I know the experts say you should eat breakfast BUT...

Jessyrabbit
Jessyrabbit Posts: 24 Member
edited October 7 in Food and Nutrition
I don't know about most people, but I have the most willpower in the morning when it comes to my eating! For years, I have been told how important breakfast is to a healthy weight and life, and I have made eating breakfast a priority within an hour of waking up. For the past month or 2 I have hit a plataue. I am 20lbs from my goal weight! I decided to try ONLY eating when I am truly hungry. I am NEVER hungry in the morning. Sometimes I can go all the way to 1pm not feeling hungry at all. I am staying hydrated, and I do eat when I am hungry. This does seem to be working.

My concern is that I am doing more harm to my body and weight loss then good? It has seemed to break my plataue. Over the past week or 2 I have dropped 3lbs I could not get to fall off before. Perhaps this is what my body needed to break my plataue. I'm just curious if anyone has had a similiar situation. Or done something similiar with good results!

Replies

  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    My concern is that I am doing more harm to my body and weight loss then good?

    When I'm losing weight I will often times not eat until evening, and I'll cram in 2200 calories in 3 hours.

    Physiologically speaking, you can skip breakfast without any ill-effects. The myth that you need to eat breakfast to "rev up your metabolism" is exactly that, myth.

    Keep doing what you are doing.
  • angieread
    angieread Posts: 36 Member
    I'm certainly no expert, but I always think it's best to listen to your body. If you're not hungry in the morning, so be it. If you're staying hydrating and eating healthy, I'm not sure it makes a difference. And if it's helping you drop the remaining pounds without making you feel deprived in any way, maybe it's what your body needed. Finally, if you're worried about NOT eating in the morning, grab a banana, apple, orange or something. That's my two cents. Way to go on your weight loss so far!!! :-)
  • rayleansout
    rayleansout Posts: 234
    Now would be the perfect time to start eating breakfst - 20 pounds away switching to eating breakfast would really get your body in fat burn mode. Try it for a week and see wht happens. Make breakfast your biggest meal, and then split calories between all other feedings. I bet you would drop weight like crazy!!
  • Jessyrabbit
    Jessyrabbit Posts: 24 Member
    Now would be the perfect time to start eating breakfst - 20 pounds away switching to eating breakfast would really get your body in fat burn mode. Try it for a week and see wht happens. Make breakfast your biggest meal, and then split calories between all other feedings. I bet you would drop weight like crazy!!

    I have been for years. The change that has caused me to lose weight is that I have started to NOT eat breaksfast.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    My concern is that I am doing more harm to my body and weight loss then good?

    Physiologically speaking, you can skip breakfast without any ill-effects. The myth that you need to eat breakfast to "rev up your metabolism" is exactly that, myth.

    Keep doing what you are doing.

    QFT.
  • DenverKos
    DenverKos Posts: 182
    My concern is that I am doing more harm to my body and weight loss then good?

    When I'm losing weight I will often times not eat until evening, and I'll cram in 2200 calories in 3 hours.

    Physiologically speaking, you can skip breakfast without any ill-effects. The myth that you need to eat breakfast to "rev up your metabolism" is exactly that, myth.

    Keep doing what you are doing.

    ^^^^this - breakfast doesnt rev up your metabolism. It's a myth. Statistically, those that eat breakfast tend to eat less throughout the day than those who dont - the thought is that those who don't eat breakfast then overeat once they do eat because they're hungry from not eating breakfast. But if you're not hungry, and you don't have any issues with insulin (no headaches or low blood sugar responses), and you're staying within your calorie ranges, eat when you want to.
  • careyharv
    careyharv Posts: 134 Member
    Whenever I need to break a plateau, I actually eat more food. I will add an extra 200 to 300 calorie meal into my day. I also make sure my workouts are working for me. After a while, your body gets used to working out if you are doing the same thing over and over again. I know for me, I have to monitor how many calories I burn in my workouts. It takes me longer to burn 500 calories when running than it used to.

    The thing I worry about is your metabolism.

    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/increase-your-metabolism-start-losing-fat
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    Now would be the perfect time to start eating breakfst - 20 pounds away switching to eating breakfast would really get your body in fat burn mode. Try it for a week and see wht happens. Make breakfast your biggest meal, and then split calories between all other feedings. I bet you would drop weight like crazy!!

    I have been for years. The change that has caused me to lose weight is that I have started to NOT eat breaksfast.

    eating breakfast or not eating breakfast is not what causes weight loss or gain.....it is the number of calories overall...not the timing of when you eat
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Whenever I need to break a plateau, I actually eat more food. I will add an extra 200 to 300 calorie meal into my day. I also make sure my workouts are working for me. After a while, your body gets used to working out if you are doing the same thing over and over again. I know for me, I have to monitor how many calories I burn in my workouts. It takes me longer to burn 500 calories when running than it used to.

    The thing I worry about is your metabolism.

    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/increase-your-metabolism-start-losing-fat

    That link is bro tastic

    This entire quoted section on meal frequency is incorrect, in fact he person quoted in that article, has since changed his tune

    http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting
    Eat often. Berardi recommends eating every 2 to 3 hours. Each time you eat, you stimulate your metabolism for a short period of time, which means that the more often you eat, the more you’ll increase your metabolism. Eating every 2 to 3 hours feeds muscle and starves fat. By eating frequently, you reassure your body that you aren’t going to starve; that food will always be available. Skipping breakfast, eating only a sandwich for lunch, and pigging out at dinner, on the other hand, frightens your body into storing fat, just in case your next meal never comes. Research from Georgia State University shows that people who eat every 2 to 3 hours have less body fat and faster metabolisms than those who eat only 2 or 3 meals per day.
  • MandaJean83
    MandaJean83 Posts: 675 Member
    I don't generally eat breakfast on my days off from work. I usually sleep until 9ish, then go straight to the gym, and have a very healthy and hearty lunch when I get home. The only days I'm actually hungry for breakfast are my work days, and that's because I'm up before 6am and at work by 7am. Otherwise, I don't crave breakfast!
  • nas24
    nas24 Posts: 880 Member
    your not hungry in the morning, most likely because your metabolism hasn't kicked in yet and the best way to do that is to eat something, even if its something small...anything. Have a yogurt...cup of coffee...One scrabbled egg. Either way your body needs it. I know I actually GAIN weight when im not eating enough. The only way that i loose weight is to eat something at least 6 times a day. Of course healthy and low in calories, but when i do that the weight just MELTS off.
  • Carri1
    Carri1 Posts: 82 Member
    The reason people don't eat breakfast is if you eat too late in the day your blood sugar is high in the morning and you won't feel like eating. The problem is it could suddenly crash at any time in the morning and make you feel just awful. Try to have at least something as soon as you can. I agree it is the total number of calories in the day and not when you eat them but you won't have that sugar crash making you eat something unhealthy. Just sayin
  • surfrgrl1
    surfrgrl1 Posts: 1,464 Member
    In my opinion, eating breakfast isn't going to arbitrarily make someone fat or cause a plateau, no more than eating at night will. It is about controlling portions, fueling the body (eating enough and not too little) and getting exercise.

    I have eaten breakfast for years, it was harder for me to do at first, and I had to start small, but I realized that it really helped me perform better mentally at work. (think about the kids programs at school, kids without breakfast don't perform as well) Breaking the fast (breakfast) is all about fueling the body after its slept and gone all those hours without fuel.
  • Zoey290
    Zoey290 Posts: 13
    For me when I eat breakfast I tend to eat more through out the day...breakfast makes me feel like I am starving all day long, so I skip it. Coffee is all I consume in the morning.
  • FitLeanMachine
    FitLeanMachine Posts: 3 Member
    Personally, I am a not inclined either to eat breakfast when I get up at 5am, but I always eat a little something because I feel it gets my metabolism going. I can actually feel my body warm up after eating. BUT, as long as you don't feel it is causing you to overeat at other meals or causing energy loss, it is probably not an issue to eat your first meal a little later in the day.
  • Stacyanne324
    Stacyanne324 Posts: 780 Member
    Breakfast is my least favorite meal (unless it's lots of bacon, cream cheese, home fries, etc which would kill my diet efforts). I like to save the bulk of my calories to enjoy at lunch and dinner but I also don't want to not eat anything (I tend to get light headed if I have nothing in my belly all morning). My compromise is that I have a breakstone cottage double every morning. Only 100 calories and it honestly keeps me full enough to get through to lunch.
  • CarlyRobbinsGilbert
    CarlyRobbinsGilbert Posts: 64
    Bump
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    your not hungry in the morning, most likely because your metabolism hasn't kicked in yet and the best way to do that is to eat something, even if its something small...anything. Have a yogurt...cup of coffee...One scrabbled egg. Either way your body needs it. I know I actually GAIN weight when im not eating enough. The only way that i loose weight is to eat something at least 6 times a day. Of course healthy and low in calories, but when i do that the weight just MELTS off.

    Have you seen a doctor, since you may be a metabolic miracle that gains weight in a caloric deficit, or it's much more likely that when you eat less frequently you tend to over eat later in the day
  • Suziq2you
    Suziq2you Posts: 396 Member
    It truly does not matter when you eat or how often. For most people, weight loss is simply calories in versus calories burned.
  • mizjohnston
    mizjohnston Posts: 196 Member
    bump
  • CarlyRobbinsGilbert
    CarlyRobbinsGilbert Posts: 64
    Whenever I need to break a plateau, I actually eat more food. I will add an extra 200 to 300 calorie meal into my day. I also make sure my workouts are working for me. After a while, your body gets used to working out if you are doing the same thing over and over again. I know for me, I have to monitor how many calories I burn in my workouts. It takes me longer to burn 500 calories when running than it used to.

    The thing I worry about is your metabolism.

    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/increase-your-metabolism-start-losing-fat

    That link is bro tastic

    This entire quoted section on meal frequency is incorrect, in fact he person quoted in that article, has since changed his tune

    http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting



    That's what I was thinking of, the intermittent fasting stuff.

    Not an expert, but I'm with you, and my partner-in-weight-loss-crime agrees on this. Whatever "boost" your metabolism could possibly get from eating in the morning, in our experience, gets cancelled out by going overboard later in the day as a result of stirring up that hunger. For us, it has been worth it only to eat breakfast if we are truly hungry, and if I am going straight to the gym, I try to eat a handful of nuts or something because I don't want to work out on 8+ hours of empty stomach. There are so many...people...on this site who will preach until they are out of breath about skipping meals and keeping your blood sugar steady, but the truth is, weight loss is different for everyone. If you feel that skipping breakfast keeps your willpower/morale up and you're seeing results, I would stick with it.
  • KathyReinhart
    KathyReinhart Posts: 8 Member
    Not eating breakfast is a habit of those who are overweight. I find if I go light on breakfast I am starving and make poor choices later. It isn't about will power its about eating smart so you never get hungry. Have something with high fiber or high protein and you'll stay full longer but what you are talking about is a starvation diet. You may lose weight at first but it isn't good for you and it will slow your metabolism in the long run.
  • careyharv
    careyharv Posts: 134 Member
    That link is bro tastic

    This entire quoted section on meal frequency is incorrect, in fact he person quoted in that article, has since changed his tune

    http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

    Thanks for the link. I understand the concept of intermittent fasting as I have several friends that do this. And this is fine every once in a while but all the time? I don't believe it is healthy.

    I find for myself that eating every 2 to 3 hours works which includes eating breakfast in the morning. I also understand that my body needs are different because I have different goals.
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