Advice You Didn't Ask For

Breakfast is a must.

I truly believe that eating breakfast daily is a major key to my weight loss. It's true what they say; eating breakfast is important even if you aren't hungry. It's important to start your metabolism right for the day. By skipping breakfast, you are starving your body until later, thus telling it to get in the habit of storing your dinner as fat because you won't be eating for awhile. Not a good idea, right? 

So, if you are the type of person, like my husband, who just "isn't hungry" in the morning, eat something small within the first two hours of getting up, such as a piece of fruit or toast with peanut butter, then eat another something small a few hours later. Eating this way reduces spikes in your blood sugar and prevents you from getting overly hungry, which is a terrible place to be. Plus, smaller meals trains your body to process the food faster because more will come later. Make sense?

Sometimes my days can be long, and I don't know when I will have time to break for lunch. For those days you know you're having a late lunch, eat something more substantial or pack snacks to, avoid elevated hunger. Instead of cereal, I might have a homemade breakfast sandwich those days and have a yogurt or popcorn for a snack.

No matter what you do, don't skip breakfast. Even if you get up late and lunch seems just around the corner,  eat something small. For instance, on the rare occasion I do not motivate until 10 am, I will have a small portion of instant oatmeal and a banana, which is enough to hold me over for a little while. Waiting for lunch is always a bad idea. Combining meals, such as brunch, or Dan's infamous "linner," is also not great because you usually waited to eat, meaning you're hungrier, and you are very likely to over eat.

Try to avoid breakfast boredom. This is always a challenge for me. I'm a fan of the egg sandwich, but I have to mix it up from day to day so I don't get bored and crave something really bad, like stuffed french toast or a sausage McMuffin. Here are some of my standby breakfast choices:

• egg sandwiches: add different cheeses, salsa, veggies, different meats. I like mine on low point English muffins with Egg Beaters.
• yogurt and a piece of fruit: some days I splurge and add granola
• oatmeal: add bananas, raisins, sugar free syrup, apple sauce, etc.
• toast with peanut butter and a banana: it takes like dessert!

What is one of your go-to breakfasts?