# Does eating breakfast affect weight?



## C3bBb (Oct 22, 2013)

bluekitdon said:


> I'm not going to go take it that far. It won't be a conclusive poll and certainly doesn't take into account every variable. Just one that may give an indication of whether or not people who are underweight, healthy, or overweight tend to eat breakfast or not.
> 
> Right now it looks like for the people that were polled, 50% of those who were underweight skip breakfast regularly, 43% of those who reported being normal weight skip breakfast regularly, and 0% of those who reported being overweight skip breakfast regularly.
> 
> ...


I see. The main problem I have here is one of causation, and also with the title of this thread. I also committed the same logical fallacy in my previous post, but establishing a link between A and B doesn't mean A-->B or B-->A, so when you say that people who are underweight tend to skip breakfast the implication is that A-->B, which goes against your B-->A implication in the thread title. The most you can say is that A and B happen to be related, or that people who skip breakfast also happen to be underweight as there's no implication of causation here.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

Senshu_Ben_Gone said:


> I see. The main problem I have here is one of causation, and also with the title of this thread. I also committed the same logical fallacy in my previous post, but establishing a link between A and B doesn't mean A-->B or B-->A, so when you say that people who are underweight tend to skip breakfast the implication is that A-->B, which goes against your B-->A implication in the thread title. The most you can say is that A and B happen to be related, or that people who skip breakfast also happen to be underweight as there's no implication of causation here.


Good point. Not sure how to change the title. Obviously eating or not eating breakfast is probably not the only cause of being under or over weight.


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## Obscure (May 20, 2013)

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. No matter what weight you have, you need to eat in the morn. 
Personally, I've always been underweight and never gave importance to breakfast until the last few years. I gotta admit when I eat breakfast I feel physically and mentally better and more organised.
Finally, eating or not eating haven't changed a pound in me.


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## letter_to_dana (Jun 4, 2013)

Well what do you mean by breakfast? If you guys talk about that meal you eat in the morning, around 8-10 AM ...well
No. I don't eat breakfast and almost never had. Why? Because I sleep at that time.  I wake up around 2-3 PM (now because I don't have a job of course) but I haven't been a morning person never. So my breakfast would be the meal I take whenever I wake up, even if it's around 10 AM or around 4 PM. Of course my eating problems are very big but mostly because I don't eat not because I don't have a healthy and regular time for my meals. Or at least that's what I think. I don't have the oppinion of a doctor.


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## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

letter_to_dana said:


> Well what do you mean by breakfast? If you guys talk about that meal you eat in the morning, around 8-10 AM ...well
> No. I don't eat breakfast and almost never had. Why? Because I sleep at that time.  I wake up around 2-3 PM (now because I don't have a job of course) but I haven't been a morning person never. So my breakfast would be the meal I take whenever I wake up, even if it's around 10 AM or around 4 PM. Of course my eating problems are very big but mostly because I don't eat not because I don't have a healthy and regular time for my meals. Or at least that's what I think. I don't have the oppinion of a doctor.


Don't you hate it when you want to get some breakfast from say Mcdonalds, and it's noon but it feels like you should be eating breakfast since you just woke up?


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## letter_to_dana (Jun 4, 2013)

Why "should I be eating breakfast"? I don't really know what you guys understand by "breakfast".
For me the meal I eat when I wake up is the biggest meal of the day. Because if I don't eat something in lets say 2 hours after I'm up well I'm getting really dizzy and that's not okay.
When I go to Mcdonalds before 10 AM and I see all those small meals they have for breakfast I get really sad. I have to eat 2-3 burgers in order to feel really satisfied. That's probably why I hate having that thing most people call "breakfast" in the morning before I get to school/work -- i hate eating something small in a rush. I prefer to skip it.


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## Hypaspist (Feb 11, 2012)

I'm normal weight and gaining muscle, I eat breakfast as often as possible. I get sick and my stomach protests like mad if I skip breakfast and a meal (a small holdover until lunch) between breakfast and lunch.


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## telepariah (Jun 20, 2011)

I eat a couple of eggs with refried beans, green chiles, and a little cheese wrapped in a tortilla every morning. If I don't eat mainly proteins and fats I will be sure to bonk soon and start craving carbs. Drinking coffee makes this even worse and I am currently not drinking any coffee at all. I get a nice slow burn through the day and don't snack on junk food nearly as much if I have a good breakfast. I'm finding that the fewer carbs I consume, the better I feel overall. I was getting overweight during my long corporate career due to all the stress eating and enabling by everyone else around me doing the same. Since I got away from there, I have lost about 40 pounds. I eat now when I'm hungry. I don't drink any coffee because it makes me hypoglycemic. And I have not had any alcohol in several weeks. Just trying to get healthy after a bad wreck that broke several ribs and separated them from my spine.


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## Permeate (May 27, 2012)

It doesn't matter as long as you're consuming adequate calories later in the day. That's why things like intermittent fasting are effective.


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## Splash Shin (Apr 7, 2011)

you can eat 3000 calories in one sitting if that is your daily intake to maintain weight it's gonna be digesting for the next 12 hours so it is the same effect as a meal every 2 hours... 

it doesn't matter what time you eat. The only effect it has is energy levels in the day.


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## Purrfessor (Jul 30, 2013)

Studies show that eating more often boosts your metabolism. But boosted metabolism does little when you are consuming too many Calories. You should eat the same amount of Calories as you would in 3 meals when you eat 5 meals. Portion sizes in your meals must lower when you raise the frequency at which you eat. If you want to lose weight better, eat more meals but the right number of Calories as well.


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## eydimork (Mar 19, 2014)

I'm underweight because I substitute solid substance with liquid substance.


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## Purrfessor (Jul 30, 2013)

eydimork said:


> I'm underweight because I substitute solid substance with liquid substance.


Are you a vampire?


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## eydimork (Mar 19, 2014)

Stelliferous said:


> Are you a vampire?












It doesn't matter what I say, does it?


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## Purrfessor (Jul 30, 2013)

eydimork said:


> It doesn't matter what I say, does it?


Not in the slightest. I am on to you *glares*


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## Kabosu (Mar 31, 2012)

I haven't really tracked for results, but in my teens, I was underweight and would snack in lieu of at least one meal in the day. I don't think I tried having regular breakfast until 16 or so.
Moved to my grandparents, started having 3 meals a day, gained 40 pounds but wasn't huge, but did gain some fat. That leveled off after over a year or so. Wasn't one to care for sides, especially during dinner.

I try to have it as often as possible but don't always do it. I have a kind of strong-overweight body now.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

Interesting articles.
Two big meals may be better than six small ones – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/...akfast-and-weight/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
Healthy breakfast: Quick, flexible options - Mayo Clinic

So far for totals 73% of people that say they are overweight eat breakfast regularly, 66% of normal weight eat breakfast and only 33% of underweight people eat breakfast. Similar poll results to eating more than 3 meals a day, that poll showed a correlation between eating 3 or fewer meals & being normal or underweight (note I didn't say causation, that's a much bigger question and can't really be answered by a poll). Not that we have that big of sample size but we're up to the same number of people now that was in some of these published studies.


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## Riptide (Feb 13, 2014)

There are tons of studying out there regarding to the whole breakfast is good and help losing weight. I am not going to repeat them here. I can only speak from my experience that breakfast keeps me feeling full throughout the day. I have much less cravings the days I have breakfast. However, one has to pay attention on what one has exactly for breakfast. Pizza or fish and chips are not what I was talking about.

I am normal weight by the way.


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## HAL (May 10, 2014)

Not gonna answer this poll because the results are gonna be invalid anyway.

A better question would be: Do you exercise, do you eat the right amounts, and are you fat?

I mean seriously, any experiment between breakfast eating and body weight will need to be quite tightly controlled - a simple poll is practically useless.


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## Expand (May 27, 2014)

Hi, I haven't read all the posts so I hope I am not being redundant, but
I have a very strong opinion on this. 

When I am in a good space as far as my fitness, it is an absolute must to eat breakfast. It's actually best to eat right as you get up. (You know as soon as possible) 
But when I'm off my game, I skip breakfast all the time. I can live w/o it. 

It's just if you care about your *body fat percentage *not just your weight then you should definitely be eating breakfast. It revs your metabolism, gives you energy to function well, and a ton of other benefits. 

I am generally thin either way, that's the thing. But I know I'm messing up when I am not eating in the morning bc I start to loose more muscle. And even though I don't necessarily "look fat." I know that I'm going down on fitness. 

I go up and down with this. Same with my working out. It's still a struggle. I know that ultimately eating in the morning, exercising etc. is the way to go, and I feel SO much better. And when I go back I can't understand why I didn't start my routine again earlier...


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