Breakfast - a waste of calories?

For the longest time I struggled with finding something that didn't make me feel awful after eating it, but the experts say you need breakfast. So I would eat something... eggs, oatmeal, cereal, toast, yogurt, but always felt sickly after. For the last week I have actually been either skipping breakfast or having a cup of watermelon. I feel sooo much better and go into my workout with more energy. Then I have a spinach/carrot/almond milk/protein shake after my workout.

I think it's a matter of choice and doesn't matter as long as your eating enough and the right foods!

Personally I am starving when I wake up!! I could probably eat all my calories at the beginning of the day and wouldn't be bothered later on!! I usually have a big bowl of porridge in the morning with various toppings of nuts/fruits/yogurt.

Don't look at breakfast as a benefit from the value of enjoyed calories if you aren't a big breakfast fan ... instead, look at it as the start to losing/maintaining weight each and every day.

By the time you wake up and get your day finally started, your body has probably gone between 8-12 hours without anything driving its engine. Do this too often and you body starts making changes and converting food more quickly to fat stores that it can use to cover these "deficient" periods.. Your metabolism gets into a pattern of realizing that "it's on its own" with regard to providing for energy needs ... especially as you day kicks off.

I've never really been a big breakfast person, at least not since I was in junior high, and it's taken a lot for me to break that habit. Even today, I still have to consciously remind myself and push myself to do breakfast in some form as I'm usually not hungry in the morning. Couple that with having reduced calories and, like the OP, I would also try to hoard my calories for later meals. With that said, I've since become a believer in the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day even though it's my least favorite. I've often stalled out on weight loss when I don't eat breakfast and go into mini-plateaus. Once I get back on eating breakfast, the weight starts coming off again doing nothing else differently.

Breakfast doesn't have to be a big meal, but should certainly focus on proteins to jump-start your metabolism engine. Something as simple as a handful of almonds in the morning gives you 6 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and while high in fat, they are are high in the good fats, mono-/poly- and low in saturated fats ... about 1 gram of saturated in an ounce. They also come in a variety of flavors like chocolate mint, butter toffee, hickory smoked, so whether you want something sweet or savory, they've got you covered. I also make my own sausage/biscuits with Banquet turkey sausage links and Pillsbury country biscuits ... the little ones that come 10 to a can. Three biscuits and three sausage links work out to 250 calories, 12 grams of protein, and 2 grams of saturated fat. Really light starts to the day that will kick-start your metabolism without weighing you down in the morning if you aren't a big breakfast fan.

By saying you think breakfast is 'a waste of calories', it demonstrates a lack of understanding of food and why we eat it. As has been said breakfast is the most important meal of the day for several reasons.

Your body been in a state of rest all night, meaning it needs a 'kick start' to have you functioning properly. By eating breakfast, you not only fuel your body for the day, it also gets your metabolism going to start burning those calories straight away. If you try and function on an empty tank, it just starts a chain reaction off that will set back all of your attempts to lose weight.

By not eating breakfast, you are effectivey running on empty until lunch, meaning when you do eat, you will want more and in between times, your body will crave sweet or carb laden food to get you going, thus making sticking to any diet more difficult and you more prone to eating 'bad' foods and falling off the wagon. This will continue through the day as your body is always playing catch up, until you have your last meal at night, maybe even being hungry before bed, thereby making you eat late at night when your body is supposed to be shutting down for the night.

That then means your body is forced into working overtime during the night, when it is supposed to be resting and this results in poorer sleep quality and more lethargy when you do wake up, at which point you exacerbate it by not eating to get you going again, and then you start the whole cycle off again.

By eating breakfast, you not only give yourself a greater chance of losing weight, but also less risk of wanting to eat the crappy foods that set you back.

I can easily go without eating breakfast, and did for years but now I don't, I make sure I have something, however small and my sleep is better, I eat less and can get by easily, without feeling hungry, on 1200 calories a day. I am a 36 yr old male who weighs 175lbs and have lost 30lbs in 4 months with little effort or will power just by following a eat better, eat regulalrly, move more diet.

Seriously, behaving like a squirrell harevesting calories like nuts is not a healthy attitude towards food and is totally counter-productive.

I need my breakfast. If I don't, I will eat rubbish mid-morning. But if you don't, I wouldn't worry about it and eat when you're ready for it.

I'm exactly the same - if I miss breakfast I'm tempted to snack and eat all morning, so I'm trying to always eat something like porrige to keep me going and keep temptation at bay!

Breakfast jump starts your metabolism...it should be your largest caloric meal of the day. You will maximize your body's own calorie/fat burning.

i think breakfast is a way to break your fast. You are actually fasting when you are sleep. most people fast from about say 10-7 or 8 in the am.. that is a long time. I love breakfast i tend to have it within an hour of waking up. just think of it as training your body to eat every few hours.

I've never, ever been a breakfast eater. But since starting MFP, I've begun to eat breakfast. Not a ton, but I find I don't need a morning snack and it gets me to lunch. So I feel like I'm saving calories in the long run. Plus, I just feel like I honestly have more energy. But I do extremely simple breakfasts with high protein, or good fats. Greek yogurt. Avocado toast. Boiled eggs. Cottage cheese. Takes no time to make and grab. I'm a very low maintenance breakfast eater. I couldn't do it otherwise. And my body has gotten used to being appropriately hungery about an hour after I get up. So it feels like my eating is falling into a more natural rhythm. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Breakfast isn't a necessity. Health 'experts' say that it's the most important meal, and there's the whole myth about breakfast skippers being fatter, but that's simply because most people that don't eat breakfast tend to pig out and eat more throughout the rest of the day.

I dont think it's a case of tending to pig out through the day, I think it's a case of skipping meals and therefore slowing your metabolism, making it much more difficult to lose weight.

As a recovering eating disorder sufferer, it blows my mind to see people on here encourage others to fast. I'm sorry, but no-one will ever be able to tell me fasting in any way, shape or form is good for them. That will never wash with me. As Morgan said, you cant run a car with no fuel, so how can you expect to run your body with no food?

For me personally, I workout on a morning so breakfast is very important even if Im not hungry. I cant workout without something in my system, I really lag badly. BUT if you don't want to eat it, it's a personal choice and so long as your cal intake is spot on throughout the day, all well and good x

I'm not encouraging others to fast. I'm telling her that it doesn't matter if you eat breakfast or not. If it makes you feel terrible, simple; don't eat it. You have your opinion on fasting, clearly strong from your past, and that's okay. I have my opinion, backed by science I've spent hours researching.

Among my research:
"Breakfast skipping is associated with higher body weights in the population. The explanation is similar to that of lower meal frequencies and higher body weights. Breakfast skippers have dysregulated eating habits and show a higher disregard for health. People who skip breakfast are also more likely to be dieting, thus by default they are also likely to be heavier than non-dieters. Keep in mind that most people who resort to breakfast skipping are not the type that sit around and read about nutrition. They are like most people dieting in a haphazard manner. The type to go on a 800 calorie-crash diet and then rebound, gaining all the weight (and then some) back.

Sometimes, an argument is made for eating breakfast as we are more insulin sensitive in the morning. This is true; you are always more insulin sensitive after an overnight fast. Or rather, you are always the most insulin sensitive during the first meal of the day. Insulin sensitivity is increased after glycogen depletion. If you haven't eaten in 8-10 hours, liver glycogen is modestly depleted. This is what increases insulin sensitivity - not some magical time period during the morning hours. Same thing with weight training. Insulin sensitivity is increased as long as muscle glycogen stores aren't full. It doesn't disappear if you omit carbs after your workout.

Origin of the myth:

First of all, we have the large scale epidemiological studies showing an association with breakfast skipping and higher body weights in the population. One researcher from that study, commenting on the association with breakfast skipping or food choices for breakfast, said:

"These groups appear to represent people 'on the run,' eating only candy or soda, or grabbing a glass of milk or a piece of cheese. Their higher BMI would appear to
support the notion that 'dysregulated' eating patterns are associated with obesity, instead of or in addition to total energy intake per se."

Kellogg's and clueless RDs love to cite them over and over again, so people are lead to believe that breakfast has unique metabolic and health-related benefits. In reality, these studies just show breakfast eaters maintain better dietary habits overall.

Other studies frequently cited claiming that breakfast is beneficial for insulin sensitivity are all marred with methodological flaws and largely uncontrolled in design.

In one widely cited study, subjects were entrusted to eat most meals in free-living conditions. The breakfast skipping group ate more and gained weight, which affected health parameters negatively.

From the abstract: "Reported energy intake was significantly lower in the EB period (P=0.001), and resting energy expenditure did not differ significantly between the 2 periods." EB = eating breakfast. In essence, people who ate breakfast could control their energy intake better for the rest of the day. They didn't gain any weight but the breakfast skipping group did. Fat gain always affects insulin sensitivity and other health parameters negatively. Thus what people took this to mean is that breakfast is healthy and improves insulin sensitivity. Which isn't at all what the study showed."

yes people stay to start your day with breakfast. But I like to start my day with fuel.

See I say fuel, because 3 times a week I wake up at 5.30am to do exercise. But I don't really like eating on an empty stomach. So I usually have a 100 cal meal. Like almonds or what not.
Then I exercise.
Then after I exercise, I have my breakfast.

See I love breakfast, so to me, it's not a waste of calories, but it does tend to be my 'biggest meal' of the day.