The FastDay Forum

I know there have been some posts on missing breakfast but I haven't been able to come to a satisfactory conclusion on this. I too was raised by a mother who was strict about having breakfast. I insist that my 14 yo son has a good breakfast every day but here I am skipping it most days each week!! I have started the 16:8 system as a maintenance strategy. I am actually doing this 5 days per week and having three meals on the other 2 days. Suits me just fine as I don't really care about breakfast and rarely snack at night. SO what is the view on missing breakfast? I see most research is strongly in favour of it. Some isn't so much. Are we as a group just in denial about it so that we can stick to our plan?? I will be a lot happier with my 16:8 if I could get this part of it sorted in my mind.

On fast days I have a lunch at approx 2pm and my other meal before 8pm. On other days I start eating when I feel hungry eg a snack (6 almonds) or a slice of ham or a small banana or a bowl of porage and then lunch at 2pm which is usually a salad. In the winter months I always start the day with a bowl of porage made with milk. I don't eat anything after 8pm and prefer not to drink after that time as it disturbs my sleeping pattern.

I'm not sure it matters what 'they' say. Let's face it, 'they' have been giving us wrong info for years! If you feel fine then that's all that matters isn't it? I eat breakfast every day as I LOVE all things brekky food wise. Also I get up at 5am and run around like a mad woman for hours, so if I have a big bowl of porridge I'm not hungry for hours. But on weekends, I get up and faff about and have coffee, then breakfast about 2 hours after getting up & if I didn't have to leave to catch a train @ 5.30am weekdays I would do this too. But I think YOU decide what you want to do. Bit different for kids as they may not have access to healthy food once they get to school?

I'm just not hungry when I get up so I don't eat, if I was then I would have breakfast. Children are growing so when they get up they need to eat, sometimes though my daughter will just have fruit for breakfast if she isn't very hungry. I'm not in denial or not eating it because of the 5:2, I can now though not eat it without thinking that I should be forcing myself to have breakfast as it is apparently the most important meal of the day "NOT"

Hi I miss my breakfasts but am definitely not hungry when I get up and really did think this was helping my weight loss so had small lunch about 1pm, I'm doing 4:3 and done amazingly well but appear to be ''stuck'' and I know I've got to hang on in there +wait, I've changed nothing but haven't done as much walking in last 10days or so.
Back to breakfast I always had it before because that's the way I was bought up, I never thought I could do without.

I am very interested in this topic because I have noticed I don't often feel like eating breakfast now, whereas I was always ravenous as soon as I got up before I started this WOE. So I have sometimes not eaten until lunchtime on feast days and then eating what ever I fancy (but usually find I do fancy something healthy). However, I keep hearing that this means I am not kick starting my metabolism and this can slow my weight loss - which doesn't make sense because surely it doesn't matter what time of day I start eating as long as I do eat and make healthy choices? Apparently not having breakfast can slow down concentration as well - whereas I find the opposite as I often feel more energised by missing it. When I am hungry and do eat breakfast, I find I just want to keep eating more all morning - despite having porridge, which is supposed to be slow release energy that keeps you fuller for longer. I just think I should follow the principle that if I am hungry I should eat something (except on Famine days obviously).

I am replying to this wearing my 'ex-headteacher head' rather than my '5:2 faster head'. When I was reading your post, I think that you were trying to sort out in your own mind whether it is reasonable for you to be insisting that your son eats a good breakfast, whilst you are not?

When I was teaching, it was noticeable that those children who came to school without breakfast, or even more importantly - enough sleep, did tend to under-perform in the classroom. I do not think it unreasonable, whilst your son is still growing, to ask him to eat a nutritious breakfast on school days. Perhaps you could give him some leeway by allowing him to choose whether he has it, or not on non-school days? In this way he would soon discover for himself if he needs it, or not. I hope this helps to clarify your own thinking on this issue, although I suspect that you will have many replies, all with different views!

Personally, I love my muesli breakfast but manage perfectly well without it on fasting days. I think it may be something of a habit but I managed to reach my target by not giving it up, so I shall continue to enjoy it!

On fast days I don't eat till 6 o'clock. The rest of the week I hoe into muesli and Greek yoghurt because I really like it. Do what suits you.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and experiences. There seems to be loads of anecdotal experience of managing quite well without breakfast! I am concluding that perhaps whether to have breakfast or not isn't as simple as our mothers made out (and the nutrition industry). I think that growing children need breakfast for the same reasons they shouldn't fast- they are growing! Perhaps there are important differences in metabolic patterns that make some of us morning eaters and not others. Has anyone heard of this hunter/farmer diet idea? I doubt it is the 'truth' but there are some correlations with fasting theory.

Chook wrote........"Do what suits you"................That has always been my 'mantra' but when it come to children I'd not be happy seeing a child go to school without something healthy inside them.

Ballerina x

If it ain't broke don't fix it, if you don't want breakfast and eat healthily in your 8 hour window because you can - I do - well then all is well. In regards to your 14 year old he is a growing lad just about to have massive growth spurts and soon you won't be able to see your fridge without him standing before it with the door open saying 'what's to eat I am starving?' Maybe do my trick and share some of your tasty portion sized meals frozen ready for him to have as snacks. Win win.

Lucky you toad I miss my breakfast every day