can I skip breakfast while counting calories?

March 4, 2009 3:31 PM

Am I sabotaging my diet by not eating breakfast?

I have never been much of a breakfast eater. I recently started a calorie counting regime. I have found that it is MUCH easier to keep at or below the number of calories I am allowed to eat if I skip breakfast. Not only does that save calories for later in the day but I don't feel hungry in the morning, nor do I get hungry until lunchtime. If I do eat breakfast, I feel hungry again around 10am and it is torture until I get to eat lunch. I mean, my body has to use calories no matter when I eat them, right?

posted by Foam Pants to health & fitness (32 comments total)

I'm no doctor or nutritionist, but I think your body is answering the question for you.

I don't eat breakfast either, and I subscribe to a "don't eat unless you're hungry" approach which has helped me shed weight. If you're not hungry or uncomfortable as a result of not eating breakfast, and you're consuming a healthy, controlled number of calories each day, my experience and general knowledge says you're fine.
posted by chudmonkey at 3:35 PM on March 4

How late are you eating dinner? You may be slowing your weight loss if you're eating late into the night. As long as you're not eating within ~4 hours of bed time you're OK. If you ever get really really hungry you may be harming your results as your body tries to conserve energy in starvation mode.

So if you aren't eating late and still aren't waking up hungry do what makes you feel best.
posted by Science! at 3:36 PM on March 4

You may be slowing your weight loss if you're eating late into the night. As long as you're not eating within ~4 hours of bed time you're OK.

There is no evidence that this is true.
posted by muddgirl at 3:41 PM on March 4 [6 favorites]

This is slightly different, but related: In the data from the National Weight Control Registry, most people who lost weight and kept it off eat breakfast:

* There is variety in how NWCR members keep the weight off. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.

o 78% eat breakfast every day.

posted by OmieWise at 3:43 PM on March 4

You may be slowing your weight loss if you're eating late into the night

Eating before bedtime does not make you gain weight. It's a common myth which probably gained credibility from the fact that a late night snack is pretty likely to be an addition to three other meals.

Some people need a blood sugar boost in the morning in order to feel fully alert. If you feel fine, though, and eat when you're hungry, the timing of your meals doesn't particularly matter.
posted by chrisamiller at 3:44 PM on March 4 [1 favorite]

Breakfast helps kickstart your metabolism in the morning. That's why it's called "break fast".

As for getting hungry too early before lunch, that's why it's generally recommended that multiple, smaller meals throughout the day are the way to go. You have breakfast and when you're hungry at 10, have a snack, like a yogurt. Protein with breakfast will help you to stay full.

My old nutritionist recommended a cup of oatmeal with a few almonds, a cup of milk and a piece of fruit for breakfast. It's not a ton of calories and it will help your body get going in a healthy way.
posted by csimpkins at 3:45 PM on March 4

I have found that it is MUCH easier to keep at or below the number of calories I am allowed to eat if I skip breakfast. Not only does that save calories for later in the day

You are overthinking and that can be dangerous...and how many calories are you allowing yourself to consume if you feel the need to skip breakfast?? Give us some numbers here, as I have a feeling you are not approaching this properly. Just a hunch.
posted by scarello at 3:47 PM on March 4

I've also been told by a nutritionist that breakfast is very important for getting your metabolism going, otherwise it can stay in a state of low-calorie burn. If you can teach it that it doesn't need to fear a huge fast between dinner and lunch, it will burn faster more of the time.
posted by crickets at 3:50 PM on March 4

The number of calories I am allotted each day is a little over 1,450.
posted by Foam Pants at 4:26 PM on March 4

You're fine. Skip breakfast if that's what you need to do to stay on diet. The most important thing is just watching your calorie count. Don't listen to anyone who tells you about how you have to do this or that to "make your metabolism go faster".

I've lost 40 lbs in the last 3.5 months, and my eating habits are off the wall sometimes. All I do is eat ~1500 calories a day, and the weight keeps going away.
posted by TypographicalError at 4:29 PM on March 4

Foam Pants, eat breakfast. From my own experience (I lost 85lbs last year when I started calorie counting), everything just felt -better- when I started eating breakfast. I did 1/2 cup of oatmeal every morning mixed into my coffee. 150 calories. (it also did wonders with my cholesterol). I wouldn't be able to maintain any kind of exercise regime if I didn't have breakfast.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 4:34 PM on March 4

I think of breakfast as a great opportunity to slip in nutritional stuff that I wouldn't ordinarily get during the day. I premix a trail mix with reduced salt peanuts, pumpkin seeds, banana chips and prunes. Feel free to substitute whatever raw / dried stuff you think might help - the peanuts I find are great for the protein and get me through till lunch. This breakfast also has the advantage of being fast.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 4:44 PM on March 4

If you don't like breakfast, don't eat it.

On a related note: Although I don't subscribe to the "don't eat before bed" idea, I do strongly believe that spreading your meals out throughout the day (4-6 meals, instead of 2-3) can make a large difference in fat loss and energy levels. As long as you're doing that, there's no need to eat before noon if you don't want to.
posted by coolguymichael at 5:01 PM on March 4

I did 1/2 cup of oatmeal every morning mixed into my coffee Am I reading this right? I keep wondering how to make my coffee into a meal. If I did read this right, would you mind elaborating?

Thanks.
posted by Vaike at 5:16 PM on March 4

I feel terrible when I eat breakfast and have skipped it every day since I was a kid. No ill effects so far.
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:17 PM on March 4

I never was much of a breakfast person, but when I started my own weight loss regimen, I committed to a small breakfast (FiberOne and a glass of milk, plus a banana or kiwi), and incorporated two small snacks into my day: one between breakfast & lunch, and the other between lunch & dinner. I've been much more successful when I've followed through with this. I not only lose weight faster, but I also feel better because my energy level is more consistent throughout the day. It took a little getting used to, and sometimes I still might skip breakfast, but I fully believe it makes a big difference in terms of metabolism.

Also, it may go without saying, but this means slightly smaller lunches & dinners. Nothing drastic, you're essentially spreading out the same amount of calories over five small meals, instead of three. Do what works best for you, but it may be worth trying again, perhaps over a longer period of time so your body can fully adjust. Good luck!
posted by katemcd at 5:39 PM on March 4

I mean, my body has to use calories no matter when I eat them, right?

No. It takes work (calories) to run the digestive system and bring all systems online. Breakfast does this, and thus your body burns more calories during your day than if you spend most of the day with your body shut down for fasting, burning minimum calories.

That you find it easier to eat fewer calories by structuring your day so that you burn fewer calories, may or may not balance out (that's down to the individual) but your question boils down to "Am I getting something for nothing here?" and the answer is "No."

A potentially bigger concern with doing this is that your best weapon against food is muscle - every pound of muscle burns about 50 calories a day, and that adds up.
But you're going to retard your body's muscle maintenance and/or development if you're spending most of your day with your digestive system on standby. So there is a second way fast can bite you - it results in your body having less places to expend calories, other than in making fat.

Also, a third way it can bite you is aesthetic - if your weight loss is for aesthetic rather than health reasons, then restricting the amount of muscle you can maintain results in a flabbier softer form of thin, with less muscle tone than the desirable kind of thin.
posted by -harlequin- at 5:49 PM on March 4 [2 favorites]

I just did some fact-checking since I was talking from memory, and it appears that the 50 calories/day/lb-muscle-at-rest that I suggested is out of date. Latest estimates are generally much lower, (though still much higher than the calories burned by fat), and only in certain people hacking their system (ie not us) would you be getting that kind of calorie burn from muscle when at rest.
This is of course, not to be confused with the calorie burn of using muscle. Which is lots, and can be calculated using the laws of physics :-)
posted by -harlequin- at 6:04 PM on March 4

The number of calories I am allotted each day is a little over 1,450


Well, I would need to know more about your age, height, weight, to tell you whether that's enough, but you may not want to share those figures, which is fine. You should eat breakfast though, even if its something small. Science and "theory" aside, its all about lifestyle change and not "diet" If you start to get into the habit of skipping meals, its always bad news. Develop the habit of having your meals and not making excuses to miss them and you will be at least psychologically in a better place to succeed.

I've lost 40 lbs in the last 3.5 months, and my eating habits are off the wall sometimes. All I do is eat ~1500 calories a day, and the weight keeps going away.

Oh, and how much of that was muscle?
posted by scarello at 6:39 PM on March 4

I skip breakfast, I have coffee with milk first thing in the morning, but almost always nothing else until noon (I'm usually up at 7-7:30). I've lost 25 pounds over the past year. If it feels right to you, skip it.
posted by Caviar at 6:40 PM on March 4

I say yes to breakfast to help with weight loss.
I ate breakfast everyday as a kid and I was thin. I stopped eating breakfast in college and gained 70 lbs.
Started eating breakfast again in January (as well as counting calories) and in my first month I dropped 10 lbs... no exercise.

My breakfast is generally oatmeal with brown sugar and a latte (sometimes tea). It's Starbucks daily for me because everything is perfectly portioned out which allows easy counting.

I definitely get hungrier sooner in the day so recently I'm trying to up my meals to 4-6/day instead of my usual 3.
posted by simplethings at 6:40 PM on March 4

Vaike - see here.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:40 PM on March 4

I'm with Vaike. The REALLY interesting question is what on earth oatmeal mixed into coffee tastes like. Cat Pie Hurts? Enlighten us!
posted by kestrel251 at 6:41 PM on March 4

Oops; simul-post.
posted by kestrel251 at 6:41 PM on March 4

There have been at least two studies that point to eating more meals with the same daily calorie count being better for you than fewer meals. One determined that the group eating fewer meals had worse cholesterol, and gained more weight on the same total calories. The other study found that eating meals more infrequently hastened muscle loss (which is key in long term weight loss). In both studies daily calories consumed were the same across both groups. Nutritionists now recommend five or six small meals a day as the optimal diet.

I'm sure that there are people out there that buck the statistical trends, but any advice based on personal experience and not science may be counterproductive for you.
posted by BrotherCaine at 7:33 PM on March 4

You know, "experts" tell you to eat breakfast because your brain needs it, but everyone is different. I say listen to your body.

On the other hand, eating breakfast should not make eating withing a certain calorie range difficult. How about making lunch your largest meal and keep breakfast and dinner light?
posted by Piscean at 8:01 PM on March 4

Try reading Phillip Day - Food for Thought, really good and he suggests to only eat fruit til noon as much or as little as you like, no dates or banana's before noon but I have tried it and it is fantastic seems to work for me. :)
posted by annie1 at 8:14 PM on March 4

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/4/981
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/158/1/85
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0002822305001513
http://low-fat-eating.virtualfitnesstrainer.com/Meal-Frequency-And-Weight-Loss.htm
http://www.acsm-msse.org/pt/re/msse/abstract.00005768-200003000-00017.htm
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/134/1/104.pdf

In short, skipping breakfast is one of the worst eating patterns.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:56 PM on March 4 [1 favorite]

I will be waking up tomorrow to breakfast.
posted by Foam Pants at 11:31 PM on March 4

If you find it easier to keep to the calorie limit by skipping breakfast, skip breakfast.

The only thing that matters when losing weight is consuming fewer calories than you burn. Everyone is different in how they prefer to do this: the important thing is finding a way that works for you.

I think people often worry too much about finding the Perfect Diet, but it really differs for everyone. The hard problem isn't "what diet will make me lose weight", there are thousands of them; but "what diet can I actually stick to?" The Perfect Diet is whatever is easiest for you to keep to.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:26 AM on March 5

Fuck breakfast. It's got no more valid role than "drink 8 glasses of water". For some people it's critical, and for others, not at all. I haven't had anything other than espresso before lunch for fifteen years, and when I needed to lose 15 lbs. it was a hell of a lot easier not adding in calories before lunch. Lots of people describe crippling hunger around ten am if they consume breakfast, clearly as a result of glycemic load. It's not the ideal thing for everyone's metabolism, and in a culture that no longer gets up at five and breaks for a meal in afternoon it's relevance is questionable. And there's certainly something to be said for the breakfast cereal industry playing this up as well.
posted by docpops at 4:27 PM on March 6

as a result of glycemic load

There's a difference between when you eat, and what you eat. You are right that eating a farmer or lumberjack's breakfast and then sitting in an office is not going to work well, but foam pants is talking about 1450 calories in an entire day.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:04 AM on March 7