Weight Loss: Are You A Breakfast Eater or Skipper?

Hello Everyone,

After 23 years of fitness and weight loss industry experience and working with thousands of clients to help them lose weight - I can tell you that breakfast is by far one of the most important meals of the day to enable long term weight management success and just overall better performance.

Then you also have to consider the benefits of Dietary Induced Thermogenesis - the calories that are required by your body to digest and absorb the food you are eating.  Even though it might seem insignificant add that up over 7 days per week x 4 week per month x 12 months per year x how many years - it adds up!

Best Wishes

Barbara Vinciguerra, MS, NASM-PES, NESTA-FNC
Owner, Expert Fitness Health Club
Author, Ultimate Beach Body Weight Loss Program
http://www.90dayshapeup.com ( http://www.90dayshapeup.com/ )

I've never eaten breakfast, but I've always been thin. I have trouble eating a full meal right after I wake up. I'll get a muffin, bagel w cream cheese, or some yogurt with granola and eat it over the course of an hour, but if I try to sit down to a full meal before 10am, my body rebels immediately.

Your genetics have more to do with your weight/health than eating breakfast ever will. I am a research librarian and I haven't seen studies which back up these theories. Nevertheless, I think it's a bad idea to force your body to do what doesn't come naturally to it. 

When I was younger my mother forced me to finish everything on my plate. (A portion created arbitrarily to fit the plate.) Later she was trying to lose weight and her nutritionist said 'Stop thinking about cleaning your plate. When your body says you are done eating, you are done eating.'

CJ

http://halflifecrisis.com

I sometimes eat breakfast and sometimes don't but even if I eat this really hearty filling breakfast I actually tend to eat more throughout the day.  Odd?  Yeah I know 

-*soldier85*-

I do always eat breakfast, but it's always small and fast. I usually have a bowl of cold cereal, but lately I've started enjoying a cup of Greek yogurt. Since my breakfast is small, my trick is to have apples handy for a late morning snack. 

lisa from lisa is cooking

http://lisaiscooking.blogspot.com/ 

As the founder of a natural foods company that produces all natural Zoe's Granolas and Bars, I am admittedly biased towards breakfast. So instead, I will defer to a well-respected dietician, Debra Wein, who had written an article on the Benefits of Breakfast ( http://www.zoefoods.com/blog/benefits-of-breakfast... ) which has been re-posted to my blog.  http://www.zoefoods.com/blog/benefits-of-breakfast...

As for my personal experience, I know that when I'm trying to watch my weight or lose a couple of pounds, the easiest way to do it is to have a high fiber, high protein breakfast. I feel satisfied and oftentimes find that I don't get hungry until 2pm! I don't need to tell you what I eat for breakfast 5-6 days a week ;-)

Tori Stuart
Founder & President, Zoe Foods
Keep dreaming, keep believing, keep achieving

Mompreneur Musings: The Quest For Balance ( http://www.zoefoods.com/blog ) (my blog)
http://www.zoefoods.com (my company!)

I do agree with only eating when you are hungry, which is also a sensible weight-loss tip. But skipping breakfast is probably a concept where you have to deal with if you work in an office where it is probably unseeming to eat when it's not meal-time. 

I drink a glass of water when I wake and eat breakfast between 10 and 11am. I do recognise that I can do this because I work from home.

Perhaps the value of the not skipping breakfast advice is not to let your body go into starvation mode. So the both could co-mingle happily?

-

I blog at Beauty Box ( http://www.beauty-box-online.com )

But I'm really bad. I tend to get up and due to having to take a thyroid pill at least half an hour before I eat anything each morning, if I get distracted I may look up and disover I've been up for 90 minutes and still I have not eaten, sometimes it's hours. 

We've got so many rules for what to do and not to do to be healthy sometimes I wish I could stop eating altogether. Fast for life. But seems like no food makes me gain weight too. LOL.

Nordette ( http://blogher.org/blog/nordette ): BlogHer CE and NOLA Lit Examiner ( http://nola101.com ). Blogs @ WSATA ( http://bigsole.blogspot.com ) & UMBOP ( http://urbanpsalms.blogspot.com ).

OK, well, it's simple but really helps a lot....make it a point to get up earlier.  Honestly, you know yourself, if you are rushing around you'll blow breakfast off every time.  Just 15 minutes, grab that yogurt, an apple, and go.

First, find some stuff you like to eat. Second, settle on a pattern so that your chosen foodstuffs are always in your cupboards and refrigerator. I love a cup of tea, and whole grain toast. Have it every morning. I can't eat anything more than that when I first wake up. Because I know I need protein, I have yogurt and Cheerios and walnuts a couple of hours later before I leave the house.

Works for me. Although recently my Cheerios were quite dislocating. It wasn't their fault.

http://amidlifeofprivilege.blogspot.com/2009/05/di... ( http://amidlifeofprivilege.blogspot.com/2009/05/di... )

I have to eat breakfast - I wake up hungry. Breakfast is actually my favorite meal of the day. But my husband had to make himself do it when he needed to lose about 15 pounds, a couple of years ago. He started eating a small bowl of non-sugary cereal every morning, stopped drinking soda and started exercising 3 times per week. He lost the weight over the course of a year or so and has kept it off. Good luck!

----

A Mommy Blogger ( http://momgrind.com/ ) and a Blogger For Hire ( http://momgrind.com/hire-me/ )

I am the biggest grump in the morning.  Hate people.  Hate the world.  Can't stand to look at food.  Some mornings, I can't even stand the thought of coffee, no matter how desperately I need it.  But, my two personal trainer friends badgered me into getting into the habit of eating breakfast.  So I now always keep cereal around, instant oatmeal, and fruit with yogurt.  Sometimes, I just have a slim fast optima shake (no, I'm not paid for that product placement, it's just a decent alternative and has good protein).

But it's still a struggle.  There are definitely days when I'm forcing food into me.  And there are days when all I can handle is a latte (300 calories and protein in the milk). But over all, I do feel better.  And now there are mornings when I'm just ravenous and have to get an egg sandwich with meat somewhere for all that good morning protein.  I know the trainers want me to focus on protein, but just getting me to eat first thing is enough of a battle, so I give myself license to eat pretty much whatever I want because it really is mostly about starting your caloric intake for the day.

It's made even more difficult for me because I'm on thyroid medicine that has to be taken an hour before eating and is best taken first thing in the morning.  So I've developed a decent habit of eating breakfast as soon as I get to work, which is still in that hour and a half after waking up window.  I really developed the habit over the course of 6 weeks when I was recording absolutely everything I ate to show those two trainers.  I ate breakfast because I knew I would hear about it if I didn't.

I guarantee you, if I can start the breakfast habit, you can.

Preaching to the Choir ( http://rantsofapublicdefender.blogspot.com/ )

( http://rantsofapublicdefender.blogspot.com/ )

You have to eat breakfast, even if it is something small! Your body has n't eaten for a long time. I also drink a big glass of water when I first wake because I read sometime that we've gone at least 6 or ao hours without water and our bodies are thirsty. I try to tell my mom this - she sometimes doesn't eat until noon! Not only is it bad for weight loss but your body really needs that fuel to get through the first part of the day. I usually eat oatmeal with some honey and bananas, which keeps me filled up until snack time. 

Kathy

Allbusiness:Working Mothers ( http://www.allbusiness.com/specialty-businesses/wo... )

Mama Marathoner ( http://www.mamamarathoner.com )

I absolutely never skip breakfast! By the time I wake up in the morning, I'm usually starving. Finding a new go-to was a little tricky once I moved to Japan, but now that I know my way around the grocery stores here, it's awesome!

My usual: Yogurt, soy crisp cereal, and a banana ( http://www.somewherethesunisrising.com/2008/10/go-... ) with peanut butter ( http://www.somewherethesunisrising.com/2009/03/rea... ).Those last two components were surprisingly difficult to come by...

http://www.somewherethesunisrising.com