Breakfast! - A to Z Weight-Loss Tips for Long-Term Success - Tip B

Breakfast! - Don't leave home without it!

Skipping breakfast WILL NOT help you lose weight. Skipping meals (especially breakfast) is one of the most common things people attempt during their efforts to lose weight. HOWEVER, research tells us that skipping meals, especially breakfast, is associated with being overweight (higher BMI). WHY? Well, a few reasons come to mind:

• Skipping breakfast can lead to making unwise morning snack choices (those donuts in the lunchroom at work start to look very appetizing when you are starving and haven't had anything to eat since the night before!)
• Skipping breakfast can lead to overeating at the next meal or later in the day, leading to excess calorie consumption (the very thing you were trying to avoid by skipping that meal).
• Skipping breakfast may give you that sense of "entitlement" to a high-calorie dessert later in the evening, which will add many more calories to your day then a nice, healthy breakfast. ("Well, I can go ahead and eat this entire container of Ben and Jerry's because I skipped breakfast and I deserve a treat!"...sound familiar?) 
• Skipping breakfast and then attempting a morning work out is like driving your car with the "low fuel" light on. Sooner than later you WILL run out of gas! When this happens, your workout will be sluggish, you will fatigue early, and you may stop your workout too soon to burn adequate calories.

Breakfast is the fuel that helps you start the day, fueling your brain for work or school or your morning workouts. Scientific research concluded that kids are able to concentrate and focus better at school if they have eaten breakfast. Well, the same goes for adults. Your brain needs the fuel from food to survive your busy day, and your brain also uses that fuel to help you make wise lifestyle choices that will keep you on track with your nutrition plan.

"Breakfast" does not have to be a fancy, sit-down, throw-down event. It doesn't even have to be "typical breakfast" foods. Some can be prepared in less than 2 minutes and eaten on the way to work. It can be as simple as: 

• fruit and yogurt
• a bowl of cereal with fruit
• 1/2 bagel with nut butter, apple, and travel box of soy milk (or skim milk)
• Orange wedges, crackers, cheese
• Lean ham or deli meat on a toasted English muffin, vegetable juice
• Instant oatmeal made with milk and topped with dried fruit
• 1/2 bagel with low-fat cream cheese, hard-boiled egg, orange-juice 
• Breakfast smoothie (milk, fruit, and bran whirled in a blender)
• Granola topped with canned peaches and yogurt 
• Whole wheat tortilla spread w/ peanut butter and wrapped around a banana, milk

These breakfast ideas take less than 2 minutes to make. Don't believe me? Time yourself and you'll be surprised how quickly you can make some of these breakfast meals. It will give you that much needed energy boost in the morning so you have a productive day and keep your nutrition plan in check.