Eating within an hour of waking?

There's no time limit on eating. Many people on here practice intermittent fasting and don't eat until the late afternoon.

You eat when you feel ready, choose things which fit into your calorie budget (weigh them on a food scale), and your metabolism will be just fine. Really. :flowerforyou:

I don't know anything about how accurate the body scan bmr measurement is. I do know that the formula gives you an estimate only.. And the most accurate formula takes body fat percentages into consideration, which might be part of the difference.

i used to eat about 2 hours after i woke up. since i've started working out a lot more, i get hungry within an hour and a half. years ago when i used to bodybuild, i used to eat within an hour of waking up, but that was because i was hungry.

since you burn calories while you sleep, you don't need to "kick start" your metabolism - when you move around, you'll burn more. if your metabolism stopped, that would mean you'd be dead.

Although, in general the simple "eat only before 8," "eat breakfast within an hour," "eat early," eat late," etc. recommendations that have been around forever rest on myth and guesswork. That's why many of us will pooh-pooh them.

BUT -- and it's a big but -- very recent research is showing some evidence that time of eating and circadian rhythms may make a difference. The research is at a very early state. Consider this abstract sentence from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23357955:

"There is emerging literature demonstrating a relationship between the timing of feeding and weight regulation in animals. However, whether the timing of food intake influences the success of a weight-loss diet in humans is unknown."

In other words, there is some evidence that it does make a difference when and what you eat how soon or after you exercise and breakfast content and size may make a difference. Also, adequate sleep may have a greater effect on obesity and weight loss.

Don't leap to conclusions yet and suspect anybody who tells you that something is absolutely known about this at this point.

Eating when I wake up makes me want to vom, personally. I wait until I get to work and have something at my desk.

I eat immediately. I have since childhood. I am starving when I wake up. I can hardly stand to take the time to get the breakfast together because I want to eat so bad.

I think you should eat when you feel ready; however, I'm a believer in eating a mostly clean diet and trying to eat 5-6 small meals a day. Space them out evenly and this will help your metabolism stay strong and working all day long!!

Your metabolism is strong and working all day regardless if you eat 2 meals or 6 meals. More meals does not mean a faster metabolism.

^ I agree. Metabolism isn't some kind of super tricky thing that randomly stops over the course of a day and must be kicked back into action.

Yeah we are all humans and our bodies work in pretty much the same way...but as these responses show, there are many variables, too! I have to eat breakfast to feel like a functional and fully awake person especially for a work day. If I waited until I was at work to eat I'd be really cranky -- and sorry for TMI but I probably wouldn't have pooped either. Coffee and a small meal of even 150-200 calories gets my day going in those ways, so it's an absolute must for ME.

Do what works for you.

Also regarding the practice of mini meals rather than a few larger meals...that seems to work well for many people. For me it's the fastest route to feeling vaguely hungry all of the time and never fully satisfied, and experiencing some mild emotional distress when I eat with friends or family who eat a "regular" sized meal. No thanks.

Best starting is here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Nutrient timing is of a lot less importance than getting the basics right. Make sure it is something you can adhere to rather than someone else's plan.

Anything referring to eating that uses the term "kick start" is bro science.

hello community [:

this is my first post and i've been on mfp since last year and have made progress since. i felt that my progress had been pretty stagnant and woohoo i started a fitness club in a local community yesterday - and it was so awesome

well other than getting us to work out together they also supplied us with some nutritional talk which got me confused. so yes, please let me know if it's true that we need to eat within an hour of waking up?

They claim that it's to fuel our metabolism & kick start our body systems.

Another question: My BMR as measured by the body scan machine said 1280 whereas, if calculated by formula it is 1358. I'm a tad confused by difference in measurement. Please shed some light on this, thanks! ^-^

No. Eat when you want. There is no magic formula to calculate your BMR....They are all estimates. Want to know your exact BMR? ...Eat VERY consistently at one number for a month..If you lost eat more, if you gained eat less....Once you stay the same you know your BMR.