Especially if you grew up in the 70's you were always told, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" and "Don't skip breakfast" and I think even Schoolhouse Rock had one about "Breakfast: Break the Fast."

But is that really true? Do we really need 3 meals a day? What if we only ate when we were actually hungry? Maybe 1 or 2 meals a day? Dr. Robert Cewes says that we don't need breakfast because our livers release stuff in the morning (Dawn Effect) - the stored sugar while we were inactive - your liver releases it all in the morning to get you up and moving and energized. He says if you're not hungry in the morning, don't just eat just because you think you're supposed to.

There's a lot of theory that the food manufacturers back in the day paid heavily for advertising to convince us of certain "health facts" that really weren't health facts but opportunities to sell their sugary breakfast cereals, processed foods, etc.

So I think we sometimes need to reexamine the science and medicine against what we have always heard or think we know from 40 years ago.

https://youtu.be/Qleee_1yYHQ

I have breakfast much later now - around 9am. Not hungry before then. Before surgery, I could never eat a bowl of rolled oats for breakfast- too heavy & I often then felt hungry for the rest of the day. Now I love my porridge & it keeps me happy for 3 hours.

I remember one of the anti breakfast stories said skipping breakfast would help with weight loss or maintaining your weight. I remember because I spent many years not eating breakfast & it never helped me maintain or lose weight at all. I gained every year doing that.

Mmmm??? I wonder if the anti breakfast position is really just against those big heavy full breakfast fry ups, waffles or pancakes stacks drizzled with sugar laden maple syrup, cream, whipped butter, etc. style breakfasts???

But as I say all the time, you just have to discover what works for you whether that is eating breakfast or not. All because I do & it works for me doesn’t mean it will work for you.

14 hours ago, MistySkye said:

Breakfast is a must for me. …more so after surgery, because I need to eat when I take my Vitamins. (Only time I have had nausea - is when I took my vitamins and didn’t eat)

pre-surgery - if I skipped breakfast, I ate more throughout the rest of the day.

Yes, vitamins make me nauseous too if I don't take them on a full stomach.

4 minutes ago, GradyCat said:

Yes, vitamins make me nauseous too if I don't take them on a full stomach.

Me too, but I take them at night so I have a snack then. It's easier for me to remember them at night and then if I am nauseous I usually just fall asleep.

18 hours ago, MistySkye said:

because I need to eat when I take my Vitamins. (Only time I have had nausea - is when I took my vitamins and didn’t eat)

Ahhh this just reminded me…back when i was still taking vitamins, i too would get nauseous if i took them on an empty stomach…so i started burying them in a tbsp of greek yogurt. Worked well for me.

My surgeon told me that while the dietician would disagree, she recommended just having coffee until lunch time. So, I have coffee with ultra milk & unflavored protein powder in it. This has worked really well for me & surgeon is very pleased w my progress & labs.

I would phrase it this way: as a bariatric patient, my first meal of the day is the most important.

I want to get a great start on getting my protein in. I think my body does best when I start with protein and I don't want to be playing catch up on my protein throughout the day. That doesn't mean my first meal is solid food -- it almost never is. I usually start the day by putting a Premier Protein premade shake (30g protein) in the blender and adding two scoops of Chike protein coffee (20g protein). This way, I start the day with 50g protein and some caffeine. It has made it very easy for me to hit my protein goals, gives me some energy and doesn't take up too much room in my stomach. On days when I don't do that, I feel off all day.

But if your first meal is at 6 am, 9 am, noon, whatever....different strokes for different folks.

45 minutes ago, Splenda said:

I would phrase it this way: as a bariatric patient, my first meal of the day is the most important.

I want to get a great start on getting my Protein in. I think my body does best when I start with protein and I don't want to be playing catch up on my protein throughout the day. That doesn't mean my first meal is solid food -- it almost never is. I usually start the day by putting a Premier Protein premade shake (30g protein) in the blender and adding two scoops of Chike protein coffee (20g protein). This way, I start the day with 50g protein and some caffeine. It has made it very easy for me to hit my protein goals, gives me some energy and doesn't take up too much room in my stomach. On days when I don't do that, I feel off all day.

But if your first meal is at 6 am, 9 am, noon, whatever....different strokes for different folks.

I have heard from several "reputable sources" that we cannot absorb more than 25-30g of protein at once, so any additional protein is just being turned into fat or excreted.

Maybe have the shake and the chike a few hours apart?

1 hour ago, lizonaplane said:

I have heard from several "reputable sources" that we cannot absorb more than 25-30g of protein at once, so any additional protein is just being turned into fat or excreted.

Maybe have the shake and the chike a few hours apart?

Lizonaplane is not the first person who has mentioned that on here. Worth looking into.

8 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

Lizonaplane is not the first person who has mentioned that on here. Worth looking into.

I have heard this on 2 different bariatric podcasts hosted by nutritionists, plus I believe they mentioned it when I had my last call with my surgery center

On 2/9/2022 at 9:15 AM, lizonaplane said:

I have heard from several "reputable sources" that we cannot absorb more than 25-30g of protein at once, so any additional protein is just being turned into fat or excreted.

Maybe have the shake and the chike a few hours apart?

The 30 grams things came out of body builders (of which I am definitely not one). In terms of muscle-building and muscle-retention, anything more than 30 grams at a time probably isn't going to have a much bigger impact than 30. But that protein is used for many purposes, including amino acids and any excess protein is broken down into energy.

At least for me, its a good source of energy. If I drink the Chike shake at 7:30-8am, I'm not hungry until noon. And I routinely get >100g of protein throughout the day. I am losing weight (135 pounds as I approach my six month anniversary), my doc loves my bloodwork and I have great energy, so if it ain't broke, I'm not going to fix it. I am not going to make perfect the enemy of the good.

Edited February 10, 20224 yr by Splenda

No. Eat when you're hungry. Our natural or evolved state is to fast and then feast. Logistically, WLS makes the feast impossible so planning is required for nutrition. But even so, regular meals is profoundly unnatural.