Eating Breakfast

seabs88 wrote: »

I'm curious - I've heard that you should eat breakfast in order to lose weight and I've also heard about intermittent fasting. I personally do not like to eat breakfast. Does anyone have an opinion or personal experience on whether eating breakfast is a good idea for weight loss? TIA

It doesn't matter. It's whatever is the most convenient for each person as fatloss comes down to a consistent calorie deficit over time. For many, IF causes them to consume fewer overall calories.

Anecdotally, I eat something at 10, something light at around 1 and a light dinner at 6 with a glass of wine. That works out to about 1,700 a day which is my sweet spot for a pound a week of fatloss.

I fell into an intermittent fasting eating schedule just because I have to be at work by 7, and I just can't eat that early, and then my next opportunity to eat isn't until 12:15 at lunch. I finish dinner by 8 so I can go to bed. That makes a 16 hour fasting window. I just don't ever eat breakfast except on the rare occasion. So yes, it can work, and no, you don't need breakfast.

I eat breakfast when I am pregnant or nursing, but I have found that when I am not, I really don't miss breakfast if I wait to eat until later (I do still drink coffee with half and half in the mornings - that's not "pure" enough for some people, but total is under 50 calories).

I do find that I prefer a larger lunch or dinner; it is difficult to eat less then for whatever reason, even when eating breakfast, and I have to very carefully manage my calories then. Skipping breakfast and eating a larger lunch and dinner just seems to fit my inclinations for how I'd like to eat and I don't struggle as much to stay within my targets. I'm not a natural snacker or grazer either. I'm not an IF "believer" per se, but I think IF has a higher likelihood of success for people inclined like me, just because it fits our habits rather than trying to make us eat less more frequently.

Breakfast: Matcha latte tea/and little scrambled eggs with cheese and spinach.

There are days when I feel a little full, and I'll make matcha latte tea. And that's when my stomach growls a ton by 10:30-11 a.m.

I'm not saying breakfast is a pain to make, but it is. I'll try to slip a little protein in.

stevebozz0804 wrote: »

I skip breakfast every day. Eating makes me insanely hungry. I’m not usually hungry in the morning. But if I eat, it will make me (again - INSANELY) hungry. When I eat, I just get hungrier and never get full. So I never eat breakfast. It would ruin my day!

Sounds like me until I stopped eating anything high in carbs in the morning. An hour or two after eating I'd get almost unfunctionable with what I thought was hunger. I think it was carb cravings from blood sugar drop (likely caused by insulin resistance). Hunger and carb cravings feel very much alike except the cravings are much, much (even insanely) stronger!

I changed to eating low carb breakfast because skipping breakfast tended to make me overeat for lunch, which then made me lethargic for most of the afternoon. I'd still feel hungrier after eating lunch than before I ate.

CICO is the key, but there are a ton of different ways to do it.

I used to skip breakfast and sometimes lunch because I was working. I wasn't doing IF, I just wasn't planning well. All it did for me was make me binge in the evenings.

Now I've found that a small protein bar on the way to work or at work, does a good job for me. Of course I'm the opposite of IF now, I eat small meals (100-150cals) every 3 hours or so and then a healthy larger dinner. For me the small snacks keep me from binging during the evenings. Planning to have healthy options available was a game changer for me.

I have been following a 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule for three years. Like others said, CICO is the most important thing. I lost 100bs in two years and have been maintaining for over a year. Tracking calories and exercising are key, but IF is a great tool for me personally. I find it easier to manage hunger and track calories. That said, I love Sunday breakfast so I don't follow IF on Sundays.

The only way in which timing of when you eat may affect your weight loss is how the timing of when you eat keeps you full/affects you overeating.

Example: there is nothing inherent about eating breakfast that will help you lose weight. However; it can be correlated with eating less during the rest of the day. So, for example, it just so happens to be a common pattern that a person may skip breakfast and by later afternoon be ravenous and overeat.

Intermittent fasting is the same - it's not magic that makes you lose weight. It's just that people find a good groove where they eat their needed calories during a certain time and are not hungry the rest of the time.

You can eat 5 small meals a day, 3 meals a day, or one meal a day as long as you are getting the appropriate amount of calories and nutrition. Doesn't matter.


I personally don't eat breakfast on work days. I like to sleep as late as possible lol. I usually might have some sort of snack that I keep in my office (snack bars, protein bar, or I keep dried meat like sausages or jerkey, or nuts or something)....Or I might grab a couple hard boiled eggs or something.

I will then usually eat lunch and dinner....both larger caloric meals.

On weekends I also tend to only eat 2 meals --- a late breakfast (large caloric meal) and a later lunch (maybe ~2-3pm).....then maybe a snack after that --- all depending on my activity planned for the day.

I think in terms of overall weight loss, if you’re in a calorie deficit you're going to make progress with weight loss. What matters is if your eating schedule is going to be sustainable long term and leave you feeling good.

For a really long time I almost never ate anything substantial for breakfast, because I never feel that hungry in the morning either. I'd just have coffee. And then every night I'd be absolutely ravenous after dinner, and overeat off plan. I could never figure out what was going on

I've been doing much better overall when I eat some breakfast with an emphasis on protein and a little fat. Mostly eggs and cottage cheese.

So the best diet (intermittent fasting, keto, CICO, IIFYM etc) is statically.....Drum roll.....the one that you like the best. This has been proven in science journals time and time again. It is as simple as it if don't find it too hideous then you are more likely to stick to it and a diet stuck to is going to provide better results than one, that may be better on paper but you have given up after a week because it sucks!!

SOOO whether you eat breakfast or not is really down to whether you like eating breakfast and whether you feel better with it or not. If you are on MFP you are probably counting calories...so experiment. Keep in your kcal deficit and for one week have breakfast and see how you feel. One week don't and see how you feel. Then just do what makes you feel better.

Prior to weight loss journey I often skipped breakfast and only had coffee. I had energy so I didn’t think anything of it. But now that I switched to a rather regimented plan (Atkins 20) I have breakfast, lunch, and dinner and two planned snacks. I don’t think evening or morning calories are magical but I do notice that this approach requires me to plan ahead and overall be more mindful about what, where, when, and even how I eat. Now a morning breakfast that’s a bit more than grab and go feels like a nice way to start my day—a little pampering if you will.

Try it and see if it makes a difference for you. The longer I’m on this journey the more I realize that everyone’s path is different. It’s about figuring out what works for you.