in, but even when I sleep in I still eat all my meals, even if I'm not hungry.

5-6 meals a day is NOT required to keep metabolism up and steady. That's a huge myth, and one in particular that really irks me.

Lift_hard_eat_big

Meal timing and frequency don't have any impact on weight loss. You could eat all of your calories at once right before bed if you want and you'll still lose just the same.

^^^ = Winning!!!

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

Because of my sleeping habits, I usually don't wake up until 10 or 11 (usually don't go to bed until 2 or 3 though).
What I do is, I make breakfast and lunch as 1 (brunch). Is it okay? Will it be harder for me to lose weight?

We are supposed to eat 5 to 6 small meals a day to help prevent overeating and unevenness in your energy levels plus to keep your metabolism up and steady. I'm not sure one day a week will hurt you to bad. I totally understand sleeping in, but even when I sleep in I still eat all my meals, even if I'm not hungry.

No it doesn't necessary required to keep your metabolism up & steady. It can only help normalizing blood sugar. As a diabetic I have to eat frequently to regulate my blood sugar & to avoid hypoglucemia (low blood sugar) which is one of the complications of diabetes.

margreynaert

If nothing else, have a banana. You need to start with something

meagalayne

Eventually you'll have to break that fast - I'm telling you, you'll get really hungry if you don't eat eventually

Eat whenever's most comfortable. If you don't keep "normal" hours, why keep a normal eating schedule? Total calorie in take and satisfying your macros is what really counts. Eating breakfast within 1-2 hours of waking up is most common because people are usually fairly hungry after sleeping for 6-8 hours ... It's a preference, not a requirement.

akafayefaye

I'm researching now for a paper on this exact topic! I'll try to keep this simple.

I found some in favor of skipping breakfast (or who think it doesn't matter), but those studies seem to be much fewer, and more recent. I found input from one scientist whose results indicate it's healthier to skip, because a person can have fewer daily calories. BUT, he only allowed his test subjects to eat 1 meal per day - dinner for which they had no restriction on calories. Most were not able to eat all of the calories for the day in that meal, and they lost weight.

The overwhelming majority of what I found is in favor of breakfast, and says that people who skip breakfast are more likely to become obese (4 times more likely - said one statistic). Some say it happens simply because the hunger form skipping leads to poorer choices later; some say it happens because the long period without eating causes spikes in insulin which slows metabolism (and long-term could even damage the pancreas, and increase the risk of diabetes).

One more thing - a LOT of the results I read said that "what" is eaten is more important that eating. Meaning - eating a crappy breakfast tested worse than skipping breakfast. They say eat foods that release energy slowly and keep the body satisfied for a long time (whole grains, protein, fruit, low fat dairy). Just avoid sugar.

I didn't read anything about how soon within waking it should be eaten though. I think I've always heard 2 hours or so,

krystina_letitia9

Because of my sleeping habits, I usually don't wake up until 10 or 11 (usually don't go to bed until 2 or 3 though).
What I do is, I make breakfast and lunch as 1 (brunch). Is it okay? Will it be harder for me to lose weight?

I eat 3 meals and a couple snacks, regardless of what time I wake up. I work night shift so my body is always confused, so I need to give it proper fuel. Not giving it what it needs is a poor decision. Feel free to look at my diary or friend me if you want to see what I do.

kassied09

Never skip breakfast.

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

I don't think you should skip breakfast, which could be anything (i.e. a piece of fruit and a cup of milk). I think that whatever time you wake up, you should eat within an hour of that. It gets your metabolism going for the rest of the day.

this is incorrect

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

I'm not sure if this is true, honestly I see many contradictory tips on nutrition & exercise that drive me nuts. However from what I see, the only main problem with skipping breakfast is the tendency to overeat & make poor choices come lunch or snack time since we're very hungry at that time. This can lead to over consumption of calories which in turn makes us fat.

saramerrigan

I often get up late at the weekends and will have brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. This hasn't caused me any problems with weightloss so far, and means that I am able to have a delicious cooked breakfast :bigsmile:

I always have breakfast on working days, but don't think it does any harm to shake things up a bit.

GetFitE

If I wake up later, I usually just push everything back some. On my days like that--waking up around 10/11-- I usually wake up and get a workout in an hour after waking up, so when I wake up I have something light and protein filled since I know I'm getting ready to workout. And then I usually just move on to lunch after the workout & proceed with my day as usual. I like keeping a regular schedule--it just works for me.

I usually eat dinner pretty early (between 6-8) most days (usually in bed by 10/11), so I HAVE to eat something when I wake cause I usually wake up with my stomach growling since I've gone from 8p-10a without food.

Graciecny

Some say it happens simply because the hunger form skipping leads to poorer choices later; some say it happens because the long period without eating causes spikes in insulin which slows metabolism (and long-term could even damage the pancreas, and increase the risk of diabetes).

Honestly, time-wise (ie: interval) there is no difference between someone else eating dinner at 6pm and having breakfast the next day at 7am and someone eating their last meal at 10pm and having lunch at 11am the next day. Same length of time between meals. So does what time you eat really matter, or are you saying (the peer reviewed research you've found says) that it is only the elapsed time that matters?

chrisdavey

I don't think you should skip breakfast, which could be anything (i.e. a piece of fruit and a cup of milk). I think that whatever time you wake up, you should eat within an hour of that. It gets your metabolism going for the rest of the day.

this is incorrect

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

I'm not sure if this is true, honestly I see many contradictory tips on nutrition & exercise that drive me nuts. However from what I see, the only main problem with skipping breakfast is the tendency to overeat & make poor choices come lunch or snack time since we're very hungry at that time. This can lead to over consumption of calories which in turn makes us fat.

Well that comes down to willpower. And at the end of the day, it's the consuming more calories than maintenance that leads to fat gain not skipping breakfast.

Fayesbod: causation =/= correlation.

P.S ate my first meal of the day at 8:30pm last night. Was approximately 1800 cals. Went to bed at 10pm. As this is under my maintenance cals it's all good.

akafayefaye

Some say it happens simply because the hunger form skipping leads to poorer choices later; some say it happens because the long period without eating causes spikes in insulin which slows metabolism (and long-term could even damage the pancreas, and increase the risk of diabetes).

Honestly, time-wise (ie: interval) there is no difference between someone else eating dinner at 6pm and having breakfast the next day at 7am and someone eating their last meal at 10pm and having lunch at 11am the next day. Same length of time between meals. So does what time you eat really matter, or are you saying (the peer reviewed research you've found says) that it is only the elapsed time that matters?

I agree on how you see the timing. Actually, I didn't get information on how much time between meals (or how much time after waking) was determined to be too much before eating for researchers in favor of breakfast - so, it's a good question, but I have no idea.

What I found makes me believe it's worth it to eat breakfast. For me, I hate the idea of it screwing with my hormones more than a risk of weight gain. But, really I'm just passing on what I've found so people can use their own judgement. Personally, I wouldn't listen to some random guy's opinion on something science related.

vaninay

Meal timing and frequency don't have any impact on weight loss. You could eat all of your calories at once right before bed if you want and you'll still lose just the same.

YAY!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH PEOPLE!!!!! Im Relieved.