Healthy Living

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Did you have a good breakfast this morning? Did you really?

As if you needed more proof, a new study proves something that we've known all along: a decent breakfast and adequate calories are essential to long-term weight loss. Researchers studied two groups of obese subjects: one group followed a low-carb diet, ingesting about 1,100 calories each day, with a 300 calorie breakfast, while the other group had about 1,200 calories and ate half their calories first thing in the morning. From the BBC:

"Four months on, the low-carb dieters appeared to be doing better, losing an average of 28 pounds to the 23 shed on the "big breakfast" diet. However, after eight months, the situation had reversed, with the low-carb dieters putting an average of 18 of those pounds back on, while the big breakfasters continued to lose weight, on average 16.5 pounds each. They lost a fifth of their total body weight on average, compared with less than 5 percent for the low-carb dieters."


As you know, I'm horrible when it comes to getting a good breakfast, but even when I do have the foresight to pull something together the night before, it's usually pretty spartan, calorie-wise. For instance, this morning, I had an apple and oat square (240 calories), a giant bowl of whole fresh strawberries (which, according to Nutrition Data, clocks in just under 100 calories), and an unsweetened black iced tea (0 calories). I try not to think too much about calories (because quite frankly, it's just asking to resurrect my disordered eating mentality) but until I did the math, just now, I actually thought I had a pretty generous breakfast. After adding it all up, however, I realize that while it had loads of fiber and tasted delicious, it just might be derailing my long-term efforts to lose some of my ass. Man. Clearly, I should have stopped at Krispy Kreme or something. Clearly I shouldn't have scoffed at Ed's daily "ideal diet" breakfast.

I'm nosy, so I was all over this man-on-the-street poll on what some New Yorkers eat for breakfast. And looking at Simply Breakfast's photos inspires me to start taking a more Zen approach to my morning.

What did you eat for breakfast today?

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[photo credit: Getty Images]
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From the Community…

Comments 1-10 of 27
  • popesmom's Avatar
    Posted by popesmom Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:11pm PDT

    Diet Dew and um.....brownie bites. At least it was Diet Soda.

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  • open_faced's Avatar
    Posted by open_faced Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:31pm PDT

    I'm usually pretty good about having a decent breakfast, mostly because I get raging headaches when I don't. Okay, so maybe they don't always enough calories, but they are generally very nutritious. Today, however, it was coffee with cream, a miniature dark chocolate Hershey's bar, and a fresh peach. So, maybe at least I got a few antioxidants??? Okay, so maybe I'll begin my day, nutrition-wise, at lunch...

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  • 's Avatar
    Posted by Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:50pm PDT

    yeah I agree with you a breakfast makes the difference, have the breaksfast of a King , teh Lunch of a prince and the dinner of a peasant

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  • Beth's Avatar
    Posted by Beth Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:21am PDT

    It's hard breaking out of the habit of small breakfast and bigger dinners for me lol. But I have been trying to do breakfast more, instead of trying to keep up with getting something together at home early in the morning, I keep vanilla soymilk and shredded oats cereal at work. Even that doesn't make it to the 600 calorie mark though. So this morning I had:

    Shredded Oat cereal

    half cup of soymilk

    Small Banana

    16oz decaf coffe w/3 sugars

    Total calorie: roughly 385

    I would eat more but I am completely full. It's hard to do a high calorie breakfast without doing it with bad for you food.

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  • Erin R's Avatar
    Posted by Erin R Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:37am PDT

    Two pieces of cinnamon toast, a banana and a glass of water. This morning, I ate in the car during my commute, so I needed portable food, but usually I eat cereal and some sort of fruit. I know I don't get enough calories, but I usually eat a small snack between breakfast and lunch and this works for me.

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  • Laura's Avatar
    Posted by Laura Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:11am PDT

    Scrambled egg, 2 pieces of double fiber whole wheat toast (skimming of butter), bananna, 1 cup of low-fat chocolate milk.

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  • RitaF's Avatar
    Posted by RitaF Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:23am PDT

    Yeah my breakfasts resemble yours...only usually smaller. Yesterday I didn't even have breakfast. Usually my breakfasts average in around 140-150 calories. Not the best way to start the day I guess.

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  • 's Avatar
    Posted by Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:26am PDT

    Large coffee with cream, one packet of oatmeal a rice and some cheeze its. wow very boring in writing!

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  • not yet expecting's Avatar
    Posted by not yet expecting Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:32am PDT

    I almost always have an egg-based breakfast. During college, I ate mainly pancakes/blintzes/omelettes/scrambled eggs and tea (my parents made them). Now I eat mostly an egg-mac casserole with either fruit juice/lemonade or tea for breakfast. I do not have much time in the mornings to make something like I do after dinner, which is when I'm cooking everything anyway. On weekends I like either boiled eggs or scrambled eggs on some sort of meat- bacon, sausage, ham, with fresh veggies, a slice or 2 of whole wheat bread, and either juice/lemonade/tea. When I'm out of eggs and don't have much time to cook, I grab some veggies and a slice of bread and juice and that's it but then my stomach growls a lot earlier on those days than on my casserole days. I have no clue as to how much of anything I'm eating (serving sizes and calories) nor have I ever cared because my body tells me if that's enough calories/whatever else or not. Listen to your body instead of counting how many servings or calories of what food you eat, but DO try not to eat junk, especially for breakfast! I've never had water or pop for breakfast (although water not because it's good but because I don't feel like drinking water first thing in the morning) nor have I ever had a drop of coffee at all and I'm just fine with early morning tasks once I'm fully awake and at it. Breakfast, I was taught very early, is the most important meal of the day, so try NOT to skip it- eating it later is better than skipping it altogether, and try to eat it at home before you head for the door. I was taught to "never leave home without having eaten breakfast" and have stuck to that ever since. Works for me!

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  • Beth's Avatar
    Posted by Beth Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:58am PDT

    Sure your body tells you how much calories you need to maintain the weight you have, but if you want to lose some then unfortunately have to count the calories.

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Comments 1-10 of 27

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