Who Skips Breakfast?

[cdh]

I'm with suzilightning... I need to be up and about for 3 or 4 hours before food appeals. An espresso at 8, another at 9, then a bowl of cereal around 11 in the morning is what works for me... I love omelets and breakfast sausages and scrapple and pork roll and bacon and bagels and lox and &c... just not much before noon.

[LizD518]

I used to get up late when I worked mostly evening shifts, so breakfast was really lunch foods, then go into work at three-ish and get out around 11pm - midnight, stay up for about an hour and go to bed. I usually ate dinner at work so I didn't have to eat when I got home.

But about 6-7 years ago I switched to more traditional 9-5 schedules and I have to have something in the morning. It is usually pretty light - some yogurt with maybe some granola or fruit, or a bowl of cereal. Occasionally on my days off I will make eggs of some sort or go out for a bagel, but I still try and keep it light. I do love a good breakfast sandwich though - especially if I've been drinking the night before, or after a long run, when I typically don't eat beforehand. And coffee is more a mid-morning thing. I only typically have one cup a day and it isn't to wake me up, so I wait until...right about now. Gotta go!

[Toliver]

I can't remember the last time I had breakfast.

The really bad/strange thing is that I normally skip lunch in the week too.

People do ask me why somebody as interested in food as I am never actually appears to eat....

It's an odd thing but if I don't have breakfast, I can go without eating lunch, too. But if I eat breakfast, I tend to want to eat lunch, too, as if eating breakfast has primed the pump, so to speak.

Growing up, we always had breakfast. Not eating it was never an option. But as an adult, I can take it or leave it. Lately, I've been making just a breakfast smoothie and taking that to work. I'm not a fan of fruit (thanks to my mom foisting gobs of fruit on us as kids) so the smoothie is my way of getting fruits into my diet.

[ScottyBoy]

Every morning, 2 scrambled eggs, bowl of flax cereal, coffee and water.

[Marlene]

I can't remember the last time I had breakfast.

The really bad/strange thing is that I normally skip lunch in the week too.

People do ask me why somebody as interested in food as I am never actually appears to eat....

It's an odd thing but if I don't have breakfast, I can go without eating lunch, too. But if I eat breakfast, I tend to want to eat lunch, too, as if eating breakfast has primed the pump, so to speak.

Growing up, we always had breakfast. Not eating it was never an option. But as an adult, I can take it or leave it. Lately, I've been making just a breakfast smoothie and taking that to work. I'm not a fan of fruit (thanks to my mom foisting gobs of fruit on us as kids) so the smoothie is my way of getting fruits into my diet.

That's because you haven't :"woken" up your metabolizm with food yet. Something I learned in weight watchers. I was considered an "undereater" rather than an "over eater" which is just as bad for weight gain as your body never knows when you're going to feed it, so it stores fat just in case. I often do this as well. If I eat breakfast, I will be hungry for lunch. If I don't, I won't be. I generally eat something very light like a yogurt before working out. By then, it's 10 or so, and I'm ready for something like a bagel, english muffin or bowl of fruit. When I don't eat lunch, which is often, I'll have an early dinner. Lunch tends to mean I eat much later at night, which isn't good for the system either.

I will eat brunch on the weekends, mostly because my husband makes it. Since we don't eat till 11 or so usually because everyone sleeps in, we go with two meals on the weekends.

[Peter the eater]

I rarely eat any breakfast during the week, unless I eat it the night before. Not good.

Mon-Fri I make coffee for me, tea for my wife and get the fruit/yogurt/cereals going for the kids.

[andiesenji]

For many years I had the same bad habit of omitting breakfast - especially when I was working and had a commute of 1 1/2 hours each way and was up and out of the house by 5:30 each morning.

I was busy as soon as I arrived at work and rarely got anything to eat until at least ten, sometimes not until noon. I would then have a noticeable drop in energy and alertness about 2:00 p.m.

When I developed Type 2 diabetes, my doctor laid down the law and said I absolutely had to eat breakfast and my other meals on a regular schedule.

He was of the opinion that I developed diabetes (doesn't run in my family) because of my poor dietary habits, i.e. eating just two meals a day.

When I began eating breakfast at a regular time - usually as soon as I arrived at the office at 7:00 a.m., and spacing out my other meals as directed, I felt much better, did not have a drop in productivity in mid-afternoon and my began to lose some of the pounds I had packed on during the previous thirty years.

I have to eat breakfast now because I have medications that have to be taken with a meal.

[jsmeeker]

I skip breakfast on workdays. So, that means I am skipping a lot of breakfasts. On weekends and holidays, it's pretty normal for me to make something. Usually, eggs. Or oatmeal. Sometimes it will be pancakes or french toast or waffles. Every now and then, I have a box of cereal on hand.

I know this is a bad habit. I know I ought to eat something reasonably wholesome in the AM, not long after getting up. The main reason I don't do it on workdays is because I would need to get out of bed earlier each day.

[percival]

... Nothing ruins your day like a cup of grease churning in your belly all day.

That's how I feel about cold cereal and milk. I feel better hungry than I do with cold cereal in my belly!

I'm the same way.

Lemme splane. I'm very anti-grease for breakfast, but I'm also anti-cold for breakfast. You definitely need something warm, but you also need something light.

My go-to's: rice porridge, veggie/mushroom risotto, toast, bagels, etc.

[The Food Buster]

I don't skip breakfast per se, but I eat untraditional foods. For me, it's all about balance and nutrition, so I may very well eat some roast turkey and bread, or rice and beef for breakfast.

At the end of the day, it's the meal that gets the metabolism started. I just can't imagine skipping it.

[thock]

It's an odd thing but if I don't have breakfast, I can go without eating lunch, too. But if I eat breakfast, I tend to want to eat lunch, too, as if eating breakfast has primed the pump, so to speak.

Me, too. I generally eat breakfast at work, but by that time, I've been up for at least an hour. I admit that part of my problem is that I'm just not organized enough in the warmer months to eat breakfast at home (which for me would be cold cereal), but at least in the colder months, I make oatmeal for myself and my partner every morning, whether he likes it or not.

[nakji]

... Nothing ruins your day like a cup of grease churning in your belly all day.

That's how I feel about cold cereal and milk. I feel better hungry than I do with cold cereal in my belly!

I'm the same way.

Lemme splane. I'm very anti-grease for breakfast, but I'm also anti-cold for breakfast. You definitely need something warm, but you also need something light.

My go-to's: rice porridge, veggie/mushroom risotto, toast, bagels, etc.

I feel similarly. Whatever it is, I prefer it to be HOT. Cereal and yogurt is my least favourite breakfast, because it's cold. I eat it when time is of the essence. Otherwise, porridge or toast is what I need.

[heidih]

I am one of those annoying "leap out of bed and be fully awake" people. Caffeine as in coffee is not even on my morning radar. I walk the dog and exercise early and prefer not to eat before that. After it really depends on my day. I do squeeze one of my oranges into a bit of water and have that right away. If I have meetings out in the world it is not cool to have an growly tummy (mine growls when empty even if I am not "head hungry") - in that situation I have a small apple and a string cheese stick or a similar fruit/protein combo in the car on the way or in the office before the meeting. Much depends on when I ate dinner and when I arise. Traditional breakfast foods are not my preference although I enjoy a breakfast or brunch with friends as a social event. If I am at home working I prefer a nice bowl of soup as my first meal about an hour after I settle in after exercise and showering. I make a soup every few days and it is vegetable centric and contain no grains other than some corn or peas. As a child it was always just toast and jam and a glass of milk. The cereal thing is not in my culture or experience. I know about the jump start your metabolism and all of that but I have tried and settled for what works for my lifestyle and body. My tall slender son who is a runner does about the same and it was not from modeling me. When he started to add more muscle for triathalons he forced himself to add least do a protein drink earlier, but breakfast when you arise is not his thing either.

[Snadra]

... Nothing ruins your day like a cup of grease churning in your belly all day.

That's how I feel about cold cereal and milk. I feel better hungry than I do with cold cereal in my belly!

I'm the same way.

Lemme splane. I'm very anti-grease for breakfast, but I'm also anti-cold for breakfast. You definitely need something warm, but you also need something light.

My go-to's: rice porridge, veggie/mushroom risotto, toast, bagels, etc.

I feel similarly. Whatever it is, I prefer it to be HOT. Cereal and yogurt is my least favourite breakfast, because it's cold. I eat it when time is of the essence. Otherwise, porridge or toast is what I need.

Interesting! My objection is not so much the coldness as the sweetness, and possibly the milky-ness, although I can tolerate a latte in the morning (maybe because the milk is hot?). I like toast with avocado (or vegemite or cheese) because it's savoury, not because it's warm. When we've been travelling, I love being in a German hotel the most, because cheese and for breakfast (with a boiled egg where available) is my idea of savoury heaven. Although pancakes are permissible if served american style, with bacon and/or eggs on the side to cut through the sweetness.

But to return to the original question, I too find I can go without lunch if I haven't had breakfast, which is just as well as a day that's too busy for breakfast at my desk is a day that's usually too busy for lunch. But I tend to turn into the Snadra-beast at around 3.30 on those days, and then everyone else suffers. As much as I can make them.

[Fat Guy]

I'm curious: is there scientific research in support of the claim that "breakfast jump-starts the metabolism"?

[LindaK]

Count me among the breafast scofflaws. Black coffee always, and usually a bite of something sweet (generally a cookie, but leftover pie is nirvana). Big breakfasts are fine when they're brunch.

[Meanderer]

I saw this discussion at an interesting time, having just returned from a vacation during which I ate breakfast on the first and last two days when we stayed where breakfast came as part of the deal but did not eat breakfast during the week in between when we were in a rented cottage. Thinking back, I can recall no particular difference in how I felt or functioned on the days I had breakfast compared to the days I did not. Nor do I recall my hunger at lunchtime having been affected--I am always hungry at lunchtime.

[Kim Shook]

Somewhere, sometime Michael Ruhlman said, "Many argue that breakfast is their favorite meal and of course it's 'the most important meal of the day' (who came up with this slogan? I do fine on coffee and Crest)" - substitute diet Mtn. Dew for the coffee and add a Marlboro Light and this is me.

[suzilightning]

i had eggs scrambled hard, home fries and corned beef hash ... at about noon. does it count?

[weinoo]

I'm curious: is there scientific research in support of the claim that "breakfast jump-starts the metabolism"?

Eating breakfast is a daily habit for the "successful losers" who belong to The National Weight Control Registry. These people have maintained a 30-pound (or more) weight loss for at least a year, and some as long as six years.

"Most -- 78% -- reported eating breakfast every day, and almost 90% reported eating breakfast at least five days a week - which suggests that starting the day with breakfast is an important strategy to lose weight and keep it off," says James O. Hill, PhD, the Registry's co-founder and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Two studies in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association backed up this finding.

Click me.

[Mjx]

Eating breakfast is a daily habit for the "successful losers" who belong to The National Weight Control Registry. These people have maintained a 30-pound (or more) weight loss for at least a year, and some as long as six years.

"Most -- 78% -- reported eating breakfast every day, and almost 90% reported eating breakfast at least five days a week - which suggests that starting the day with breakfast is an important strategy to lose weight and keep it off," says James O. Hill, PhD, the Registry's co-founder and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Two studies in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association backed up this finding.

. . . .

While I'm not arguing with the fact that not eating tends to be accompanied by a shift to the lower end of one's metabolic rate-range (and eating, if you're hungry, shifts it up; not exactly 'jump starting', however), this still doesn't make it clear whether it is the actual eating of breakfast that supports weight loss, or whether the weight loss you see with this pattern is an artefact of a certain kind of disciplined thinking/behaviour.

I often delay breakfast until 10.00 or 11.00, and just have coffee before that. Sometimes, nothing until lunch. Lots of reasons for this: I'm often not hungry until late morning (eating when you're not hungry is seldom advised), and I don't eat before, or immediately after I work out. Also, traditional breakfast foods pose a bit of a problem for me: I don't like eggs, am lactose intolerant, and become very drowsy and fatigued when I eat most starches, which is not the best state in which to start the work day.

If I do eat something before lunch, it's generally fruit or almonds. I work at home, so I could make something more complex, but don't usually feel very enthusiastic about that. By 11.00 I usually start some sort of lunch thing, unless I've got a pressing deadline.

If I start the day eating small, it tends to set the tone for the day. The way I look at it, part of losing weight (I need to lose about seven kilos to get to a healthy hip:waist ratio) is eating less. To accomplish this consistently, you have to be realistic and honest about when and how you can best accomplish this, which means identifying when you are more or less hungry, and planning accordingly. This makes breakfast optional for me.

[weinoo]

The way I look at it, part of losing weight (I need to lose about seven kilos to get to a healthy hip:waist ratio) is eating less.

By jove, you've got it!

[Mjx]

The way I look at it, part of losing weight (I need to lose about seven kilos to get to a healthy hip:waist ratio) is eating less.

By jove, you've got it!

Oi! No need for sarcasm... That was simply the indisputable starting point for my scintillating argument.

[weinoo]

The way I look at it, part of losing weight (I need to lose about seven kilos to get to a healthy hip:waist ratio) is eating less.

By jove, you've got it!

Oi! No need for sarcasm... That was simply the indisputable starting point for my scintillating argument.

But isn't it unfortunate that many don't get it? The simple equation is calories in < calories out = weight loss. How many billions have been made in an attempt to convince us otherwise?

Of course, there are proper ways to do it, and any program should include at least moderate exercise...

[dcarch]

------and of course it's 'the most important meal of the day' (who came up with this slogan? I do fine on coffee and Crest)" - ------------

Cereal makers?

I never eat breakfast. Just lunch, dinner and a big snack before bed.

I have been in perfect health all my life. No weight issues and very energetic.

We are all different.

dcarch