Skipping breakfast - absolute revelation!!

[MacarenaFerreiro]

Have really struggled to lose weight over the years. Had some success with MFP in hte past and sticking to 1200 calories a day but I was always so hungry, grumpy and downright miserable.

Have realised that for me, the mistake was spending 200 of the day's calories on breakfast. Eating at 8am or 9am meant I was starving again by noon, and that continued through the day. I now skip breakfast and don't eat at all until around 12.30 or 1pm. Then I have around 500 calories - which is a decent meal - same again for dinner at around 6pm and that leaves me 200 calories spare for a snack if I am getting peckish.

Splitting my 1200 calories into two decent meals is so much easier and I've lost 3kg in a fortnight. Delighted.

Great result.

I reckon I could give breakfast a miss most days too. I was always told it was the most important meal of the day growing up but now know that to be rubbish. Most days I am simply not hungry until 11am or so but could easily hang on a little longer.

Totally agree!! On days when I miss breakfast I don't get hungry until far later than on days when I have it. I never understood that but it's true.

It's pretty much the principal behind 16:8, really. Well done! Breakfast, especially cereal, is mostly marketing.

But your body has had no food for around 12 hours by the morning, it needs feeding. Sustainable weight loss comes from less calories in and more calories out through exercise.

I've never really eaten breakfast. I'm just not hungry in the morning.

I don't understand how forcing yourself to eat when you don't want to, is beneficial, even if it is the most important meal of the day .

I normally have a banana around 11am then lunch about 1pm, dinner about 6ish.

I have put on weight recently bit that's more eating too much junk food rather than skipping breakfast.

Might try 1200 calories. I also get hungrier much quicker if I eat breakfast but can see I'm not the only one. It's strange.

Yep, I only lose when I don't eat until later in the day.

I've just downloaded breakfast is a dangerous meal, the blurb promises to explain why we should skip it.

Agreed that sustainable weight loss is more calories used than consumed.

But I don't really think it matters HOW often you eat. For me, not eating between 7pm one evening and 1pm the following day appears to work. I do drink liquids and coffee in the mornings so I'm not dehydrated. My job isn't physical so I appreciate that if you're sprinting around a hospital ward or working as a firefighter you might not be able to skip your porridge.

And besides, apart from walking I loathe "exercise" and have been told not to do anything high-impact.

Pancaker exercise is good for the body but most studies now show it has minimal impact on weightloss. At least 85% of weightloss is down to diet.

This is basically intermittent fasting can, which we know works. Not eating for 18 hours in 24 is perfectly fine as long as you get enough calories to run overall. I rarely have anything other than coffee and fruit before 11am.

Yes skipping breakfast really works for me too. I'm barely ever hungry in the morning anyway and would rather just have a coffee before I leave the house then have a more substantial lunch when I'm actually hungry at lunch time.

I totally agree with everything said here! It really is a revelation isn't it?

My weight loss isn't dramatic but it is steady and I love being able to eat bigger portions during the rest of the day

I also find it lot less restrictive for "life". Under the old ways, I'd already have had 250-300 cals in some porridge and a banana before meeting a friend for lunch, so would be scrabbling around looking on the menu for something with the fewest calories. If I've not eaten at all, I can on occasion have 700 calories at lunch and then a lighter meal at tea time.

Anyway. I've had a crap dieting day today with lots of drama including my 11 year old splitting her head open by cracking it off a road sign (don't ask) and pizza to cheer her up. Back on the no breakfast and light meals regime tomorrow.

Works for me too. And I don't worry at all about big days or parties as it doesn't have too much impact.

I always used to be a slave to hunger and now I don't get blood sugar dips and grumpy hunger ever. Just normal hunger from being active. I love it!

Agreed. When I used to eat breakfast I was starving by mid-morning. Now I don't eat breakfast I'm fine until lunch time and often later.

Yes 'they' say it's the most important meal of the day but it can be at any time!

I don't like putting more food in when I am already full of food.

I eat 'breakfast' when I get hungry, whatever time that might be.

This is a REVELATION! I'm not even being sarcastic, I'd totally bought into the 'most important meal of the day' schpiel.

I think it's really important to learn to understand when you feel 'hungry' and not just eat 'three meals a day' because that's 'the norm'. Of course it's not so easy when you are cooking for a family, it takes real discipline not to eat a meal - I managed it one evening this week, I just wasn't hungry and I felt so much better for not eating an evening meal. My DH and DS were incredulous that I just didn't eat (I am normally very greedy ).

Paperdoll, what studies?! You must burn more calories than you consume to lose weight!

I don't think anyone's denying that, Pancaker.

What I am saying, and others, is that if you don't have breakfast then it's far easier to stick to eating fewer calories than you burn off. You can have 2 meals of 600 calories each, which is a pretty decent amount of food. Or even more than that depending on your metabolism.

I bought into the "three square meals a day" mantra as it's what we've always been told and every single diet plan assumes people are eating that way. I'd been forcing myself to down some porridge even though I wasn't peckish because it was the done thing. I just think for some people there are better ways of doing things.

I fought against my natural inclination to not have breakfast most of my life. I really never enjoyed breakfast but was told is was the most important meal yada yada and so ate it out of a sense of duty or something, thinking I was looking after myself. But I've not been eating breakfast for the last 6 months since starting MFP/16:8 and lost 2 stone. It makes a huge difference because when I was eating breakfast I was always hungry soon after, wanted a mid morning snack etc. Now I don't even think about lunch til 1pm and don't feel like I have low energy at all in that fasting period - far from it. I had more low energy spikes when I was eating breakfast.

My family all eat it still and believe it's important and that I should be, but I honestly feel better not doing so. They're all skinny so don't need to worry anyway, and now I'm on maintenance in still not going back to eating it and think it will help me maintain.

It is a revelation. We've been brainwashed by breakfast cereal companies!

(disclaimer: I do on occasion have a bowl of cornflakes for lunch which I'm aware is not ideal but is nice and fills me up plenty until tea.)

Had some success with MFP in hte past and sticking to 1200 calories a day
I really like MFP, I have lost 9kg in three months with it.

I find if I have breakfast I'm hungry a couple of hours later. If I don't then I don't feel hungry until about 1pm.

I think a lot of it is due to most breakfast foods being fast-acting carbs. They don't work well for me. I could eat a whole box of cereal or a whole loaf and be hungry an hour later. Full English on the other hand and I don't want to eat until evening.

The only time I eat breakfast is on holiday, if at a hotel and it's all appealing and prepared I'll eat it, other than that it's a tea or coffee and sometimes a cereal bar a few hours after I wake up or when I get into work.

I'm always starving at breakfast time and feel sick if I don't eat it. I wonder if I could ush it back until 10ish. I eat main meal with kids at around 5. That would leave 17 hours of fasting.

Does nobody else wake up starving? I wake up at 6.30 and have breakfast within an hour as I'm desperate to eat. I will try to leave it until later. I'm overweight and often hungry but wonder how much is habit.

I am always starving when I get up (6am) but then generally we eat dinner at 5pm ish so it's been a while since I've eaten. I also wouldn't get the chance to eat until 10:30 or 12 so not sure I'd like to take the risk. Hmm