Breakfast. To eat.... Or not to eat?

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  • knighthood77
    knighthood77 Posts: 47
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    Eating in the morning, especially in moderation, lights a little furnace inside of me. So I'd side with eating in the morning.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    It is extremely important to eat breakfast. After the 8 hour fast (sleeping) you body needs to know that it should not go into starvation mode. Ideally it should be your largest meal of the day with dinner being the smallest but that's not written in stone.
    100% myth. It takes 96 hours (4 days) of complete fasting before your metabolism starts to be affected. Pushing breakfast back 4 or 5 hours is not going to have any negative effect on metabolism. In fact, the opposite is true. An 18-24 hour fasting period has actually been shown to slightly boost your metabolism, by resetting various hormones (leptin and ghrelin being chief among those.)

    For the record, nobody "skips breakfast." Breakfast is your first meal of the day, it "breaks the fast." It doesn't matter when you eat it. It wasn't until the late 1700's that people started eating multiple meals a day, and that was only the very rich people, who could afford the luxury of not working all day. For everyone else, they woke up, immediately started working, then stopped for a meal around a midday, then went back to working until it was time to go to sleep. That was it, one meal a day, in about the middle of the day.

    I guess the human race was in a constant state of starvation mode for the first 2 million years of it's existence...:huh:
  • Pacileo4Evers
    Pacileo4Evers Posts: 129 Member
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    It is extremely important to eat breakfast. After the 8 hour fast (sleeping) you body needs to know that it should not go into starvation mode. Ideally it should be your largest meal of the day with dinner being the smallest but that's not written in stone.
    100% myth. It takes 96 hours (4 days) of complete fasting before your metabolism starts to be affected. Pushing breakfast back 4 or 5 hours is not going to have any negative effect on metabolism. In fact, the opposite is true. An 18-24 hour fasting period has actually been shown to slightly boost your metabolism, by resetting various hormones (leptin and ghrelin being chief among those.)

    For the record, nobody "skips breakfast." Breakfast is your first meal of the day, it "breaks the fast." It doesn't matter when you eat it. It wasn't until the late 1700's that people started eating multiple meals a day, and that was only the very rich people, who could afford the luxury of not working all day. For everyone else, they woke up, immediately started working, then stopped for a meal around a midday, then went back to working until it was time to go to sleep. That was it, one meal a day, in about the middle of the day.

    I guess the human race was in a constant state of starvation mode for the first 2 million years of it's existence...:huh:
    ^^^^ LOVE
  • rhinowithonehorn
    rhinowithonehorn Posts: 43
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    skip it
  • MizSaz
    MizSaz Posts: 445 Member
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    Thanks for posting this! I can't eat in the morning. It makes me feel sick to my stomach all morning if I eat before 10:30 or so. I've been trying to force it because people here say I have to, but the whole eating when I'm not hungry thing just doesnt seem right. It doesn't make sense to force myself to eat when my body is not hungry.

    And to everyone who is posting here that they eat 1200 cals a day - is it working for you? I was losing on 1200 cals a day, then someone from the EM2LW group scolded me for not eating enough. Now I'm trying to force more calories, but I've stalled on my weight loss. They say "you'll gain at first, but then it will all drop off." but this reminds me of the movie Mean Girls where they were feeding the girl Cal Teen bars to make her fat. (sorry to get a little off topic there).

    I've lost 31 pounds eating 1200/day, but I'm also only 5 feet tall, and I am not doing any weight training at the moment.

    Edit, for the record, I just had my "breakfast"- 2 slices of light style wheat toast with a serving of strawberry preserves, a greek yogurt, a cup and a half of grapes, and a half a cucumber- under 400 cals, and I'll be good to go until dinner! :)
  • epmck11
    epmck11 Posts: 159 Member
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    Oh my, I can't believe how many people on here are still uttering that gibberish that your body goes into starvation mode after 8 hours of sleep. It would take much longer than 8 hours to go into starvation mode! The human body is much more resilient than you give it credit for -- for thousands of years people did not know when they would get their next meal and they managed to do alright then.

    If you don't want to eat breakfast, don't eat breakfast. It doesn't matter when you eat as long as you get the same amount of calories and macronutrients in at the end of the day.

    See: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

    There's a lot of other good information out there too but I don't feel like finding it all, so that's a good start.
  • jazzedorange
    jazzedorange Posts: 184 Member
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    yea I eat at around 10:30-noon. Coffee is my breakfast. This is unless i's family breakfast morning at like IHOP. But still at that point, once we get moving and all dress, out the door and eat our food, it's still like 11:00am. Lunch is usually a small bite at 3 then dinner at like 6ish. Everyone is different. I wouldn't stress over it. Eat on your schedule.
  • EdwinaDawnHoward
    EdwinaDawnHoward Posts: 2 Member
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    Over the last few decades there have been studies showing that without the right amount of calories the body hoards them in the form of fat. Also there are studies that show what isn't burned at night is stored while sleeping.

    In my experience if me (and a number of my friends) eat late at night are not hungry in the morning. Some of us who eat in the morning will not get hungry the rest of the day and some of us do. Breakfasts that keep me from being hungry are those who have a mixture of quick carbs (sugar), medium quick carbs (starches), slow carbs (fiber), fat and protein.

    Going back to the studies, the amounts and time to eat ultimately depends on when or how many calories are going to be burned. Most of the breakfast studies are done on people who become very active after they get up.
  • EdwinaDawnHoward
    EdwinaDawnHoward Posts: 2 Member
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    Starvation mode no but it does store whatever isn't used. That is where the problem comes in for most people.
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
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    I don't like breakfast. I eat my first meal around noon-2pm, but I do drink coffee in the morning. If I eat breakfast I am starving an hour later and then all day. I don't buy the "revving up your metabolism" line either. Where are the scientific studies that provide evidence of this?!?!?

    Unless you are binge eating later in the day, it doesn't matter whether you get your calories from 7am-7pm or from 2pm-9pm or any other time frame. The concern about skipping breakfast is that many people will then overeat at lunch/dinner, and go over their calorie allotment for the day.
    This is me to the letter. I'm never hungry in the morning and if I do eat I'm pigging out all day.

    This is me too. I eat when I am hungry. Period.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    When I was heavier, I NEVER ate breakfast. I just couldn't stand the thought of eating something in the morning. The first thing I changed when I started losing weight was to eat more regularly (this had nothing to do with my metabolism - I found I ate healthier and wanted less junk food if I ate regularly). Since losing the weight, I eat breakfast every single day. I feel better and don't find myself wanting to binge eat because I didn't let myself get too hungry early in the day.


    To each their own. If you don't want to eat, don't.
  • marie_cressman
    marie_cressman Posts: 980 Member
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    This is basically what I do. I eat multiple meals throughout the day, but I generally keep all meals at about 300-400 calories. I eat breakfast, but I am hungry when I wake up in the morning. Everyone's body is different. Follow the cues your body is giving you. My husband skips breakfast every morning. He doesn't like to eat before he goes to PT (he's in the Army). I personally lack energy to do p90x in the morning if I don't have something in my stomach. Our bodies are different. He doesn't tell me what I need to do and I don't tell him what he needs to do. As you can tell, you'll find a million different opinions on the message boards. If you honestly are worried, see a nutritionist. I just started seeing one even after losing more than 100lbs on my own. I have seen her twice and will see her again in about 2 weeks. She just looks over my diary for me and tells me where I should make changes (the only thing she had me do differently was up my calories from 1600 to 1800) and I go back just so I can update her on how things are going (I was at a plateau, but since eating more I've dropped 3lbs). Best of luck to you!
  • yenoh21
    yenoh21 Posts: 3
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    I like how you have your meal schedule set up. The time I eat is pretty much the same. Think I will steal your format.

    I am not a bfast person as well, and I too believe in the idea of "break fast". I feel and lose weight better if I don't eat in the morning. I tried forcing myself to have breakfast a few times cause everyone said it is a must for weight lost and I felt horrible in the morn. I went back listening to my body and doing what's best for me, and that is eating around noon.
    Thanks for posting this! I can't eat in the morning. It makes me feel sick to my stomach all morning if I eat before 10:30 or so. I've been trying to force it because people here say I have to, but the whole eating when I'm not hungry thing just doesnt seem right. It doesn't make sense to force myself to eat when my body is not hungry.

    And to everyone who is posting here that they eat 1200 cals a day - is it working for you? I was losing on 1200 cals a day, then someone from the EM2LW group scolded me for not eating enough. Now I'm trying to force more calories, but I've stalled on my weight loss. They say "you'll gain at first, but then it will all drop off." but this reminds me of the movie Mean Girls where they were feeding the girl Cal Teen bars to make her fat. (sorry to get a little off topic there).

    I've lost 31 pounds eating 1200/day, but I'm also only 5 feet tall, and I am not doing any weight training at the moment.

    Edit, for the record, I just had my "breakfast"- 2 slices of light style wheat toast with a serving of strawberry preserves, a greek yogurt, a cup and a half of grapes, and a half a cucumber- under 400 cals, and I'll be good to go until dinner! :)
  • waldenlev
    waldenlev Posts: 102 Member
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    For the record, nobody "skips breakfast." Breakfast is your first meal of the day, it "breaks the fast."

    Thank you. Was going to point that out myself. I guess technically one can't skip dinner either, as it's the last meal if the day. Although breakfast and dinner could be the same meal. :-)
  • JessicaMurch5515
    JessicaMurch5515 Posts: 150 Member
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    I'm not crazy about eating first thing when I get up so I have a scoop of protein powder in my iced coffee with 2% milk that I drink on my way to work and then around 10:30-ish I have some toasted Ezekiel bread with peanut butter, or some Greek yogurt with fresh fruit slices.
  • HorseWithNoName27
    HorseWithNoName27 Posts: 188 Member
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    First, your body can't tell time. The calories you are tracking in MFP are the ones you are eating/burning while awake. So it doesn't (theorhetically) matter if you eat all of your calories at breakfast or at dinner, if you eat ten little snacks throughout the day, etc. The total calories matter.

    Second, by definition "breakfast" is the first meal of the day. So...unless you are fasting all day...you do eat "breakfast"...just maybe later than the colloquial definition. :smokin:

    But I know what you mean. Do I eat when I get up? No, not really, and that lack of a meal makes it hard for me to get my calories in for the day, so I'm going to be experimenting with drinking a protein shake in the morning before work. I think it'll help me get a lot of food groups (berries, spinach, almond milk, etc.) in and help me feel more full. But *you* should do what is right for you. If eating upon waking gives you energy, great, do it. If it makes you feel sick, then don't do it. :drinker:
  • InfinitePoss
    InfinitePoss Posts: 60 Member
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    For me eating breakfast is really about making sure I have the energy to function for the day and , most importantly, giving me some control, and consistency, in my eating habits.

    I know everyone operates differently, and has different levels of self control, but when I do not eat breakfast right after I work out in the morning I find myself super hungry by the time lunch comes along and then I find that I most of my day is off kilter in terms of how I eat.

    The other thing I like about eating breakfast to start my day is that if I can eat all of my other meals, whether it's just dinner and lunch, or several small meals, is that I can wrap up my eating for the day a few hours before I go to bed and I am not trying to make up calories at 10:00 at night. I do not like going to bed on a full stomach and even I like going to bed with a very small tinge of hunger.
  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
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    For years I never ate breakfast, then I went through a period of having 2 coffees and a glazed donut when I got to work and I always ignored "you have to eat breakfast you will not survive". At some point I gave in and had breakfast as I drove to work.

    Now I work at home and the "have to eat breakfast" is a dead myth, but I now enjoy it so I keep having it every day.

    It really depends on your lifestyle and what works best for you.
  • PsiChi
    PsiChi Posts: 157
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    Eat breakfast, and BREAK THAT FAST.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    doowutchyalike

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