Girls - Eat Your Breakfast

Having once been a teenage girl myself, and an overweight one at that, I can definitely attest to the fact that skipping breakfast is a prevalent problem. In my case, however, it was not a weight loss issue, as I wasn't really dieting at that time although I did have issues with my weight. It was more an issue of laziness and independence. Both my parents worked full time and had their own responsibilities in the morning besides making my ass breakfast. If I didn't make it myself, I was out of luck and typically I would rather have the extra sleep and extra hair-makeup prep time than eat breakfast.

There were many days where I would eat very little if at all until a late dinner time after drama club rehearsals, at which point I would eat and eat and eat in the evenings. It was a very unhealthy lifestyle and I can definitely attest now that I'm older and wiser, eating at regular times (particularly breakfast) really makes a difference in how I feel.

I didn't grow up eating breakfast. I'm a bit on the chubby side, but my brother and mum, who are slimmer, don't eat breakfast either. Although we know about the connection between eating breakfast and weight gain, my problem is pretty simple: I just tend to eat more food than they do. :(

Thanks goodness, skipping breakfast is something I just can't get away with because I want to do it. Not eating in the mornings is a free pass to blacking out before 10 am. My pitiful attempts at not eating breakfast, when I was in my teens and also focusing a little too much on "what to do, what to do!", all ended up crushed by this habit and necessity, and I probably have to be thankful to this now. In fact, I must admit that breakfast even is the most important meal for me (and not because "I'm allowed to eat sugary things" on it, I also eat very differently at times than the usual morning cereals).

On the other hand, eating breakfast has never made any difference in whether I'd lose weight or not. This is a matter of eating too much the rest of the day no matter what *lol*

i almost never eat before 1pm, and my BMI is 17.2

i actually can't stand to eat within the first two hours after i've woken up, at LEAST. Eating before 11am makes me nauseated. It always annoys me to no end when people harass me about not eating breakfast, because if i force myself to eat breakfast i feel sick for most of the day.

If you click on the CBS story you will find that General Mills and the Maryland Medical Institute funded this study. This relates directly to your post on how to sell a diet. Get some doctors behind it.

Lana, I also used to feel sick every time I would eat breakfast. I had to "build up the stomach" to eat anything after a few hours of waking up, or I would feel sick and nauseated, etc.

But then in Grade 12 I had an early class that I had to wake up for every morning at 6:00 am. I realized after a month that if I ate even something small before going, I could concentrate way better in class. So I started to eat more and more, and my body got used to it after about 6 months. Now I can eat 2-3 eggs, bread, juice and coffee for breakfast, and I generally feel much better those days than on days I don't eat breakfast.

Frances - good spotting! It was strange that the article promoted "cereal" - but then made no effort to distinguish between various types of cereal. Now it all seems clear...

Ben - I actually break my fast with a glass of water. Most people find a cup of cold water first thing in the morning leaves them feeling a bit nauseous. But you can train your body into all sorts of habits. Many Asian culture breakfast with rice, miso soup, and/or fish.

I agree that breakfast is very important for weight loss and maintenance as well as general health. I find I get the best results when I include low fat protein and complex carbohydrates and avoid the low blood sugar crash that usually follows a high carb meal. Prolonging the ‘fast’ actually encourages the body to store fat and makes it more difficult to shed those extra pounds.

I eat breakfast every day and it TOTALLY makes a difference in how I feel for the whole day. I've always been a big breakfast eater, but in high school I was much pudgier than I am now. The difference was WHAT I ate for breakfast. I used to eat donuts, poptarts, etc. all the time for breakfast and now I eat oatmeal and fruit or yogurt or an omelette.

what if you dont wanna lose weght and eat brestfest ???ahhhhhh!!

I'm horrible with this and I'm trying to change my habits. I'll sometimes go right to dinner without eating, just because I'm not hungry. I suspect this is part of the metabolic factor of my weight issues (along with sitting on my ass way too much).

May be all related to the idea of eating lots of small meals rather than 2 big ones.

One thing that helps me is I learned long ago that I just don't really like most breakfast foods (in the morning). I like a savory breakfast. Lately I've been making vegetable curry for breakfast, with a lot of chopped hot peppers. This works far better for me than cereal, pancakes, or other heavy-carb breakfasts.

That being said I get a craving for traditional breakfast foods late at night. Go figure.

HEy guys! ya, I used to never eat anything sometimes, but then i would go through holidays where i would eat so much every day. i was constantly gaining and losing weight. eventually i was hospitalized and got better.
Don't take it as far as i did!
EAT BREAKFAST!

I dont eat breakfast because I dont have the time. I have an extra class in the morning. By the time I'm fininshed getting ready, it's time for me to go. Now when I'm off from school, I guess my body is so used to not eating breakfast, that I'm full on the weekends during breakfast time.

I don't eat breakfast in the mornings, sadly. I wish I could but at night I'm always up till late doing homework and then I wake up a half-hout before school starts so I just get up, brush my teeth, get dressed, and I'm out the door. I eat breakfasts on weekends, though, but I have noticed that on weekdays after not eating breakfast (and sometimes even skipping lunch to rush to the library and catch up on homework), I eat a LOT once I get home. I feel like I'm getting more flab around my stomach, but my mom insists I'm losing weight. Yeah, right. I desperately want to change my eating habits (because I honestly feel like I'm not as alert in school), but it's the lack of time!!!

Anyway, at the moment, I'm doing a research project for one of my classes. And I can't think of a research question, but I want it to be something along the lines of, "How does the _______ of a teen who eats breakfast every morning differ from the _______ of a teen who often skips breakfast?" Except, I do not know what to fill the blanks in with. Mood/behaviour/academic performnace??? Which can be measured? Which is the easiest? What is the most noticeable difference between a teen who eats breakfast and a teen that doesn't??? Well, I doubt I'll get any help for this one any time soon...so maybe something will come to me.

Don't eat breakfast because it is a waste of time in the mornings.

I think there is no time in the morning to eat breakfast because of school in the morning but in summer i think I have more time but still I dont eat breakfast.

Of course, you could always get up earlier...

Or make your breakfast the night before. You can make an omelet, put it in a tupperware container, and just microwave it the next morning. Same goes for oatmeal.

i love breakfast most of the time when my mum makes or cooks nice food'4 example cirial or any other food included.i dont need to loose weght i need to gain weight im so pretty and skinny! i love my life!!

One thing I'd like to point out is that every body is different. Not everyone needs to or should eat right when they first wake up. Really listening to your own body is the key to permanent fat loss without dieting. If you're hungry first thing in the morning, eat. If you're not, eat when you feel hungry. (Hungry, but not RAVENOUS. waiting until you are ravenous may lead to overeating!) Unless you have certain disorders, your body is able to tell you what it needs when it needs it. I used to subscribe to the "one size fits all" philosophy of "never skip breakfast, and eat 5-6 meals a day, count calories, ect". Then, after years of frustration, I gave up on "dieting". I just started eating healthy, whole foods whenever I was actually truly hungry. Amazingly, I've never been so lean in my life without starving myself! Eating just 2 meals a day is right for me- my 1st meal coming after 12 noon, and my final meal at around 7pm after my workout. What is so awesome is that I'm so ripped, yet I have tons of energy- in fact, I have MORE energy than when I was eating 5-6 times a day! It's also nice not to have to count every last calorie that enters my mouth. I heath healthy, whole foods, fruits & vegetables, and I eat SLOWLY to give my body time to respond so I don't overeat. When my stomach says, "I'm full!" I stop. I've also learned to differentiate between emotional eating and true hunger. Many people are emotional eaters and confuse boredom, anxiety, depression, ect. with hunger. We often tend to want to turn toward food to make us feel better, so we think we're hungry. So, that's how I got ripped without "dieting"...I have the 6 pack abs, the shapely arms, ect. I also follow a consistent weight training routine, with cardio about 3 times per week. And for those that might say I lost fat because of the exercise and not the diet- I've been following this routine for about 10 years now! My point is that everyone has individual needs when it comes to health and fat loss. Just because a bunch of "experts" say that people need to eat x amount of calories based on some formula, 6 times a day, ect. doesn't mean that it applies to you. Ultimately, you are your own expert. The key is becoming self-aware, and developing a knowledgable relationship with your own body so that you can hear what it's trying to tell you!

FitnessPros, excellent post. I'm hungry in the morning, but my husband for ex. can only eat around 2h after waking up. So he tried both forcing down breakfast and starving until lunch (which made him overeat) until I suggested he take some food he can eat at the time he is hungry at work.

Eating 3 meals a day for me has proved to be more important then I thought. I found this out during school when I would sometimes not have enough time to eat and would have to just run to class.
After doing some reasearch, I found out some pretty intresting things about the importance of eating three means; even if you are overweight.
When you skip meals, breakfast in piticular, your body adapts to being hungery more often then not. Then when you do end up feeding your body, it stores a lot more fat then it normally would. This is becuase your body is so used to getting one or so meals a day that it has to start storing the food you eat in preperation for when it's not going to get fed. Thus in turn building up on more fat.

I agree with FitnessPros! Same thing happened to me....so it was really crazy to read someone else having the same story to tell, just a couple years earlier. I had always been skinny and in shape my whole life without ever eating breakfast, etc, and just eating when I felt hungry. I never obsessed about food or working out; somehow it just worked. Well, I went through those "growing pains" associated with the college years and gained weight. I then tried zig-zag eating (alternating many vs little calories) and then I tried the whole 6 meals a day thing....I was all of a sudden eating breakfast...and I was counting calories! I became obsessed with "eating healthy" and working out and I was gaining weight and unable to even SQUEEZE into my old clothes! Well, something came over me that got me out of this rut and I have reverted back to my old carefree ways. I've lost tones of weight. I've never been happier! I just eat when I'm hungry (which is usually twice a day: around 12 noon - 3pm and then sometime after 6 pm.) Sometimes I don't even eat my 2nd meal til 11pm. Crazy. But the main thing is that I have a very busy schedule so I'm never thinking about food. When I eat it's usually when I'm taking a break and then realize "hmm...I'm hungry!" lol. I'm back to feeling awake and motivated throughout my day. It's nice. Just learn to listen to your body. And read what Fitness Pro said in their post. They offered some into I didn't feel like repeating.

Here's my best word of advice: Learn to be happy. Everything else will fall into place. =)