Do you eat or skip breakfast when dieting?

[cakedup]

I find that if I have something to eat in the morning - even if it's something really small - then I'll be hungrier for the rest of the day and end up eating more. Yet eating breakfast is encouraged to boost metabolism.

What have you found works for you?

[Bluntness100]

No I don't, I tend to have brunch about 11.30/12.30 and then eat again at dinner. However even when not dieting I don't eat breakfast. Never have.

[HarrietKettleWasHere]

No. Black coffee only until 1pm.

[Sallycinnamum]

I stopped eating breakfast a few months ago and have lost weight. I don't feel hungry now until 1pm and even then I'm not starving.

[PidgeonSpray]

Breakfast helped me lose weight (and now maintain my weight.)

But not when I tried cereal or toast etc.

The only thing that really helps me stay fuller and not binge or snack... are these breakie shakes

m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=925728660909994

Love the cookies and cream one!

[RavingRoo]

Yes. Handful of almonds and coffee at 6am. A banana at 8am. Yoghurt at 10am. Then lunch spread out between 1-3. Spreading my breakfast and lunch out across the day keeps me fuller.

[TalkinPeace]

I've not eaten breakfast since I was a teenager
I have a mug of tea in the morning then nothing till about 12:30
then a small lunch and nothing solid till supper
and after supper, nothing solid till lunch the next day

[Eminybob]

I’m on a calorie restricted diet low and I have a really low calorie cereal bar for breakfast, I think it has about 70 calories.
It takes the initial edge off my hunger (I wake up ravenous) and I can usually keep going then until lunch time.

Funnily enough though before I had my DS I used to be like you. I never ate breakfast and if I did it made me hungrier for lunch earlier. I only started eating breakfast when I was pregnant and then have always needed to since. Probably explains why I’ve put on a shed load of weight since having DS.

[cakedup]

PidgeonSpray when you say breakfast helped you lose weight...how? Were you less hungrier in the day?

[ppeatfruit]

The thing is only eat breakfast if and when you get hungry. If you get to know and listen to your body you'll lose weight naturally. I lost 3 stone only eating when I'm hungry (it's for life!) BUT stopping when I feel full.

It's the Paul Mackenna way of eating. No CC or low fat stuff or meal replacers; it's the proper chewing and mindfulness (not eating in front of a screen or standing up) also eating good nourishing food. that works and makes the difference.

[wellhonestly]

@TalkinPeace - excuse me for being curious - but are you therefore v slim??? Do you ever feel like just grabbing a biscuit or a bar of choc - do you resist temptation or do you not feel that way when it comes to eating?

To answer the OP, I feel like I need breakfast - otherwise I can't imagine getting through the morning without a horrendous rumbly stomach! I have a small portion of porridge I make from scratch (salt, no sugar, no milk) and a cup of tea.

I don't stick to 2 (or even 3!) meals a day. I snack like mad and I am a bit overweight.

[TalkinPeace]

well
My BMI is around 22.5 - and has been for the last few years
I do not eat chocolate. I've never snacked.
Hunger is natural, it does not bother me.

Snacking is really bad for you.

[GreenFingeredGardener7]

I’m not dieting but don’t usually eat breakfast, I find like you OP eating breakfast makes me hungrier as it wakes my stomach up. I don’t particularly lose or gain weight either way though so it’s just a preference for me.

[delilahbucket]

I don't tend to eat breakfast when trying to lose weight (or any other time for that matter), as it also makes me eat more. If I'm hungry I will have some fruit or a small handful of nuts, but other than that, coffee and fruit teas until lunch, high protein lunch and a regular tea.
Ignore Pigeon, they're just trying to flog Herbalife

[cakedup]

I am just going to stick with no breakfast then as I definitely do get hungrier and eat more when I do have breakfast.

ppeatfruit I do agree that eating only when hungry is sensible but I wouldn't believe everything Paul McKenna says. He is NOT a nutrition/diet/health expert!

Incidentally I'm not on a proper diet myself. Just wanting to cut down after my big fat Christmas and get back to healthy eating. However I do tend to eat big portions and snack, and breakfast just doesn't help. I really love and enjoy food...but I CAN skip breakfast and feel ok about that. Whereas calorie counting and eating tiny portions for dinner depresses me.

[Timefortea99]

I skipped breakfast all last year and lost 2 stone. It's a way of life now. Never feel hungry - eat between a 12 noon and 8pm window - 2 meals, eat what I like. Easiest weightloss ever.

[blueberrygoose]

I'm a bit like you op, some mornings I'm not hungry until about 11 then I'll have like a brunch but on the mornings I'm going to work I always have breakfast before I go, say about 7am and then by 10-11 I feel really hungry! Before I had kids I used to be starving for my breakfast as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning. Maybe skipping breakfast wouldn't do any harm, but I always believed the bit about the metabolism too!!

[wellhonestly]

Thankyou @TalkinPeace for answering my rather nosey question

[Capelin]

I don’t usually eat breakfast (whether I’m dieting or not). Like you OP, I tend to find it makes me feel hungrier later in the day.

[ppeatfruit]

caked if Paul Mack. isn't an expert then I'd like to know who is? The common sense of eating as children do (knowing and listening to your body, not forcing down 3 courses because everyone else does) it's how we should all eat.

There are so many stupid crash diets about which don't work at all (they just make people bigger). PM is totally against them. I've maintained my weight loss (no starvation, no eating rubbish). As I said it will be forever.

The other great thing about is that if you're out or you forget, you can just go back on it the next time you eat. SIMPLE it costs nothing.

[OurMiracle1106]

I’ve lost 3 stone. I do eat breakfast but not until around 10/10.30 and I get into work for 7.30. I have a slice sometimes 2 of toast then lunch around 1.30 followed by dinner about 5/5.30. Then avoid snacking of a night

[Aworldofmyown]

I have never been a fan of breakfast, however, I lose weight if I eat properly. 3 meals a day, so I do think it is important.

What works for me is my nutribullet, every day I make a drink with coconut milk, oats, banana, nut butter and a spoonful of instant coffee (you can leave the last one out!!)

[PoisonousSmurf]

Have either porridge or bacon and eggs in the morning and that can keep me going until evening. At lunchtime will only have some coffee.
At the weekends it's just a 'Brunch', so overnight and into early afternoon, no food and this is around 16 hrs.
Then eat supper.

[Aworldofmyown]

Just to add, you need to find what works for you!

I can go all day without eating until dinner, in fact I can actually comfortably not it very much at all!! Yet I stay the same weight.

Eating regularly works for me. Everybody is different.

[Purplerain101]

The nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert for Harley Street in London says that breakfast is vital when losing weight and keeping it off long term. Think it all depends on what you should be eating by various factors though - like how fast/slow your metabolism is, whether you exercise or lead a sedentary lifestyle, whether you have cheat days regularly etc.

[Ragwort]

I prefer two meals a day - a brunch and an early evening meal. However it is difficult to have that sort of pattern if you work 9-5 with commuting, no where suitable to eat at work, family commitments etc etc etc.

A key to (for me) losing weight is to not be frightened of being 'hungry' - in fact I am rarely hungry, I eat because I love food . Unless you have a heavy manual job a bit of feeling hungry doesn't really matter, I expect most of us don't really know what it is like to be hungry. I never wake up hungry, but I do wake up fancying a big fry up .