Stop eating breakfast. Here's why.

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Replies

  • To me, you starved yourself to lose weight by skipping breakfast and lunch. Sorry bud. Can't do it!
  • ivyjbres
    ivyjbres Posts: 612 Member
    Not like anyone's going to read this so far into the game, but allow me to be the voice of reason:

    People are unique, different from each other and placed in different circumstances. So what works for one, may not/will not work for another. That does not make one right or wrong, true or false. It simply is one of the factors that makes up a persons lifestyle.

    I'm not hungry when I wake up. I'm usually not hungry for hours. And when I eat breakfast, I tend to eat more throughout the day than if I skipped breakfast. However, having found out that I am both iron deficient anemic, and either hypoglycemic or diabetic, I find that I wake up much faster if I have a carb and iron loaded breakfast. Of course then I'm hungry all day, and yes, since being diagnosed as anemic and making myself eat breakfast, I have gained weight. About 20 pounds. And that's while using MFP. I'm still looking for a balance between waking up and being productive, or sleeping extra and maintaining my weight.

    If breakfast works for you, great. If it doesn't, skip it. Do what works, and run your own race, not someone else's.
  • Have to eat breakfast... will starve
  • hbrekkaas
    hbrekkaas Posts: 268 Member
    I psychically can't give up breakfast or I feel like crap.
    If I skip breakfast I get nauseousness, light headedness, hot and cold flashes, and pretty bad headaches.

    So not worth it.

    ^^^This.

    I get up at 5am, if I don't eat by 7 I'm feeling rotten for the rest of the day.
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
    To me, you starved yourself to lose weight by skipping breakfast and lunch. Sorry bud. Can't do it!

    Sorry but you're wrong. How is it starving if you just move those cals to later in the day? I get my 1200 in whether I split it up into 3 meals from breakfast - dinner or if I start at 6 and finish at bedtime.
  • shorty458
    shorty458 Posts: 163 Member
    I disagree. Once I started eating more often, I have lost weight. Besides, MFP says I need to eat 1200 calories. There is no way I am eating 1200 in one sitting. To eat 1200 in one sitting, it would have to be foods that are loaded in calories. Even my trainer says to eat 5 little meals a day!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    When I was in competition, I actually ate a lot more food than I would ever eat now. I would actually eat almost every 2 hours from the minute I woke up until I went to bed. I trained 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night. I lost a lot of weight doing that and of course, I did a lot of cardio. Needless to say, I would drop from 265lbs to 220 in a 15 week period and step on stage with 2% body fat! For those of you that have lost a lot of weight, try putting Preparation-H around your mid-section for about 8 weeks and you will be amazed at how your skin tightens up.

    Take care..................... jojo
    I did the same. Except the Preparation H. But I only competed in Amateur local contests, and the lowest I ever got was 8% body fat as a natural. Of course I know much more now, but competition hasn't been in my plans for a long time. Now I just look good, just to look good.
  • When I was in competition, I actually ate a lot more food than I would ever eat now. I would actually eat almost every 2 hours from the minute I woke up until I went to bed. I trained 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night. I lost a lot of weight doing that and of course, I did a lot of cardio. Needless to say, I would drop from 265lbs to 220 in a 15 week period and step on stage with 2% body fat! For those of you that have lost a lot of weight, try putting Preparation-H around your mid-section for about 8 weeks and you will be amazed at how your skin tightens up.

    Take care..................... jojo
    I did the same. Except the Preparation H. But I only competed in Amateur local contests, and the lowest I ever got was 8% body fat as a natural. Of course I know much more now, but competition hasn't been in my plans for a long time. Now I just look good, just to look good.

    Well, I took steroids which helped the "the look" as i am sure you guessed. But that was a long time ago! You must have looked awesome at 8%!
  • I am gonna be sarcastic for a minute... lol If we stop eating breakfast and lunch then heck with it lets stop eating dinner too. Guarantee we will lose weight!!!! Along with our lives, but hey! LMAOOOOOO
  • joseph9
    joseph9 Posts: 328 Member
    To me, you starved yourself to lose weight by skipping breakfast and lunch. Sorry bud. Can't do it!

    It really depends what works for you. If eating breakfast and lunch helps you stay on program, go for it.

    Personally, I'm not an IF-er, but for social reasons, I end up eating well over 50% of my calories during or after dinner. Yesterday, I had a total of 670 calories for breakfast, lunch, and mid-afternoon snack, and 1230 calories at dinner.

    Currently, I'm rarely hungry and I always have lots of energy, but if I noticed my energy levels dropping or had trouble getting intensity in my morning workouts, I would mix things up. Within healthy limits, whatever works, works.
  • TateFTW
    TateFTW Posts: 658 Member
    I disagree. Once I started eating more often, I have lost weight. Besides, MFP says I need to eat 1200 calories. There is no way I am eating 1200 in one sitting. To eat 1200 in one sitting, it would have to be foods that are loaded in calories. Even my trainer says to eat 5 little meals a day!

    Once again, I'm not really sure where people are getting the idea that we're talking about eating all yoour food in one sitting. First and foremost, the article just suggests moving breakfast back a couple hours. That's it. Secondly, even when I'm doing IF I eat throughout the day, starting around 3 in the afternoon. I hardly ever eat more than 500 calories in one sitting.
  • ivikatasha
    ivikatasha Posts: 192 Member
    I eat breakfast because it stops me from going a little crazy and eating terrible and large amounts of food later. Plus it makes me feel better.

    When I used to weigh like 230 I NEVER ate breakfast. I started eating breakfast and it helped me lose weight.

    It is going to be different for everyone, whatever works!
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    I eat breakfast because it stops me from going a little crazy and eating terrible and large amounts of food later. Plus it makes me feel better.

    When I used to weigh like 230 I NEVER ate breakfast. I started eating breakfast and it helped me lose weight.

    It is going to be different for everyone, whatever works!

    But this is the point. It wasn't breakfast boosting your metabolism, waking it up, burning more calories. It was, no offense, you not being able to control your cravings later on.

    There's a big difference between it having a huge biological effect, and your own personal cravings.
  • ivikatasha
    ivikatasha Posts: 192 Member
    I eat breakfast because it stops me from going a little crazy and eating terrible and large amounts of food later. Plus it makes me feel better.

    When I used to weigh like 230 I NEVER ate breakfast. I started eating breakfast and it helped me lose weight.

    It is going to be different for everyone, whatever works!

    But this is the point. It wasn't breakfast boosting your metabolism, waking it up, burning more calories. It was, no offense, you not being able to control your cravings later on.

    There's a big difference between it having a huge biological effect, and your own personal cravings.

    It wasn't just that. I used to go to Curves. If it didn't eat breakfast, I would have a lot less energy and my workout would suffer and I burned less calories. Eating breakfast gave me the energy to burn more. I still ate the same amount of calories a day whether or not I had breakfast. It made a difference in my workouts.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    I eat breakfast because it stops me from going a little crazy and eating terrible and large amounts of food later. Plus it makes me feel better.

    When I used to weigh like 230 I NEVER ate breakfast. I started eating breakfast and it helped me lose weight.

    It is going to be different for everyone, whatever works!

    But this is the point. It wasn't breakfast boosting your metabolism, waking it up, burning more calories. It was, no offense, you not being able to control your cravings later on.

    There's a big difference between it having a huge biological effect, and your own personal cravings.

    It wasn't just that. I used to go to Curves. If it didn't eat breakfast, I would have a lot less energy and my workout would suffer and I burned less calories. Eating breakfast gave me the energy to burn more. I still ate the same amount of calories a day whether or not I had breakfast. It made a difference in my workouts.

    I'm not denying that! But eating the breakfast didnt boost your metabolism. It simply gave you more energy so you felt you could burn more during exercise. And that's a great valid reason why people should try eating breakfast. That however isnt the issue here. The issue is so many people think that eating breakfast really helps them lose weight purely from a metabolism viewpoint! The weight you lost was due to the calorie deficit, which in your case was done by the exercise. I just find eating breakfast is simply extra calories to burn, and calories i would rather have when i really want them, later on. :)

    Personally i find i feel a lot better and more active if i dont have breakfast. But i wouldn't say that it makes a difference to my metabolism. Just me personally :)
  • ivikatasha
    ivikatasha Posts: 192 Member
    I eat breakfast because it stops me from going a little crazy and eating terrible and large amounts of food later. Plus it makes me feel better.

    When I used to weigh like 230 I NEVER ate breakfast. I started eating breakfast and it helped me lose weight.

    It is going to be different for everyone, whatever works!

    But this is the point. It wasn't breakfast boosting your metabolism, waking it up, burning more calories. It was, no offense, you not being able to control your cravings later on.

    There's a big difference between it having a huge biological effect, and your own personal cravings.

    It wasn't just that. I used to go to Curves. If it didn't eat breakfast, I would have a lot less energy and my workout would suffer and I burned less calories. Eating breakfast gave me the energy to burn more. I still ate the same amount of calories a day whether or not I had breakfast. It made a difference in my workouts.

    I'm not denying that! But eating the breakfast didnt boost your metabolism. It simply gave you more energy so you felt you could burn more during exercise. And that's a great valid reason why people should try eating breakfast. That however isnt the issue here. The issue is so many people think that eating breakfast really helps them lose weight purely from a metabolism viewpoint! The weight you lost was due to the calorie deficit, which in your case was done by the exercise. I just find eating breakfast is simply extra calories to burn, and calories i would rather have when i really want them, later on. :)

    Personally i find i feel a lot better and more active if i dont have breakfast. But i wouldn't say that it makes a difference to my metabolism. Just me personally :)

    O.o I didn't actually say it boosted my metabolism. I was just saying how eating breakfast worked for me. How it helped me in different ways. And whatever works for a person is great.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    I eat breakfast because it stops me from going a little crazy and eating terrible and large amounts of food later. Plus it makes me feel better.

    When I used to weigh like 230 I NEVER ate breakfast. I started eating breakfast and it helped me lose weight.

    It is going to be different for everyone, whatever works!

    But this is the point. It wasn't breakfast boosting your metabolism, waking it up, burning more calories. It was, no offense, you not being able to control your cravings later on.

    There's a big difference between it having a huge biological effect, and your own personal cravings.

    It wasn't just that. I used to go to Curves. If it didn't eat breakfast, I would have a lot less energy and my workout would suffer and I burned less calories. Eating breakfast gave me the energy to burn more. I still ate the same amount of calories a day whether or not I had breakfast. It made a difference in my workouts.

    I'm not denying that! But eating the breakfast didnt boost your metabolism. It simply gave you more energy so you felt you could burn more during exercise. And that's a great valid reason why people should try eating breakfast. That however isnt the issue here. The issue is so many people think that eating breakfast really helps them lose weight purely from a metabolism viewpoint! The weight you lost was due to the calorie deficit, which in your case was done by the exercise. I just find eating breakfast is simply extra calories to burn, and calories i would rather have when i really want them, later on. :)

    Personally i find i feel a lot better and more active if i dont have breakfast. But i wouldn't say that it makes a difference to my metabolism. Just me personally :)

    O.o I didn't actually say it boosted my metabolism. I was just saying how eating breakfast worked for me. How it helped me in different ways. And whatever works for a person is great.

    Yeah, sorry, i sort of ...drifted back to a lot of posters in this epic thread! :flowerforyou:
  • I stumbled on this thread by googling "started skipping breakfast" and "lost weight" (with quotes). So guess what: I fall on the side of skipping breakfast and losing weight.

    Here's how it happened:

    1. Don't like breakfast.
    I never liked breakfast in the early morning before a stressful day (and I consider any day where I'm not 100% free to do exactly as I please to be stressful, which means for most my life, weekdays have been stressful, weekends, not so much). My poor mom, bless her heart, tried everything to get me to eat before school, from breakfast junk food (there used to these really horrifying Carnation breakfast bars that tasted like wax poured over sugary rat food with chocolate chips for added barfiness) to canned fruit cocktail to healthy real fruit to yogurt. Yech. (And when I do feel like eating I love yogurt and fresh fruit, but not when forced.) However, later, as an adult who did end up putting on too much weight, taking it off, putting it on again, taking it off again, etc. I bought into the zombie-like chant of the masses: YOU MUST EAT BREAKFAST TO LOSE WEIGHT. Although I sometimes had my doubts, I trudged on, insisting on breakfast, even if I didn't like it and even if eating it seemed to trigger me to eat much, much more than when I didn't (or feel super hungry if I didn't give into the cravings that happened after breakfast and lasted all day) which leads me to...

    2. Eating breakfast makes me hungrier over the course of the day
    Eating breakfast just revs my hunger up to want more. Some people say, "That's your metabolism kicking in. Yay!" But is hunger the same as metabolism? I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but I believe there is a difference.

    3. Should we follow study results as lemmings might follow each other off cliffs?
    If "studies" show that the majority of a sample benefited from eating breakfast and lost weight, then maybe I'm in the minority of people who do not. After all, a majority begins at 51% in round numbers and maybe I'm in the 49% who do better without breakfast. Even if it shows 99% do better with breakfast, maybe I'm in that weird 1% for whom it doesn't work. Humans are incredibly varied and we have to take our own best judgment into consideration sometimes, rather than blindly following what everybody says.

    4. I feel better
    Now that I've stopped breakfasting for the past few weeks, I actually feel better physically and mentally than I did as a reluctant breakfaster. My head is clearer, I'm not hungry all day, I feel like I can move better and with more agility than before, and on and on.

    5. The advice is contradictory
    Here's one conundrum that always confused me:
    A. Only eat when you're actually hungry.
    B. Always eat breakfast.
    So what if I'm not hungry for breakfast? Where does that leave me?


    6. It works for me
    I've already lost weight. Add feeling better to losing weight and so far it's a win. I eat a small lunch each day, by the way, and by then I'm ready. I have an appetite, but not a humonguos one like I would if I'd had breakfast, and I can be content with a small, reasonable lunch. Then healthy snacks and a good, satisfying dinner (not too late in the evening, of course). So far: lovin' it. Wish I had listened to my body all those years instead of corporate cereal commercials!

    Now, if there are people who do well for themselves by eating breakfast, then that's really wonderful. I just wish they wouldn't insist that *I* have to do it. It's annoying. It's like they're trying to convert me to their religion. I'm just not going to do it, no matter how much they insist that I must.
  • u can eat 3 times a day... or once at 3 pm... eat the same calories, but spread them out so u arnt starving your *kitten* off all day with headache and no energy! your crazy!
  • Naomi_84
    Naomi_84 Posts: 197 Member
    Not eating until 3 may work for you but I don't believe it's good for you. And no good nutritionist or Dr. would give you this advise. You will lose weight as you'll be putting your body into ketosis but by far the best way based on evidence is eating regularly; 3 meals with snacks or 6 small meals to keep your metabolism going and to give you energy.

    I'm glad you're succeeding with your fitness and weight loss but I'm gonna carry on the way I am :)
  • hockey7fan
    hockey7fan Posts: 281 Member
    The only issue I have with the article posted is that the author makes the point that the breakfast he's talking about is 30 grams or more of carbs. My breakfast typically doesn't have carbs or if it does, I keep it to under 10 grams. Heck, I rarely eat 30 grams of carbs in a day.

    I would have a big issue with eating 30 grams of carbs for breakfast for me.
  • I disagree, if I dont eat breakfast then I tend to eat way more during the day, and they usually are not good options Im eating.

    I do the smae thing. I try to make sure I eat a big breakfast loaded with healthy carbs, fruit and protein. I don't always, but I've noticed the days I do, I tend to eat less for the rest of the day.
  • SoCalWoman
    SoCalWoman Posts: 2,384 Member
    I don't eat breakfast regularly. Days where I force myself to eat it I tend to over eat the rest of the day.

    ^^THIS^^ I have learned to eat when I'm HUNGRY! Forcing myself to eat breakfast when I don't wake up hungry has really messed me up over the years.
    If it works for some, fine. But it doesn't for me.
  • Skipping breakfast = face plant into my computer keyboard by 8:00 A.M.

    No thanks.
  • I agree. I'm not hungry in the morning, nor am I hungry every two hours. I stopped buying into the notion that I need to force feed my body and started to lose weight. My body is smart enough to figure out when I need energy
  • stephabef
    stephabef Posts: 936 Member
    But I'm HUNGRY in the morning. I've fasted all night and my body is all "hey, I need some nutrients in my body so you can do things like live and work and play"
  • It's an interesting article and as with all articles that are published online nowadays there will be another version of it that contradicts all the research. I'm certainly no guru, but I'd say that if it works for you, then great - it may not work for others, as we know we are all built differently.

    Personally I've skipped breakfast a few times without realising and then late morning felt hungry, so I ate and actually grazed throughout a day, versus sticking to normal meals - it is rare that I do it. I've had breakfast ever since I was a kid and I look forward to it, but as I said, if it works for you and others, then great.

    There's hundred of other ideas out there, such as drink warm lemon juice before you eat anything or only have coffee in the morning or make sure you eat an apple before you eat anything at all - as the old saying goes "horses for courses", but appreciate you posting this - it is an interesting read.
  • katz22
    katz22 Posts: 116 Member
    My thoughts.
    a) The time of day you eat won't make you lose/gain weight. It's the net calories which does that
    b) The planets won't go out of alignment if you eat your first meal later in the day and don't have what's considered a breakfast
  • iuew
    iuew Posts: 624 Member
    i prefer to have breakfast. i would be useless at work if i were starving to death.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Naomi_84: what if you eat your 3 - 6 meals a day starting from 3pm & fit your macro/calorie goals?

    hockey7fan: no need to be scared of the carbs :smile:
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