Skipping Breakfast Confusion

This topic contains 13 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Traminator 10 years, 2 months ago.

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Traminator

2:49 am
23 Sep 14
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Hi Fast Dieters,
After being fascinated by Dr Michael Mosley’s BBC Horizon show, and then his FAST DIET BOOK, I am now into my second week of the 5:2 Diet. But having been brought up all my life, being taught to always eat a good hearty breakfast. And then reading somewhere else in this forum, that the breakfast EATERS lose more weight than the breakfast SKIPPERS. So it raises two confusing questions for me.
[1]. Wouldn’t skipping breakfast be a type of “mini” fast, which is what we are all trying to do?, and [2]. Has anyone worked out {along with Dr Mosley} what LENGTH of a true fast, would constitute the body turning from GROW CELL MODE into REPAIR CELL MODE as the “breakfast skipping” bit with not losing weight, seems to fly in the face of the fasting advice.
thanks ahead of time, from a “very confused” Michael from Melbourne Australia

Moulin

6:17 am
23 Sep 14
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Some people eat breakfast, some don’t. The longer your fast, the more time your body has for repair cell mode, but it also depends what you do for the rest of the day. It’s more important to figure out what works for you to be able to sustain fasting for the day.

I have a small breakfast (max 150 calories) then nothing but water till dinner time when I have my other 350 calories eating with the family. As long as I avoid starchy carbs (bread) and include some protein in my breakfast I’m fine for the day. If I were to skip breakfast I’d end up eating a bigger lunch and cutting dinner down to less than 300 calories would be a struggle. I have always functioned better with a proper breakfast and not much lunch so I’ve found it easier to stick with my natural eating pattern on fasting days too.

Many people here focus on finishing dinner early on the day before fasting, so they get a 12 hour fast before breakfast. If you’re used to breakfast you could try this approach.

Purple Vegie Eater

6:33 am
23 Sep 14
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Traminator, where is the data showing “breakfast eaters lose weight quicker than non breakfast eaters”? I think you will find that is just someone’s opinion only.
You will lose weight if your calories (or kilo joules) in are less than your body’s needs. Simple.
Re fast length for cell healing…a lot have asked, but no one has done or published definitive research on humans yet. I’m sure it will come.
In the meantime we all do our fast days (1/4 or less of TDEE) in whichever way we find manageable for us. With time, on this wol, you will find you can manage differing regimes. I went from a breakfast fanatic to a brunch eater, then a late lunch eater to eventually one meal at night. This took well over a year to evolve. I now often have a small late afternoon snack and dinner as I have been maintaining for 6 months. Be flexible. This is for life. 🙂 All the best PVE

Traminator

6:39 am
23 Sep 14
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Thanks for that Moulin. I guess what intrigues me more, is that as a single person who rarely feels hungry {the big breakfast I guess}, I am finding it quite a lot easier than others on the site, to go the whole day {meaning a 36 hour fast} without eating.
But my main curiosity that I guess I can only test over time, is that would? a 36 hour fast twice a week, help in the REPAIR CELL MODE more. Or I wonder if the 500-600 calories, actually HELP? with the losing weight process overall.
I guess only time will tell – thanks from Traminator

Traminator

6:44 am
23 Sep 14
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Thanks PVE. Have you ever gone “without” the 600 calories, or is that just too tough a task

simcoeluv

6:57 am
23 Sep 14
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Hi Traminator:

Please do not confuse 5:2 the weight loss diet with 5:2 the life extension diet. There is no clinical proof that 5:2 extends life, and all comments on the ‘repair mode’ or ‘other health benefits’ are hope only at this point.

5:2 the weight loss diet has been clinically proven to be safe and effective. Many people do not eat any food on their diet days and lose a little more weight as a result of cutting more calories out of their diet each week. This will explain how the ‘numbers’ work: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/tdee-for-the-curious-or-why-dont-i-lose-weight-faster/

Good Luck!

Purple Vegie Eater

7:08 am
23 Sep 14
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Agree with Simo.
My OH and I started this 18 months ago for health. We rarely ate more than 400 cal on fast days. Often less. 1/4 TDEE is maximum. We lost 57 kg between us. He has reversed his diabetes and I am off bp drugs.We both look and feel great. We are doing this for our present health. Life is so much better when you feel good.
These days he eats only at night on fast days. We find we often only eat twice on normal days as that is all we need. We rarely eat processed foods now and don’t crave them at all. We eat a healthy balanced diet.
OHs daily bloid sugar tests are a clear indicator that we are on the right track. Hope our experience helps. PVE

Dummerchen

7:38 am
23 Sep 14
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Traminator, you have probably read things like this article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27422547

A few studies have been done on breakfast vs. no breakfast and the results are far from clear. It seems that people who skip breakfast eat more at lunchtime and are less physically active during the morning, whereas the breakfast eaters have a smaller lunch and move a bit more. As long as they stay away from the chocolate vending machine there appears to be not much of a difference with regards to weight though.

What the study by Kahleova et al. indicates is that a change of eating pattern can cause weight loss. Not surprising to me; when you change your eating habits you become more aware of what you are doing and this in itself can have an effect on the amounts you eat.

Purple Vegie Eater

12:14 pm
23 Sep 14
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Dummerchen, you are talking about people who don’t eat breakfast, then eat too much later, not fasters.
On 5:2 you are limiting your intake anyway, so the talk is purely about when you consume your 1/4 TDEE. It would seem irrelevant when you consume your calories, only that you don’t go over. People find different ways of achieving the mental space to comfortably limit their intake. For some it is eating breakfast, a long fast, then dinner. Others eat 3 tiny meals. Others find eating anything stimulates their appetite, so wait as long as possible for their first food of the day on fast days.

Comparing 5:2 techniques with non-5:2 people who just don’t eat breakfast every day and are not limiting calorie intake is pointless.

Dummerchen

4:59 pm
23 Sep 14
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PVE, Traminator asked about skipping breakfast without specifying if he means fast or non fast days. Since he wants to know if skipping breakfast would be a mini-fast, I have to assume that he is talking about days when he does not fast.
The study is the only one I can easily recall which compares breakfast and non-breakfast.

Purple Vegie Eater

8:14 pm
23 Sep 14
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Fair enough, Dummerchen.
Like Simcoe, and I presume yourself, I am trying to share strategies to keep people on 5:2. Most discussions are about what to do on fast days.
The difficulty with forums is always the briefness of the written interactions, the differing cultural and experiential backgrounds of the posters and the time delays between responses. All we can do is put the information out there and let people do what they will with it.
All the best with your own personal journey. PVE

Dummerchen

8:18 pm
23 Sep 14
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Yep, all we can do is spread the word.

StuartL

2:08 am
24 Sep 14
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Hmm I went ten years without eating breakfast, sometimes skipping lunch as well, but I was working then and quite active, it was my routine to get up prepare to go to work and just have a cup of coffee, and I never felt any problems (weakness or anything) I think your body adjusts to any routine you might put on it.
P.s. I was quite slim then.
Now it is different I have retired and eat breakfast with my wife (and look forward to it when I wake up)and have put on way too much weight, I can’t say if that is because of breakfast or being less active now.
I think recycling body cells would happen quicker with more prolonged fasting, but I also think as long as you are losing weight and burning fat it happens.

Regards Stuart

Traminator

4:12 am
24 Sep 14
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Hi Again,
I’d just like to say a quick THANKYOU to everyone that replied. And as a follow-up to Dummerchen’s SECOND REPLY. Sorry that I wasn’t clear in that I actually wasn’t referring at all to the FAST 5:2 DIET. What I meant I guess, was that for so long I thought that ANYONE who skipped breakfast – was actually “slowing down” their metabolism, so when the 5:2 diet in general, suddenly implied that skipping breakfast could be considered as a “mini fast” that is where my confusion came from, as I was never going to skip breakfast myself on a non-fast day, but thinking now that on a FAST DAY skipping breakfast, and having my 600 calories for dinner, suddenly made me think that general breakfast “skippers” might actually be (now?) a good thing to do, in a very broad sense.
So thanks again to all that replied, and what it leaves me with, is the notion that for Dr Mosley and many others – the 5:2 or 4:3 diet is now a way of life, but many more studies can be done to know more precise details in the future – Thanks from the Traminator in Australia
P.S. Dummerchen, that post you attached in your first reply was VERY helpful, THANKS