Against all perceived wisdom I have been losing weight by skipping breakfast

[PacificDogwod]

I had a week of immense stress and no routine earlier during the summer due to a significant upset and lost my appetite for a few days. All is better and there is certainly nothing wrong with my appetite, but I have found I can very easily not have breakfast (which used to be quite a carb-heavy cereal affair), not feel hungry until lunch time and I have lost 2 stone in the last 2 months or so. And 2 dress sizes, more importantly

I am eating well and healthily and am as active as I've always been. Maybe slightly more so as we now have a dog who needs walking whether I want to or not…

So, is there anything wrong with this?
In my eyes all I am losing out on is starchy carbs and sugar

[duckyneedsaclean]

It always worked for me, too. I should really start again.

[PacificDogwod]

Oh good, not just me then

I should have said '4 months', it's been 4 months since I started losing weight.

I am now a size 12 to 14 and v happy not to be a 16-18

It's funny how when the weight first came off, it actually helped me to be more motivated to make more healthy food choice, reduce portion side, get off my bum more often.
Humans are weird and I am one of them

[DrHarleenFrancesQuinzel]

Same for me too. I find that as soon as I start eating I just eat more. So I try to hold it off for as long as possible. Sometimes till lunch, but mostly eat something small about 11 ish. It's 3/4 o clock that gets me, but that's more to do with tiredness and needing a pick me up.

[WorraLiberty]

I can't see anything wrong with it.

I haven't eaten breakfast since I was at junior school, because I'm just not hungry before lunch.

[PacificDogwod]

So where does the advice come from 'Breakfast like a king, etc etc…'?

[iminshock]

It's shite advice with no basis in reality at all.

[ReadFox]

Pacific, me too! I'm doing my own version of the 5:2 (more days but less extreme, zig zag dieting I guess) but I manage to keep the number of calories for the day down mainly by just not eating until I get really hungry at 11.30-12.

It's working! I know it goes against all wisdom.

[CharleyDavidson]

I gave up breakfast years ago. I prefer a bit more time in bed and the chance to get a few little housework jobs done in my time before work. And I realised I was eating breakfast for the sake of it because I don't wake up hungry.

So I stopped. And I don't miss it. If I do wake up hungry on the odd occasion, then I will grab something, but usually I don't and I'm no more hungry by lunchtime than if I'd had breakfast.

[lucysnowe]

Yes, it often works for me too. There is even a name for it, the Mini-Fast Diet, but I don't think it really needs a name!

[PacificDogwod]

Oh excellent, a name! Of course it needs a name: it give is gravitas and added justification

I am doing the Mini-Fast Diet, I just did not know that's what I was doing.

I have 2 cups of tea with milk and get 4 DCs and a dog ready and actually enjoy my mornings more because I enjoy a slow leisurely breakfast rather than the rushed affair that a weekday morning dictates.

[CharleyDavidson]

Some call it the 16:8 diet, don't they?

Not eating for 16 hours of the day and eating your other 2 meals within the other 8 hours.

[PacificDogwod]

16:8 - that sounds about right.

Lovely, I feel so justified and validated, thank you all.

I shall take my fully belly to bed now

[DearFox]

I'm glad it has a name. So if somebody tries to slate it, convinced that breakfast is like oxygen, we can say, well, it's the mini fast diet and I think Michael Moseley is just about to write a book about it.

[StealthPolarBear]

If you don't eat breakfast your toes will drop off. Or somethig. And you body will decide it's starving and create and eat 16 doughnuts without any involvement from you.

[DearFox]

For about thirty years I've believed this! So I shovelled in a bowl of shreddies, joylessly, before I left the house, which only made me want a hot bagel with melted butter on it by 9.15.

It's like opening the floodgates, that seemingly innocent small bowl of cereal.

[ChewyGiraffe]

I hardly ever eat breakfast (except when I was pregnant and STUFFED my face from morning till night). This isn't to lose weight particularly, but more because if I eat too early, firstly it makes me feel a bit sick and secondly it makes me eat loads for the rest of the day. But then again, it could be one of the reasons why I've never been exactly fat either (size 8 - 10).

I remember seeing Joanna Lumley on Graham Norton saying something along these lines and thinking Ha! Not just me then ... (Although not that I'm comparing myself with JL in any other big headed respect, Jeez.) Anyway, I just Googled it and found this: Joanna Lumley skips breakfast

[VimFuego101]

I agree - I find that eating breakfast 'wakes up' my appetite and I'm rooting around in my desk drawer for snacks by 11am.

[ladydepp]

I haven't eaten breakfast for years. If I eat before 10 it makes me feel sort of bloated and icky, and I have no proper appetite until about 11 anyway.

I think one of my DC's is going to be like me, it is already a bit challenging to get him to eat before school.

People have strong views on this though, my MIL is horrified ("most important meal of the day!") and I reckon my DM thinks I have an eating disorder (I don't)

Each to their own....

[IrritableBitchSyndrome]

Apparently, I have read, eating carbs in the morning encourages your body to store fat. Eating just fat, like coffee with cream or coconut oil, or fat and a bit of protein, like eggs, doesn't trigger the same insulin fat storage response, and fills you up nicely with stable blood sugar and no hunger pangs. I have been doing this, or just having a cup of tea in the morning, for a while and my weight is slowly dropping. Tis also good for your healthy gut bacteria to have a longer fast period, apparently and kills of more unhealthy bacteria that also make you fat by making chemicals that cause you to store fat.

[IrritableBitchSyndrome]

Disclaimer: I just read some books, I am not a dietician (especially not one who opines about people's shopping in supermarkets - fucking outrageous!) and I don't have any training or qualifications thst would enable me to tell a bad diet book from a good one!

[Tanfastic]

It works. I've always been
A breakfast eater, stopped eating it through the week a few weeks back and I'm losing about half a pound a week. Eating normally the rest of the time. Amazeballs

[Motherwithflaws]

It's working for me too, I've lost loads! And I always had breakfast in the past.

[WorraLiberty]

I hate that it's got a name!

I've never been on a diet in my life and thanks to this thread, I've now learned that I've been on one since junior school

[Iwasbornin1993]

It's working for me too! I started eating better a week ago (again!) and have lost 2kg (4-ish pounds?) so far! I'm another one who just doesn't seem to get hungry before lunchtime but have always ate breakfast because it's drummed into us to do so. I guess everyone's bodies are different and if ours don't need or want breakfast then why should we eat it just for the sake of it!

[Iwasbornin1993]

Well done on your weight loss by the way, OP! Bet that's a great feeling