I am such a hypocrite. I used to skip breakfast, too. I thought I wasn’t hungry, or I thought I was hungrier if I ate breakfast. I knew all the smart weight loss and exercise experts said to eat breakfast, but I thought somehow I defied the norm.
And then I was listening to my favorite radio show in the morning with John Madden and Al Hart a number of years ago on KCBS, and John was ribbing Al about how little he weighed. (A favorite topic.) John pointed out that all of the people he knows who eat big breakfasts weigh a lot less than those he knows who skip breakfast. Al assured John he never skips his breakfast. Cue lightbulb.
After paying a bit of attention to my habits, I now recognize that when I skip breakfast, I will eat out every cupboard in my kitchen after dinner, before I go to bed. Really not a well planned system for weight loss, weight management, or healthy fuel consumption!
And there is plenty of research to back me up. A study presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual conference last summer showed that “when people skip meals, especially breakfast, changes in brain activity in response to food may hinder weight loss and even promote weight gain.”
If you find yourself hungry after you eat a good breakfast that is a sign of your METABOLISM SPEEDING UP. Hey! That’s a good thing!! Make sure your breakfast was a solid one and keep going with a good lunch and the dreaded “sensible dinner”. If you have eaten well at the start of your day you may not need to remind yourself not to overeat at dinner. Seriously.
Please stop blaming yourself for overeating if you regularly skip breakfast. (Blame your brain.) Eat a good breakfast instead and you may soon be able to avoid the entire emotional drama and watch your weight slide down the scale.
I’ve heard others put it this way: eat like royalty at breakfast, nobility at lunch, and a beggar at dinner. Or, another favorite of mine: you can’t gain weight at breakfast or at lunch.
So maybe I’m not a hypocrite after all. Maybe my experiences have made me wise. I like that option better! Please take advantage of my wisdom. Eat breakfast.
