Getting used to skipping breakfast

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  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,073 Member
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    What about a snack a little later in the evening to tide you over and see if that helps? I tend not to eat until around 10/11am but I will have some powdered greens with orange juice when I wake up just so I have a bit of energy for my exercise (on a weekend) or my walk to to work (during the week).
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I'm always hungry in the morning, but savory food just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore then... so instead of just eating empty carbs and still be hungry after 500 calories, I've started skipping breakfast and end up eating around 11am. It makes the rest of the day MUCH easier, but, well, I'm hungry, and I exercise in the morning so it's not really ideal...

    The question is - if you started skipping breakfast, did you stop being hungry at some point? I typically don't eat later than 7pm at night, so it's a pretty long time without food. It's easier for me to ignore hunger in the morning, but it would be easier if I'd just get used to it...

    why are the only options savoury or empty carbs?

    i have protein enriched cereal, or greek yoghurt and granola most days for breakfast, neither are high carb or savoury...
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    After a while you may find yourself less hungry when skipping breakfast, but be prepared to have some "WTF" days. I go on and off eating breakfast and it always takes 2-3 weeks of adjustment to get used to it and feel less hungry, but then a day hits when you're hungrier than normal and messes with your head "didn't I just get used to this? I was doing very well". The trick is to stay the course long enough to feel less hungry, and to be ready for some pretty odd days so you don't get taken by surprise.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    Personally I need breakfast first thing, it fuels my morning workouts - often I'm in need of a second breakfast after exercise but I try to hold off until at least 10.30.
    Do whatever works for you, if you can manage without it, it'll mean you can eat larger meals later in the day.
    Let your energy levels guide you? I know that's how I would view it.
  • CaloricCountess
    CaloricCountess Posts: 202 Member
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    Since you go so many hours, without consuming something; especially since you've ceased breakfast & exercise within the morning, how about consuming something beyond 7:00 P.M.; instead of just increasing the calories of your other meals; to timely fuel your exercise?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited September 2017
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    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    I usually wake up hungry, but can ignore the hunger until I eat. Once I eat I feel like I just want to keep eating..i make do on a couple of coffees.

    This is exactly why I'm trying to learn to skip breakfast, lol. I've been waking up much earlier for the last 8 months or so (insomnia, then I got a puppy) so when I eat too early, I just end up hungrier earlier too, and it's much harder to stick to my calories.
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    I wanted to say something along PP's comment. You can't expect to get used to something that doesn't suit you. I "fell into" 16/8; previous attempts to just reduce numbers of meals failed. And I think you need to be used to being hungry, not to skip breakfast. Have we discussed the Hunger Scale already? Or Allen Carr's "Easyweigh"? It's about being well fed, by feeding yourself regularly and reliably, thereby building the trust that you'll be fed again, anticipating a good meal, and then just allowing and tolerating and not fearing hunger. Dieting is deliberately inflicting oneself with food insecurity, and reversing that takes time and patience and awareness and kindness.

    Not really the issue for me. I can ignore morning hunger, but afternoon hunger turns me hangry.
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I'm always hungry in the morning, but savory food just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore then... so instead of just eating empty carbs and still be hungry after 500 calories, I've started skipping breakfast and end up eating around 11am. It makes the rest of the day MUCH easier, but, well, I'm hungry, and I exercise in the morning so it's not really ideal...

    The question is - if you started skipping breakfast, did you stop being hungry at some point? I typically don't eat later than 7pm at night, so it's a pretty long time without food. It's easier for me to ignore hunger in the morning, but it would be easier if I'd just get used to it...

    why are the only options savoury or empty carbs?

    i have protein enriched cereal, or greek yoghurt and granola most days for breakfast, neither are high carb or savoury...

    I guess I should have specified - I'm not in the mood for savory, but I don't feel satisfied if I don't have carbs either. So if I have Greek yogurt and granola (which have plenty of carbs, by the way), I'll probably head for the breakfast biscuits after... and will probably still be hungry by 11am too. Hence the 'I can't stop eating after I start' issue.

    I mean, I've been on MFP for 5 years and it's been way more of an issue in the last couple years (I've gained back 12 lbs or so and finding it extremely difficult to get back to a deficit).
  • Spiderpug
    Spiderpug Posts: 159 Member
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    I eat brekkie after walking the dog so 10-ish then lunch 2-3pm and dinner 7-8pm. I find I snack less this way
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,063 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I'm always hungry in the morning, but savory food just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore then... so instead of just eating empty carbs and still be hungry after 500 calories, I've started skipping breakfast and end up eating around 11am. It makes the rest of the day MUCH easier, but, well, I'm hungry, and I exercise in the morning so it's not really ideal...

    The question is - if you started skipping breakfast, did you stop being hungry at some point? I typically don't eat later than 7pm at night, so it's a pretty long time without food. It's easier for me to ignore hunger in the morning, but it would be easier if I'd just get used to it...

    I haven't eaten breakfast since I turned about 18.

    But I eat late in the day ... last snack around midnight ... so I'm not hungry until about 10:30 am.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,063 Member
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    My day ...

    No breakfast
    10:30 am snack - cheese & crackers (100 cal)
    12:30 pm snack - banana (small 100 cal ... approx.)
    2:00 pm lunch - chicken, rice, steamed veggies or occasionally LaZuppa soup, noodles and steamed veg
    3:30 pm snack - yogurt
    4:45 pm snack - apple, mandarin or some other fruit
    6 pm snack - cottage cheese, raw veggies, whole wheat crackers
    7:30 pm dinner - steamed veggies & ... whatever else my husband makes
    9:30 pm snack - yogurt
    11 pm snack - toast with nutella & honey ... sometimes without the nutella ... sometimes with cheese instead of either the nutella or honey
    12:30 am snack - McVities digestive biscuit with chocolate coating or a few cheese crackers if I still have the calories for them.


    Whether I eat large meals or not, I get ravenously hungry about 1.5 hours later. I can pack away a massive dinner, and be prowling around the kitchen 1.5 hours later. Therefore, I feel so much more comfortable if I just keep the food coming on a regular basis ... but keep everything on the small side.

    My larger "meals" are the 2 pm lunch and the 7:30 pm dinner but it is rare that either one will go over 500 cal. The rest of my snacks are usually somewhere around the 100 cal point.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    I wanted to say something along PP's comment. You can't expect to get used to something that doesn't suit you.

    Yes, this. I've been experimenting with skipping breakfast more (not this week, but off and on, trying to decide what eating pattern is preferable for me -- for me breakfast plays a role in getting enough protein/veg so I need to learn to compensate if I do two meals), and for me it's easy, but not because I got used to it but because I seem to naturally not be that hungry in the morning. For years I never ate until lunch. I enjoy eating in the morning (it's a pleasant part of a routine) and tend to if I get up early and workout, mainly, but I don't feel particularly hungry pre lunch if I don't (or if I do so long as I don't do something dumb (for me) like just eat a muffin). My hunger/want to eat danger period is more late afternoon, and there I do think it's habit (and can get out of it).

    So I think the question is whether you ARE feeling better eating in the morning or not. Have you given it enough of a try that you know it's not just a habitual desire for food? Do you feel bad not eating or just like you could eat? Stuff like that.
  • Kate_UK
    Kate_UK Posts: 1,299 Member
    edited September 2017
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    I never eat breakfast, I just can't face food in the morning, and since I've been doing 5:2 I don't even look for food before lunch time, whether I'm on a fasting day or an eating day.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I'm always hungry in the morning, but savory food just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore then... so instead of just eating empty carbs and still be hungry after 500 calories, I've started skipping breakfast and end up eating around 11am. It makes the rest of the day MUCH easier, but, well, I'm hungry, and I exercise in the morning so it's not really ideal...

    The question is - if you started skipping breakfast, did you stop being hungry at some point? I typically don't eat later than 7pm at night, so it's a pretty long time without food. It's easier for me to ignore hunger in the morning, but it would be easier if I'd just get used to it...

    Iv'e skipped breakfast for the last two years and I still get a little hungry but not much. Just drink some water and it goes away. I get a little wave of hunger after I'm dressed to go to work in the morning but a drink of water and I'm not hungry again tell 1:00pm or so (I continue to drink water). I've also done a lot of fasting tell dinner and have lost 44-lbs.
  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
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    If I don't eat breakfast, I'm not hungry until well into the afternoon (waking at 6am). I do have a cup of coffee or a caffeine pill and usually about 40oz of water in the mornings.
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
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    Have you tried finding something SWEET that isn't full of empty calories? I typically drink a LARGE coffee until about 11 am and then eat my "breakfast" which has been pretty sweet this week. I do 1/2 cup Gree Yogurt (you can go vanilla to make it sweeter!) mixed with chia seeds (I make it the night before to let the chia seeds expand). I add a banana and some frozen strawberries.

    The Greek yogurt has protein, and chia seeds are fibrous. The bananas are sweeter and carby. Frozen strawberries keep the whole thing cool at my desk until I'm ready to eat it.
  • sarahlifts
    sarahlifts Posts: 610 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Sounds like you're IF by accident

    I IF 16:8 11 am to 7 pm
    I do not like sweets in the morning. I still have breakfast just at 11 am

    IF gives me the discipline on a cut to actually cut. I can stick to my deficit with a small window to eat.

    I wake at 3:45 am. I'm in the gym by 5 am having only had coffee. I have never been an early eater even when I was obese.

    The discipline of saying NO until 11 am TO ANY food on plan or not on plan, aids in beginning the process of a disciplined diet through out the day. I sat through HOURS of NO. Now I will eat my beef and broccoli stir fry. I will stay on plan I will not break my fast and be off plan.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,986 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I usually have two cups of black coffee in the morning.

    Add some protein powder, fat, and fiber to your coffee? This is sweet, but satisfying and low cal. (The Teeccino is completely optional - I like the flavor.)

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  • S2Rose
    S2Rose Posts: 2 Member
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    I use to be ravenously hungry all the time, but learned that it was, as Lemurcat12 said, habitual hunger. Or fake hunger. I started listening to my body's signals(stomach pains/lots of noise) and my mind has kind of given up. It doesn't even try it's fake hunger crap with me anymore, haha. Sometimes I wake up and feel hungry, but most times i'm not actually hungry until around lunch time.
  • Treece68
    Treece68 Posts: 780 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I'm always hungry in the morning, but savory food just doesn't appeal to me at all anymore then... so instead of just eating empty carbs and still be hungry after 500 calories, I've started skipping breakfast and end up eating around 11am. It makes the rest of the day MUCH easier, but, well, I'm hungry, and I exercise in the morning so it's not really ideal...

    The question is - if you started skipping breakfast, did you stop being hungry at some point? I typically don't eat later than 7pm at night, so it's a pretty long time without food. It's easier for me to ignore hunger in the morning, but it would be easier if I'd just get used to it...

    What if you ate what you wanted for breakfast and only a snack during the lunch do you think that would help? You said you are hungry in the morning if you load up that may keep you satisfied until dinner.
    Worth a try.
  • OHFlamingo
    OHFlamingo Posts: 239 Member
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    I'm happy that skipping breakfast works for you! I get a terrible headache if I don't eat something within half an hour of getting out of bed, and I certainly wouldn't be able to exercise without food! My favorite snack after the gym was a hard-boiled egg. Do whatever works best for you, but there are plenty of things to eat for breakfast that aren't savory.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    Gosh, it's been so long since I gave up breakfast I'm trying to remember if I was hungry at first. I honestly can't remember, but I don't think I was but the reason I gave it up was that after I married I was eating a much larger dinner. I didn't want to give up the big dinner so I gave up breakfast instead. Eating a big meal late at night (around 8:30 - 9:00) is probably why I'm not hungry in the mornings.

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