Fitness trainer told me CEREAL was bad!!

You should ask your trainer... "are you a certified Nutritionist?"

I eat Cereal on the weekends

I say screw it and eat it within moderation!

Your trainer is right. Most cereals have very poor nutritional value to junk ratio. High in sugar (most breakfast cereals) will lead you to a energy crash later on in the day and might make you over eat next meal. I treat cereal as a rare treat.

Focus on something filling like protein (eggs) and fiber (oatmeal) for breakfast.

Wonder why everyone here is advocating cereals, when they are over processed and high in sugar.

Carbs are not bad. I see this so often (that they are) that my head spins. Here's a question: how do you get fiber without carbs?

Answer: you don't. Not naturally anyway.

Refined sugars are bad, simple carbs CAN be bad, but CARBS in general ARE NOT bad for you!!

I eat Oatmeal, Wheat Berries and Chia with Agave Necter for breakfast EVERY DAY. It has been a large part of my weight loss.

My balance today is 55% carbs, 25% protein and 20% fats. By doing this I get much closer to my needed 38 grams of fiber a day (30 with today's projected meals) and plenty of energy throughout the day and for my cardio workouts.

While I'm not a Vegetarian or Vegan (my little sister is Vegan) I do respect much of what they've learned and found the movie 'Forks Over Knives' to be very enlightening. The human body needs raw foods as well as a fair amount of carbohydrates and whenever we cut those down in favor of high protein or high fat diets I think we're just harming ourselves. Perhaps the young can get away with it but those of us near or over 50 know that fiber is an important part of our day

So, is cereal bad? Well I'd say NO and YES! Cherios aren't great specially when you add refined sugar (super bad) and Honey Combs etc are BAD BAD BAD! BUT Oatmeal (not instant but the old fashioned kind) is GOOD for you just as cooked Wheat is, Chia, etc etc.

Don't overlook natural foods (raw or cooked) as a breakfast item as you may find they are just what you need.

Get rid of that trainer! There is no bad food that you should avoid unless you have a medical reason to do so.

Sure it has sugar, wheat and carbs but it's not terrible for you in moderation and will not harm your progress.

Eat cereal if you want to. I do now and again. If you don't (but make your own choice and not listen to that trainer), have eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, etc.

If part of the OPs goal is to burn body fat, that breakfast will most certainly impede their progress. Wheat tends to cause inflammation and the sugar and starchy carbs impede fat loss. Limiting them or eliminating them (eating Paleo or Primal) in my personal experience has me burning fat in a way I didn't think was possible.

5-6 egg whites, one whole egg and two pieces of wheat toast.

The problem with most cereals (IMO) is that they contain a lot of sugars and are processed. If you get something like Kashi or oatmeal, it is less processed and better for you. I use cereal as a snack/treat now, never as a meal. Plus, after I got my food scale and realized how small a serving size of cereal was and that I was typically eating 3-4 servings for the morning plus milk it really made me re-evaluate what I eat in the mornings with respect to calories.

^^^ This is what I do and how I feel about cereal.

Haha! Me too! I need at least a full bowl of cocoa krispies, pops, cocoa puffs, captain crunch! That's 3-4 servings! If I can't have a full bowl with a bunch of milk fit my macros, I'd rather not tease myself like that. These cereals don't satisfy me at all. It's like eating air.

The ones you list are mostly puffed rice. You ARE eating air, that's why it's LIKE eating air

Had no idea cereal was bad for you since it contains wheat and carbs and sugar. What do YOU guys eat for breakfast??

Define BAD...

You can lose weight by eating anything in moderation, but wouldn't you like to give your body the best fuel you can!

If we to just focus on the "best" when it came to nutritional value, then food would suck to eat. While I'll agree that commercially advertised "kids" cereals aren't the best choice, however there are a good amount of good cereals that one can choose to eat for breakfast. For many, NON PREP to eat (meaning no cooking involved) breakfasts are they way they like to go.

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

eggs, cottage cheese, avocado, pancakes, french toast, coffee - not all at once

I love cereals but they don't seem to love me. When I eat cereals daily (and keeping within my calorie and macro goals) I stop losing weight. I eat white bread and pasta and they don't seem to have the same effect so it can't just be the high level of carbs. Weird.

most of it is crap.

The ones you list are mostly puffed rice. You ARE eating air, that's why it's LIKE eating air

That's how we roll when we buy cereal for my 11yr old. Was more or less trying to demonstrate why it's not the best decision to choose those cereals: eating air vs eating more food for less calories. Kinda like yoplait whips vs Greek yogurt.

We buy healthy cereals, but If I'm eating healthy cereals, it's gonna be oats.

We use to eat Special K and oatmeal (not the instant stuff). Since my doc put me on a version of Atkins, we now eat eggs, sausage or ham, cheese or avocado, some veggies, and coffee with creamer and stevia. I'm not missing the cereals since I was always starving very quickly after them and our trainner said we needed more protein in the morning. I have smoothies too sometimes when in a hurry - frozen fruit, no sugar almond milk, protein scoop, and avocado - yummy.

Had no idea cereal was bad for you since it contains wheat and carbs and sugar. What do YOU guys eat for breakfast??

Unless you are gluten intollerance there is nothing wrong with wheat, but if you want a cereal with no sugar or wheat there are plenty available. Just look for a cereal made from another grain (corn, oat, rice) with no/low added sugar.

I can't imagine any fitness trainer telling you carbs are bad. Carbs are fuel. Does he want you to cut out fruit and veggies too?

She said there were OTHER ways to get carbs like chicken, protein, veggies, anything green like spinach

That's certainly true, but that's sort of like saying meat is bad because there are other sources of protein.

Lol, "overeating" impedes fat loss. Calorie deficit counts when it comes to weight and even fat loss.

Thanks for saying exactly what I was thinking.