Breakfast or No Breakfast?

Sometimes, well most times, I am not hungry when I wake up. I want coffee, but not food. I am a calories in/calories out person, but I wonder if waiting until 11:00 or 11:30 or even later will screw with my already less than perfect metabolism. Thoughts? Thanks, Jody
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Replies

  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    imo if you're not hungry - you don't get lightheaded or dizzy - don't eat. metabolism is always adapting; that's its function, so you can't ruin it.

    i used to eat about 2 to 2 1/2 hours after i woke up, which is when i'd first get hungry, but since i've been doing more cardio and weights, i get hungry about an hour to an hour and a half after waking.
  • 2aycocks
    2aycocks Posts: 415 Member
    Well supposedly you are supposed to eat about 1 hour after getting up. It starts up your metabolism. You are breaking the fast.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,855 Member
    Timing does not matter, so long as you meet your goals. I was up at 6:30 today, didn't eat until nearly noon. Some days I am hungrier earlier. I've lost 50lbs since mid-April eating at whatever time, however many times per day. Sometimes that means meals and snacks, small meals, bigger meals... I just stay within my goals.
  • jodyblanchard
    jodyblanchard Posts: 99 Member
    Thanks for your input. Have a great evening!
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    Well supposedly you are supposed to eat about 1 hour after getting up. It starts up your metabolism. You are breaking the fast.
    Metabolism runs 24/7, it never needs started.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    You don't necessarily have to eat breakfast, or eat it shortly after waking.

    I've found that when I don't eat breakfast, I am really hungry late in the day even if I eat all my calories. No idea why that should be the case, but have learned through experience that I'm personally better off having something for breakfast.

    If skipping breakfast is working for you. I wouldn't sweat it. If you want to get a few calories into you in the morning, you could make a latte instead of a normal coffee. Skim milk is around 100 calories a cup. Whole milk is around 136 per cup. These days you can pick up a cheap espresso machine at Target for less than $30 bucks, too.
  • jodyblanchard
    jodyblanchard Posts: 99 Member
    Timing does not matter, so long as you meet your goals. I was up at 6:30 today, didn't eat until nearly noon. Some days I am hungrier earlier. I've lost 50lbs since mid-April eating at whatever time, however many times per day. Sometimes that means meals and snacks, small meals, bigger meals... I just stay within my goals.

    That is exactly what I did today. Thanks for your input!
  • jodyblanchard
    jodyblanchard Posts: 99 Member
    Well supposedly you are supposed to eat about 1 hour after getting up. It starts up your metabolism. You are breaking the fast.
    Metabolism runs 24/7, it never needs started.

    :smile:
  • jodyblanchard
    jodyblanchard Posts: 99 Member
    You don't necessarily have to eat breakfast, or eat it shortly after waking.

    I've found that when I don't eat breakfast, I am really hungry late in the day even if I eat all my calories. No idea why that should be the case, but have learned through experience that I'm personally better off having something for breakfast.

    If skipping breakfast is working for you. I wouldn't sweat it. If you want to get a few calories into you in the morning, you could make a latte instead of a normal coffee. Skim milk is around 100 calories a cup. Whole milk is around 136 per cup. These days you can pick up a cheap espresso machine at Target for less than $30 bucks, too.

    Good idea! Thank you!
  • jodyblanchard
    jodyblanchard Posts: 99 Member
    imo if you're not hungry - you don't get lightheaded or dizzy - don't eat. metabolism is always adapting; that's its function, so you can't ruin it.

    i used to eat about 2 to 2 1/2 hours after i woke up, which is when i'd first get hungry, but since i've been doing more cardio and weights, i get hungry about an hour to an hour and a half after waking.

    Thank you!
  • simplydelish2
    simplydelish2 Posts: 726 Member
    I'm in the don't eat if you aren't hungry camp. My breakfast is generally coffee or a coffee infused protein shake. My first "food" is generally early afternoon. I don't think it has inhibited my weight loss at all.
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    Sometimes, well most times, I am not hungry when I wake up. I want coffee, but not food. I am a calories in/calories out person, but I wonder if waiting until 11:00 or 11:30 or even later will screw with my already less than perfect metabolism. Thoughts? Thanks, Jody

    That's totally fine. As everyone else said, meal time doesn't matter unless you have a medical condition such as diabetes, insulin resistant, or hypoglycemia. Because of my hypoglycemia, I am supposed to eat within 30 minutes of waking up but I'm usually not hungry in the morning. Some days I am, others I'm not and won't eat my first meal until 1-2 hrs after waking up.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,855 Member
    I do drink hot lemon most morning (hot water, juice of half a lemon) and a coffee with half&half(2tbsp to 16oz coffee) or a skim milk latte pretty much every morning.

    I found, way back when, if I ate breakfast because I was "supposed to", I'd seem hungrier all day long. For now, I am just trying to go with my body's cues and it seems to be working.
  • Jezebel_Barbie
    Jezebel_Barbie Posts: 198 Member
    It takes me forever to wake up in the morning, and I can never seem to face food first thing. Since I started working from home I found myself making something like a bowl of fruit, and picking at it throughout the morning. Sure, it may take me til 11am to eat it, but it's better than the alternative which used to be eat nothing then binge on crap from the shop on the way to work! Could you do something similar? Even if you work outside of the home would it be possible to take small snacks that you can eat?
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
    Meal timing is personal preference.
    I've never been a breakfast eater. I prefer to eat my first meal after I've been awake for a few hours, so that's usually around noon for me. I find that I'm less hungry throughout the day if I fast for the first few hours, and I also prefer to have a smaller eating window (12pm-10pm as opposed to 8am-10pm).

    Eat in a way that makes you feel best. :smile:
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
    Most of the time I do this. I've started riding my bike to work without eating anything and my metabolism gets me there fine :-) I After exercise I don't feel hungry for a bit so I tend to have my first nutrients at about 11 and then eat more at lunchtime. Seems to work for me :-) Good luck
  • melindafritz1976
    melindafritz1976 Posts: 329 Member
    yes
    like they say its the most important meal of the day
  • kikityme
    kikityme Posts: 472 Member
    I was always in the "not hungry in the morning" camp and most often would skip it altogether.

    With diabetes, it's actually important to eat (I actually find I have to eat MORE now oddly enough.) It took about 2 weeks, but now I eat almost as soon as I wake.

    Now, I'm sure this is individual, but I've never lost weight so easily.
  • my_chrystal82
    my_chrystal82 Posts: 46 Member
    I've read some of these responses and I have to say, I am pro-breakfast! Personally, I was only ever hungry around 2pm, 6pm and 10pm. For years I thought starving would equate weight loss. Skipping meals made sense. After reprogramming my brain with the help of a nutritionist, I finally grasp the benefit. My 10pm snack would usually turn into a full out binge! And after a big, emotional food stuff, I would pass out with a full belly. It was the only way to feel tired, as I never expended enough energy to fall asleep at a normal time.

    Since I've embraced breakfast, it has completely stopped those late night hunger attacks/ binges and put my food back into a normal pattern.

    When I wake up for work at 4:30, the last thing I want to do is put food in my mouth and chew and the ultimate solution has been to create morning protein shakes with one eye open. They are like breakfast milkshakes <3
    This is my recipe and there is enough to leave the kids each a serving to go with their morning toast or bran/protein muffin.

    I-2 scoop of protein powder
    2 cups of chocolate soy milk
    approx 3/4 cup of frozen berries

    Soooo good and easy to add wheat bran, oatmeal, kale. Whatever you like, to boost whatever you want to boost in your diet.

    Try it! You might become a breakfast convert like me :)
  • victoire713
    victoire713 Posts: 720 Member
    I don't eat breakfast at all, unless it's going out to eat with my dad on Saturdays and days he has off. Breakfast just wasn't always a thing for me. Not since my grandma died. Before that, I was eating breakfast regularly. At first, I'd eat it at her house before the school bus picked me up, then it switched over to me having it at school because I was always in such a rush in the mornings to get out the door to the bus on time.

    I was told by my friends on another site, and also by past shrinks and therapists that I should eat 3 meals a day, plus treats. I have a chronic condition called Bipolar Disorder. So, since I'm mentally ill and taking prescription meds, it's important than ever to eat meals, esp breakfast. But I still don't eat breakfast(unless I am in the hospil, where they serve 3 meals a day plus have 3 treat times a day). I have been fine without it. So, as everyone has said, different spokes for different folks.
  • brandeka
    brandeka Posts: 28 Member
    I was told by a fitness trainer once that you should eat within 1 hour after getting up to get your metabolism going. Otherwise, it won't kick in until quite a bit later in the day. Apparently it slows right down while sleeping and unless you kick start it, it doesn't realize it needs to do it's job.
  • xilka
    xilka Posts: 308 Member
    I was never a breakfast person, and then I read that Sumo wrestlers don't eat breakfast
    because not eating breakfast makes the body store more fat from other meals.
    So. Now I'm a breakfast person.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    yes
    like they say its the most important meal of the day

    Most of the "they" who say that are trying to sell you something. Breakfast is mostly personal preference.
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    I was never a breakfast person, and then I read that Sumo wrestlers don't eat breakfast
    because not eating breakfast makes the body store more fat from other meals.
    So. Now I'm a breakfast person.
    I don't eat breakfast… I am a totally fat storing machine. These ridiculous analogies are ridiculous.
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
    I have always eaten breakfast. Still fat. :laugh:
  • sallyaj
    sallyaj Posts: 207 Member
    The breakfast myth.

    Eat when you're hungry. Really feel it.
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    Since meal timing doesn't affect weight loss then you could eat your calories anytime you wish. There isn't any special about eating just because the sun shines. Keep within your calories limit for weight loss and meet your macros (carbs, fat, protein) for good health.
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
    I eat breakfast because you never know where the day will take you and whether there will be diet-friendly food there. Better to start the day full so I don't eat inappropriate foods or quantities later.

    but everyone's body is different.
  • KatieMcCakes
    KatieMcCakes Posts: 294 Member
    Sometimes, well most times, I am not hungry when I wake up. I want coffee, but not food. I am a calories in/calories out person, but I wonder if waiting until 11:00 or 11:30 or even later will screw with my already less than perfect metabolism. Thoughts? Thanks, Jody
    Just a heads up, I am giving this advice from a low-carb high-fat standpoint, as that's what works for me as a Type I diabetic. If you are low-fat, you won't love me for suggesting this... Seeing as you're a coffee person, give bullet-proof coffee a try: http://www.bulletproofexec.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulletproof-and-your-morning-too/
    It's a good way to get your healthy fats in. On mornings that I don't wake up hungry but I know I'll be sorry for going to work on an empty stomach, I find that just the BP coffee is enough to hold me over until lunch. If I do feel like eating, sometimes I pair it up with an egg or a serving of nuts. Good luck! ;)
  • KatieMcCakes
    KatieMcCakes Posts: 294 Member
    ^Oh, and pardon the excessive marketing you'll find by following the BP coffee link... That's just the original recipe as demonstrated by the creator. It's basically 1 tbsp grass fed butter and 1 tbsp coconut oil blended with a cup of black coffee.