Why is my breakfast not working ?? I’m starving!

[Whyhungry]

I eat breakfast at 7 am. By 830am I’m so hungry I feel nauseous ?

I have either :
1 pot full fat Greek yogurt (110g)
a banana (big not small!)
chopped almonds (about 1 tbsp)
chopped walnuts (4 or 5 walnut halves)
berries (strawberry raspberries and blueberries)
OR
porridge (a Quaker sachet) made with 150 ml semi skimmed milk and the same toppings as above .

Why am I so hungry an hour and half later am I doing something wrong ? I do a 10 min workout each morning but it’s not much and I’m just not sure why breakfast isn’t keeping me full ? Have to admit I’m not that clued up on nutrition so do I just need to eat something different? At the time I’m eating it I feel really full after so would be hard to increase quantity. I can’t have eggs for breakfast as I’m allergic to them so that’s not an option for me for something else to try.

I meant to add, like you I work out in the morning and I find that as long as hydrate well I’m fine without eating (sometimes I use electrolytes if I’m tired or have a headache).

I almost get a euphoric/energised/not at all hungry feeling sometimes when I exercise first thing in the morning and then don’t eat for a few hours but I am then careful to eat well/nutritiously when I do eventually get hungry.

I add chia seeds and ground flaxseed to my porridge. I also use whole oats and whole milk as it ends up being more filling. I also add banana and nuts too. I have quite a bit bowl though. If I had the proper portion it probably wouldn’t fill me up. But I eat until I’m full, I eat fairly late at around 10:30 so I don’t always want a massive lunch. So it evens out across the day.

Im a serial dieter and have always struggled to lose weight. What seems to be working for me now is focusing on the quality of my food and not obsessing about portions and calories. I log everything on my fitness pal which does help to know I’m not eating thousands of calories over a day. But if I’m hungry I’ll eat. But instead of crisps or rubbish I’ll have some eggs, seeded crackers with full fat cottage cheese or avocado, full fat yog with nuts and fruit.

I’ve lost 4.5 stone in 10 months so I must be doing something right. But I’d say if you’re hungry, eat! Just make it good food.

You could try skipping the banana at breakfast time, then have it as a mid morning snack?

Scrambled tofu and avocado on sourdough toast?

Smoked salmon and cream cheese on a thin protein bagel?

Have a protein smoothie as a snack?

They’re both high carb breakfasts. The first one slightly better for fat but both have very low protein. Fat and protein are the macros that help with satiety.

A lot of diabetics won’t eat oats in the morning because of the insulin spike they cause, and this is what then puts you on the feeling starving/ over-eating rollercoaster all day.

It can be hard to get good protein in the morning, especially if you don’t have time to make eggs. I don’t disagree with some of the advice around missing breakfast (so essentially time limited eating) and I also don’t demonise high quality protein powders that you can mix into water/ milk/ yoghurt and quickly start your day off with a decent amount of protein to keep yourself from feeling starving.

Agree with many others, the idea that you must eat breakfast does not work for everyone. I never eat breakfast and have my first meal of the day about noon.

I am a hungry Horace in the mornings. I tried for a month to not eat breakfast in the hopes that, like other people, it might make me less hungry in the morning. It did not work. I was starving and miserable.

Now I do try and push it back a bit. I also try and make it filling. I make porridge with water and then add greek yoghurt in to make it more filling. I also add chia seeds. They help fill you up. It usually does the trick for me.

Exactly. If I don't eat breakfast then I can easily go five or six hours without feeling hungry. And even then I don't feel desperately hungry. If I eat breakfast then I'm ravenous all day.

Greek yoghurt is pretty high protein, I'm not sure why people are saying it's low protein? Sure the banana is carby but it doesn't remove the protein from the yoghurt. 110g of greek yoghurt's not far off the same amount of protein as a couple of eggs.

Love the way most don’t read the op

she can’t have eggs as allergic

protein is needed so maybe sausages - I often cook night before so either eat cold or zap in micro wave for 20secs

chicken /ham/beef slices

like a continental breakfast

for those who say don’t eat. I’m hungry so want breakfast

the porridge pots around 60p from Aldi are quite filling. Far better then the sachets which is a tiny amount @Whyhungry

I find breakfast very hard - there is actually a thread from me somewhere on here about how much I hate breakfast food. I find I am much less likely to be hungry if my breakfast is savoury, so either leftovers from the previous night's dinner, or eggs, avocado, cheese on toast etc.

My ultimate breakfast used to be sausages or bacon but regrettably I am trying to limit very processed meats now.

I had the exact same problem for a very long time. Eating in the morning just makes me hungry for the rest of the day. I solved it by delaying my breakfast until 10-11am. Nowadays, I only have black coffee in the morning and feel much better!

I also find I don't really want breakfast until mid-morning. In an ideal world I would just have a big brunch that would see me through to a slightly smaller dinner

The thing that keeps me most filled is scrambled eggs - not even on toast, I often have eggs and a grapefruit - yummy!

OP has already said she's allergic to eggs.

Yes, but “food” means a couple of tablespoons of Greek yoghurt. It doesn’t mean a meal.

I have to say I'm another intermittent faster and do 16:8 so I live on black coffee or water until brunch or lunch. I eat my first meal of the day somewhere between 10am and 1pm depending on what I'm doing that day.

After the first week or so when I was getting used to it my blood sugar has been more stable and I am far, far less hungry than I ever was when I used to eat breakfast and then want to be eating biscuits mid morning.

You can't consider just your breakfast in isolation. If your dinner the previous night was poorly chosen then your body will be more demanding in the morning. A dinner with 25-30g actual protien content (so at least 120g meat, or a lot more than that if you use non-meal protien sources that are rarely more than 10% protien) plus a decent hit of complex carbs should mean you aren't massively hungry in the morning. If you just had a veggie stirfry then you'll definitely be starving.

I find that any kind of sweetness at breakfaat is more difficult to make actually satisfying because anything sweet wakes up the urge for more sweetness. So long as my dinner was nutritious, a breakfast of a couple of hard boiled eggs with a handful of baby spinach is my favourite (edit - caught up that you are allergic to eggs). Or a few oatcakes with a thin spread of a savory topping. Scrambled smoked tofu on toast is a good egg-free savoury breakfast.

If i’d eat that I’d spiral into poor eating all day. I believe your problem is not enough protein.

I skip breakfast til 10 too.

I spoke to a dietician about it, and she gave me a menu similar to yours, and by day three I wanted to tear my head off with hunger. I can just about accommodate a small snack at 10am if I'm not to be starving all morning.

You need complex carbs and proteins like wholewheat bread, eggs, proper rolled oats porridge if you like oats (def not sachets - may as well eat sugar).

The yoghurt one is better but have wholemeal toast w nut butter as well.

I love breakfast - always hungry when I wake up cos I eat an early dinner due to acid reflux. So last meal is finished by 7pm (if at home), breakfast about 8am.

Usually I have a no-sugar nut muesli (Dorset cereals simply nutty) w milk and banana and extra seeds then wholemeal toast w a nut butter. I don’t like savoury breakfasts as often have eggs at lunchtime.

Have you had a blood test recently? When I began getting hyperthyroid that was how I felt but was losing weight and feeling incredibly anxious. I'd ask for a thyroid and hormone check.

Try having more Greek yogurt? I buy big tubs and have about 150g at breakfast. That only works out at 180 calories for the brand I buy.

i don’t do 16:8 or anything but I have a coffee first thing and breakfast about 9.30 which helps with keeping me full until lunch. As others have said if I eat first thing it makes me hungrier.

You could try a seedy wholemeal toast with a natural peanut butter. Low sugar, contains protein and fat, nice and quick. And also keeps it very simple.

agree with the others that both your breakfasts contain a lot of sugar and not enough complex carb.

I find sweet breakfasts make me hungry. Porridge is meant to be filling but for me it isn't. If you are hungry when you wake and want breakfast maybe try something more savory.

As you cant eat eggs would you consider smoked mackrel or tuna or mushrooms or cheese on toast (or oatcakes) or adding a dollop of nut butter into your porridge?

You need more protein. If I have porridge for breakfast I'm starving by 11, an egg with a rasher or a few mushrooms will carry me through until 1 or 2. In the summer, sliced cheese or charcuterie.

I also cook a Bramley apple (often a half apple) rather than eating higher sugar fruit at that time of day.