breakfast - to eat or not?

I have always been one to skip breakfast most of my life. But I have been forced into it now (due to medical issues) but I can't face it for several hours after waking.
I wake up at 7am and eat breakfast at 10ish (sometimes 11), then lunch at 1 and dinner at half 6. The worst time for me is afternoons, especially at work.
But I know what you mean about starting off your hunger, that is spot on!!! That is why I wait as long as I think is reasonable and not too far from lunch that I am tempted to munch again before it.

One more thing to add is that I always stay away from toast, it has way more calories than cereal and doesn't even start to make me full.

Wow, thanks for al the help and advice. Think I'll go with what my body tells me and eat when I'm hungry. I will also keep reading and listening to advice given to me by fellow MFP users.

Still feeling nervous but optimistic. I have entered my details and have been given 1247 calories a day (arghhh!!!) this is going to be a large shock to the system.

I have tried many diets/healthy eating plans in the past and have never succeeded for more than a few weeks then i gain whatever iv lost plus a stone on top. I feel so unhealthy and need to do this for me and my family. They are all worried I am killing myself with food, which I suppose they are right but I cant see the light at the end of the tunnel.

If you can stick to that calorie level that's great - if not don't be afraid to up it a bit. Better to find something you can stick to long term, and lose slowly - than initially lose loads, but not be able to keep it up (and feel bad when you give up). My level is set to 1200 and mostly I can stick to that, but I sometimes up it to 1400 if I'm struggling for a while.
Even when I get to my limit for the day I will eat something if I'm genuinely hungry (rather than boredom or thirst) but I choose something healthy - otherwise I end up eating rubbish later.

Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but it is also a double edged sword.

On the one hand, If you skip it, you will be much hungrier later.

On the other hand, Eating a big breakfast will keep you from snacking mid day.

The best answer is to eat small meals all day long. And when you say breakfast it doesn't have to be traditional (eggs, toast, cereal, etc). You can have pasta or beans or nuts or salad.

Breakfast does not "boost" your metabolism. Any time you eat food you require energy to process/digest the food, but this is essentially a percentage of what's eaten. Whether you eat X amount of food over 6 meals or eat it in 2 meals the difference in thermic effect is basically negligible.

Now, breakfast may have a profound effect on your dietary compliance, but that can go both ways. There are people who prefer to skip (delay may be a better term) breakfast because in doing so they have an easier time adhering to their calorie intake. There are also people who experience better satiation throughout the day by eating breakfast (eating breakfast basically makes it easier for them to not overeat later in the day).

Consequently, this is one of those topics where "do what's best for you" really makes the most sense.

I couldn't agree more, with everything said here. I work weird mid shifts, most days, and "delay" breakfast, until most might eat lunch. Lunch later in afternoon.. It is a matter of finding what works for you and your special circumstances. I , like others say, snack on nuts, KIND or Luna bars, or serving of trail mix. I Also bring in Greek yogurt , fruit or Cut up veggies and low fat dip ,and keep them in fridge at work, for Quick snacks when I only have a short 15 min. break.

You've gotten some great advice already. I definitely agree with what SideSteel said on breakfast.

I wanted to respond a little to the problem of conflicting advice (which you've also gotten here, and will whenever you post something in the forums), which I know can be a stressor when you may already feel like you aren't sure what to do.

Weight loss is one of those things where so many people (often people who just talked to their doctor once or read fitness or women's magazines or bought some recent diet book or just who lost weight themselves) think they are experts and have pet theories on how things must be done. (And maybe I'm doing the same thing, heh.)

I'll just say that consistency and sticking with a program is what really matters, as well as of course the program being decent to start with. You've chosen MFP, which IS a good program, so you'll want to maximize your ability to be consistent and stick with it. IMO, the easiest way to do that, at least at first, is don't over-complicate it. If you follow the program--eat at a calorie deficit--you will lose weight. People may say that you'll do better for one reason or another if you eat 6 mini meals or start eating breakfast or cut out this or that, etc. I don't personally believe that, but the bigger point is that that's all just noise. Maybe in a perfect world you'd lose slightly faster, but if you try to do too much and get confused or frustrated with conflicting advice, it will become hard to just do the main thing--have a calorie deficit.

So I think just focus on calories first. Then, you can figure out if adjustments (increasing protein, trying more meals or breakfast, figuring out when you are hungrier and how to fix that, etc.) are needed and try them out. But don't make it harder at the beginning than it needs to be. If you feel better or less hungry or have an easier time sticking to your calorie goal if you don't eat breakfast, don't eat breakfast. If that changes later or you want to try adding it in, you can do that later. You will lose weight without it or with it, so long as you eat at a calorie deficit!

I also really struggle when I am working as I work 12.5hr shifts in a hospital. When i am on nights I am more of a nibbler than a meal eater but fruit just doesn't cut it. What are the best nibbles and snacks that I can just leave on my desk?

Hmm. Nuts, if you can eat them in moderation, but they can be easy to overeat. Greek yogurt is great (you'd want to bring it each day). I really like smoked salmon as a snack. Maybe a hardboiled egg (again, you'd need to bring it with you each day). Raw veggies are about as obvious as fruit, but mixed with some of these other ideas could be good. String cheese seems to be popular with many, although I don't care for it. Maybe try some of the protein bars?

If you wake up at 6am and eat a noon, is that not breakfast ... for you?

If i don't eat breakfast, then I feel so weak throughout the day. But I also don't get hungry until later in the day. So I am probably like you. So what I do is sometimes i will just have an egg, which is like 100 calories. And then I have enough energy to get through until later in the day. Try that. Or have one of those slim 80 or 100 calorie yogurts.
Some snacks you can keep with you are carrots, corn, fruit. Filled with fiber, low calorie, crunchy, and tasty. Or just some gum. I really like gum and it satisfies my sweet tooth.

Eat it whether you want to or not! Lots of protein....egg beaters and turkey sausage, it jump starts your metabolism. Read/search "fueling metabolism"......need protein steadily throughout the day. You should be hungry in the morning provided you didn't eat too much the day before!

No it does not jump start your metabolism. You are not a car your metabolism works 24 hours a day. Meal timing is just personal preference

Just find eating times that work for you and fit within your day activity

+1

btw OP...a lot of people will give you their theories on this. I tend to believe in different things working for each of us when it comes to mealtimes. Although I am a breakfast person, I'm not a snack person. Many people tell me "mini meals every 2 hrs is the key to weight loss" but for me that just leads to dissatisfied snacking all day and never feeling full. If I eat 3 regular meals at roughly 7, 12, and 6, I feel my best. Go with what works best for you :-)

Nutrition is an area of study that has an almost equal amount of conflicting information. A cursory Google "positive impact of breakfast" and "negative impact of breakfast" will result is numerous studies that have contradictory findings.

Even googling "is a calorie a calorie" will result in the true representation that anything that is 10 calories is the same because its an actual unit of measure. Its the same as 1 pound of lead is the same is one pound of feathers. Contrasting studies dive into the theory that humans respond differently to proteins, fats, etc.

I truly believe that you have to take a reasonable approach and then trial and error your way to success. I personally have found that eating a ultra low carb high protein breakfast is the catalyst to my wait loss. It could be psychological or chemical... it doesn't matter to me.

If you start tracking your calories here you will start to gather data in a fun way while interacting with others. You can then use that data to make decisions or ask your friends here to take a look and give their opinion. Set one goal to start.. Log everything and resist the urge to "forget to log" embarrassing items.

I hope this helps. I am certainly no expert but i'm here with you on the same journey.

Good luck
Greg

When I started on my journey to be healthier, I was like you - I wasn't hungry until 12 pm or 1pm even though I woke up at 6 am every morning. I decided to just work with this and only eat between the hours of 12 pm and 8 pm. This worked great from me, and I lost 48 pounds in 5 months. I feel like my metabolism has finally been reset or something, because within the last month - I now NEED breakfast.

Again, my practical advice is experiment, document results, listen to your body, and be willing to change it up depending on what your body needs.