breakfast-to eat or not to eat

felice03
felice03 Posts: 2,644 Member
edited September 26 in Food and Nutrition
I usually bring my breakfast to work with me but forgot it today. I have checked out the vending machine and the best option there is pop tarts (as compared to chips, candy bars, etc). So do I go ahead and eat that or wait it out until lunch? which is the lesser of the two evils?

Replies

  • cathcakey
    cathcakey Posts: 288 Member
    I'd say eat - it's important to keep your body fuelled and not to starve it. Even if this once it's not the best choice in the world
  • vsyates
    vsyates Posts: 373 Member
    If you are like me, I'd choose to wait it out until lunch. One tasty bite of those pop tarts and I'd be done! Just keep drinking water (flavored with Crystal Light if you have any) and try not to think about it. You CAN do it :smile:
  • Runner_mick
    Runner_mick Posts: 115 Member
    Yeah not eating at all will cause your metabolism to slow way down for the rest of the day. I would go for maybe a bag of baked potato chips or something like that. Your body need fuel first thing in the am to wake up that metabolism and get you going
  • jrusso28
    jrusso28 Posts: 249 Member
    Eat the Pop Tart (Only 1) and it will only cost you ~200 calories.
    Give away or throw out the second.

    Drink plenty of water between now and lunch and it should tide you over.
  • Patricedn
    Patricedn Posts: 11 Member
    I say eat at least one of them, they still come in 2 right?? You don't want your body to go into "starvation" mode and not burn any food. So eat one and drink lots of water.
  • christy_frank
    christy_frank Posts: 680 Member
    Eat it. Better than nothing. You have to keep your metabolism up.
  • Beebs33
    Beebs33 Posts: 262
    Always eat breakfast. Eat one pop tart and give the other one away. Never skip breakfast...that's when your metabolism starts.
  • EricInArlington
    EricInArlington Posts: 531 Member
    wait, sweets will only make you more hungry latter. I would bring a apple and keep it at your work place and just switch it out every few days to keep it fresh, just in case of time like today. I just have fruit for breakfast so it makes it easy for me
  • 4theking
    4theking Posts: 1,196 Member
    Don't eat, don't eat, don't eat. I haven't eaten since 6pm last night and my metabolism is not slowing down lol
    Skip breakfast everyday if you like.
  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
    People will tell you all kinds of things about eating breakfast, but much of it is not factual. If you're hungry, eat a little bit, but if not, wait until lunch. Trust me, either way, it won't make or break your "diet". There are some actual studies done that contradict the popular belief that we need a big breakfast to jump start our metabolism every day.
  • amuhlou
    amuhlou Posts: 693 Member
    I would say skip it and have a larger lunch.

    That breakfast "revs up your metabolism for the day" is totally a myth! There is no direct research showing that breakfast has a correlation with more calories burned throughout the day.

    It's much more likely that people who make it a point to eat breakfast are more disciplined about their diets in the first place, so they have better weight loss results. it's not the fact that they're eating breakfast, it's the fact that they're paying more attention to what they're eating. Since you're on MFP I think you have the discipline thing down.
  • MisdemeanorM
    MisdemeanorM Posts: 3,493 Member
    one day won't make or break your diet or your metabolism. If you're starving eat it (I agree, try for just one if you can just to take the edge off.) If holding off till lunch is easy enough for you, then do that. I would never say skip breakfast regularly, but it's one day - whatever you choose won't affect anything long term.
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
    Id say eat one instead of two.
  • Dawntodusk
    Dawntodusk Posts: 262 Member
    Can't you run out and grab something somewhere else? Even a bag of nuts from a gas station would be far better. Or, maybe a pizza place that starts delivering earlier? For me, there is no way I could even think about eating a pop-tart. Yuck!
  • Naomi91
    Naomi91 Posts: 892 Member
    Yeah not eating at all will cause your metabolism to slow way down for the rest of the day. I would go for maybe a bag of baked potato chips or something like that. Your body need fuel first thing in the am to wake up that metabolism and get you going

    myth myth myth.

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

    your body does not need to eat first thing in the morning. It does nothing for your metabolism

    I would go ahead and wait until lunch :] your body will thank you for not putting processed junk into it :D
  • labgirl3
    labgirl3 Posts: 171 Member
    Pop tart full of high fructose corn syrup and 100% simple carbs, or nothing? I'd absolutely go with nothing! You aren't going into starvation mode if you don't eat for a few more hours, and your metabolism isn't going to suffer either. Just eat a little extra at lunch (don't go overboard!) to make up for it, and you'll be fine.

    There are plenty of people who skip breakfast every single day with great effect - check out http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
    4. Myth: Fasting tricks the body into "starvation mode".


    Truth


    Efficient adaptation to famine was important for survival during rough times in our evolution. Lowering metabolic rate during starvation allowed us to live longer, increasing the possibility that we might come across something to eat. Starvation literally means starvation. It doesn't mean skipping a meal not eating for 24 hours. Or not eating for three days even. The belief that meal skipping or short-term fasting causes "starvation mode" is so completely ridiculous and absurd that it makes me want to jump out the window.

    Looking at the numerous studies I've read, the earliest evidence for lowered metabolic rate in response to fasting occurred after 60 hours (-8% in resting metabolic rate). Other studies show metabolic rate is not impacted until 72-96 hours have passed (George Cahill has contributed a lot on this topic).

    Seemingly paradoxical, metabolic rate is actually increased in short-term fasting. For some concrete numbers, studies have shown an increase of 3.6% - 10% after 36-48 hours (Mansell PI, et al, and Zauner C, et al). This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline/noradrenaline) sharpens the mind and makes us want to move around. Desirable traits that encouraged us to seek for food, or for the hunter to kill his prey, increasing survival. At some point, after several days of no eating, this benefit would confer no benefit to survival and probably would have done more harm than good; instead, an adaptation that favored conservation of energy turned out to be advantageous. Thus metabolic rate is increased in short-term fasting (up to 60 hours).

    Again, I have choosen extreme examples to show how absurd the myth of "starvation mode" is - especially when you consider that the exact opposite is true in the context of how the term is thrown around
  • MisdemeanorM
    MisdemeanorM Posts: 3,493 Member
    I would say skip it and have a larger lunch.

    That breakfast "revs up your metabolism for the day" is totally a myth! There is no direct research showing that breakfast has a correlation with more calories burned throughout the day.

    It's much more likely that people who make it a point to eat breakfast are more disciplined about their diets in the first place, so they have better weight loss results. it's not the fact that they're eating breakfast, it's the fact that they're paying more attention to what they're eating. Since you're on MFP I think you have the discipline thing down.

    But, if you're referring to the study I think you may be (sorry, I can't remember what it was to cite it), it didn't disprove it either. It just showed that people who ate more for breakfast didn't burn more during the day or eat less during the day - but it was flawed in that they had no regard to WHAT they were eating for breakfast - so someone who regularly ate 1100 McDonalds breakfast was counted just the same as someone who ate a healthy calorie-full breakfast and compared directly against someone who ate no breakfast.
  • BflSaberfan
    BflSaberfan Posts: 1,272
    No peanuts in there? At least you'd be getting some protein.
  • SouthernBell86
    SouthernBell86 Posts: 275 Member
    I guess for today I'd eat it, but for the future, you should either do the apple thing, or buy a couple of those individual servings of a somewhat healthy breakfast cereal or oatmeal or something and just keep that in your office. That way if you forget again you have a decent alternative :D

    EDIT - The few times I have been forced through these types of circumstances to eat junk food it was not enjoyable and did not make me feel like giving up the diet. The junk food grossed me out and reminded me why I loved healthy food. If anything I would say that occasionally eating junk food against my preference keeps me MORE motivated. Food for thought.
  • T_William
    T_William Posts: 147 Member
    Eat, even if its just a cereal bar, I recommend changing now and then, i mainly have cheerios, or a alpen light bar, or boiled egg on toast of weekends when im not in a rush for work.
  • EricInArlington
    EricInArlington Posts: 531 Member
    I guess for today I'd eat it, but for the future, you should either do the apple thing, or buy a couple of those individual servings of a somewhat healthy breakfast cereal or oatmeal or something and just keep that in your office. That way if you forget again you have a decent alternative :D

    EDIT - The few times I have been forced through these types of circumstances to eat junk food it was not enjoyable and did not make me feel like giving up the diet. The junk food grossed me out and reminded me why I loved healthy food. If anything I would say that occasionally eating junk food against my preference keeps me MORE motivated. Food for thought.

    hell the other day I ate 2 Zinggers (300Cals) from a car dealership because they had me trapped there buying a car, so don't feel bad if you do eat them
  • Janeta58
    Janeta58 Posts: 59 Member
    I say ... wait it out until lunch. Just think of 'fasting' before surgery .... one morning won't hurt. And if you decide NOT to hit the vending machine, I bet you won't forget your lunch tomorrow :smile:
  • Dawntodusk
    Dawntodusk Posts: 262 Member
    Yeah not eating at all will cause your metabolism to slow way down for the rest of the day. I would go for maybe a bag of baked potato chips or something like that. Your body need fuel first thing in the am to wake up that metabolism and get you going

    myth myth myth.

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

    your body does not need to eat first thing in the morning. It does nothing for your metabolism

    I would go ahead and wait until lunch :] your body will thank you for not putting processed junk into it :D

    Thanks for the link!
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