breakfast and metabolism

Options
I've read lots of places that it's important to eat breakfast to get one's metabolism up for the day. Today I read in Weight Watchers that recent studies have found no difference in weight over a period of a few months in groups either eating or skipping breakfast. Perhaps this indicates that any bump-up in metabolism from eating early is not great.
«13

Replies

  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    Options
    I eat breakfast when I'm hungry. Usually it's already lunchtime tho. :laugh: The important part is making sure to end your day at a deficit to lose weight. What time you eat doesn't affect weight loss. :flowerforyou:
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    edited December 2014
    Options
    Some people say skipping breakfast helps them eat less overall for the day. Once they start eating, it's like Game On and they keep going. So, they skip it.

    Some say that without breakfast, they get too hungry and tend to overeat later, to make up for what they missed. So they eat something for breakfast.

    One person is very anti-breakfast, to a point I cannot even understand. I've never known anyone IRL (or online) like that before or since that guy. He really had a thing about it, lol.

    I don't eat for 3-4 hours after I get up. If I could, I would. But I can't work it out, so I don't. :)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Options
    The " you must eat breakfast " spiel was funded by the big cereal companies, particularly Kellogs. ...
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    Options
    I think it's important for kids to have breakfast, especially during the school year.

    For adults, I think everyone should do whatever works for them.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    Options
    Meal timing has no bearing on weight loss. Some people have to eat in the morning (I'm one of them, or else I snack throughout the day), some wait until 1 or 2.

    *waits for Steve*
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    Options
    The " you must eat breakfast " spiel was funded by the big cereal companies, particularly Kellogs. ...

    Kelloggs must seriously love me cuz I'll eat cereal any time of day, several times a week. :mrgreen:
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Options
    The " you must eat breakfast " spiel was funded by the big cereal companies, particularly Kellogs. ...

    Kelloggs must seriously love me cuz I'll eat cereal any time of day, several times a week. :mrgreen:

    Haha same same. Breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could!!

    Also, agree with the above re: children needing breakfast. If I skipped breakfast before school when I was a kid, I felt nauseous until I ate something. No probs skipping breakfast now.
  • keziak1
    keziak1 Posts: 204 Member
    Options
    I'm sort of the opposite - usually if I eat breakfast I feel faintly nauseated for an hour or so after. I seem to do better on am empty stomach until lunch. It's possible my habit of night eating comes from not eating much early in the day, but I think really it's just habit/boredom eating.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Options
    My children have always refused breakfast ...they simply don't want it when they first get up but eat a couple of hours later at the weekends ..they balance out their calories over the day and are healthy and fit so I've stopped buying into the "children must have breakfast " rule as it depends on the child
  • Juvenica
    Juvenica Posts: 460 Member
    Options
    mee too, never hungry when I wake up, just coffee , get hungry around noon
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,269 Member
    Options
    The simple thought of food first thing in the mornings has always made me nauseated. So I skip breakfast.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    Options
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    My children have always refused breakfast ...they simply don't want it when they first get up but eat a couple of hours later at the weekends ..they balance out their calories over the day and are healthy and fit so I've stopped buying into the "children must have breakfast " rule as it depends on the child
    My son didn't always want breakfast. He didn't have the option of refusing, but he often squawked about not needing it. I still made him eat it because I think it is important. I can totally see other people saying, "Fine, don't eat, then." I don't think it makes them better or worse than I was, just different.

    Not all parents think the same things are important. I hope I didn't give anyone the impression that I think parents who let their children skip breakfast are bad parents.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    Options
    Eating in a caloric deficit is what's important for weight loss. I often don't bother eating until 10-11 (wake up at 3:30). I find if I eat earlier, I'm hungrier throughout the day. Do what works for you.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,518 Member
    Options
    Kalikel wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    My children have always refused breakfast ...they simply don't want it when they first get up but eat a couple of hours later at the weekends ..they balance out their calories over the day and are healthy and fit so I've stopped buying into the "children must have breakfast " rule as it depends on the child
    My son didn't always want breakfast. He didn't have the option of refusing, but he often squawked about not needing it. I still made him eat it because I think it is important. I can totally see other people saying, "Fine, don't eat, then." I don't think it makes them better or worse than I was, just different.

    Not all parents think the same things are important. I hope I didn't give anyone the impression that I think parents who let their children skip breakfast are bad parents.

    My elementary aged children, I like to eat something: cereal, oatmeal, frozen waffles, toast and pb, yogurt, hardboiled egg, fruit, whatever. It's a long time for growing kids between 6:15am and lunch at school (for one of my kids, it's as late as 12:25pm). My high school aged kid will take something with her to eat if she elects 15 extra minutes of sleep over getting up earlier to have "breakfast".

    For me, most of the time I don't eat until after 11am.

  • stephanieluvspb
    stephanieluvspb Posts: 997 Member
    Options
    I am not a morning person as it is, the thought of eating before 10 am! Yuck
  • LazyCatPame
    LazyCatPame Posts: 112 Member
    Options
    When I went to school and woke up at 6-ish, I simply wasn't able to stomach breakfast... I could barely swallow a cup of tea, so I went to school on an empty stomach and had a sandwich or something during the first break (two hours after getting into the hell-hole lol). I just did that my whole teenager life and it didn't make any difference on my weigh.

    Now that I don't have to wake up that early and I took a year off to get my head straight I made myself start having some sort of routine, which includes having breakfast, but it took me like half a year to make myself stomach it, now I eat it normally, but it still makes no difference on me weigh.
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    Options
    I do better when I don't eat breakfast, appetite-wise. Fewer, larger meals work for me.

    Either way, if I eat at a total daily deficit I lose.
  • drabbits3
    drabbits3 Posts: 140 Member
    Options
    Breakfast is a must for me BUT I understand that when you eat has nothing to do with weight loss or maintenance. I get a headache if I don't eat breakfast and I definitely make terrible snacking choices if I'm hungry from eating a poor breakfast. So for me, a decent healthy breakfast is key to a reasonable eating day all around. I teach, so I cannot snack "at my desk", which means no eating from 7am until 11am, which is my lunch break. In fact, I do TERRIBLY on breaks, like this two weeks off--nightmare--I sell late, can't figure out when or what to eat, it's a nightmare!!!! SO much better with a normal work schedule!!!
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
    Options
    Kalikel wrote: »
    I think it's important for kids to have breakfast, especially during the school year.

    For adults, I think everyone should do whatever works for them.

    Agree...

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Options
    Kalikel wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    My children have always refused breakfast ...they simply don't want it when they first get up but eat a couple of hours later at the weekends ..they balance out their calories over the day and are healthy and fit so I've stopped buying into the "children must have breakfast " rule as it depends on the child
    My son didn't always want breakfast. He didn't have the option of refusing, but he often squawked about not needing it. I still made him eat it because I think it is important. I can totally see other people saying, "Fine, don't eat, then." I don't think it makes them better or worse than I was, just different.

    Not all parents think the same things are important. I hope I didn't give anyone the impression that I think parents who let their children skip breakfast are bad parents.

    Actually you did a little, but it's ok ..it's a common refrain amongst parents ...but as healthy eaters we don't buy into it for ourselves so why do so for our children? It really does depend on the child although I would admit it takes a whole lot to swallow down my maternal reaction that "you must eat breakfast"

    To be honest this attitude has been hard-won... my 13 year old vomits easily and he always has done and I have learned never to force him to eat when he doesn't want to because it strips him of control, is detrimental to his well being and just not conducive to his overall health. He does carry mixed nuts and berries and glucose sweets as he can have mild hypoglycaemic reactions as a result of his excess vomiting...so I'm particularly attuned to the need to balance his intake. I put extra money on his lunch account at school and try to encourage him to go the breakfast cafe when he reaches school after his 3 mile bike ride ...yes he cycles on an empty stomach .. Checking his records, he eats breakfast an hour after getting up once or twice a week