Skipping Breakfast - Everybody's Doing It
Growing up, we had pretty nailed down routine. My alarm went off (yes, I got myself up even in middle school…), my mom got my siblings up, & we all sleepily made our way downstairs. Waiting for us every weekday morning on our breakfast bar, without fail, was one of the following:
Bowl of General Mills cereal with 2% milk OR fudge Pop Tart (2 in my case…)
A cup of more 2% milk
Flinstones vitamin
All set on a single paper towel
Clearly moving into my college & adult life the first thing I would do is eat breakfast. I felt “off” if I didn’t eat first thing. So much so that when my husband & I started living together it would blow my mind that he DIDN’T eat first thing - he waited until after a few cups of coffee. Sometimes I would just want to eat so bad! And don’t even get me started on working out before I ate - I thought I would pass out!
These were the things that scared me when I first started practicing intermittent fasting. My questions were “So you don’t eat?”, “You just starve yourself?”, “Why would anyone skip breakfast ON PURPOSE?”
It wasn’t until I was educated on WHY intermittent fasting is good for you & HOW you do it effectively that I truly embraced the concept. Intermittent Fasting isn’t starving yourself or not eating - its an eating schedule.
So here are the why’s & how’s behind the IF phenomena:
How it works. Like I said, IF is an eating schedule. Your body is either in a fasted stated or fed state, meaning you’re whether your eating or you’re not. When you’re not, MOST of the time you are sleeping, so it truly is just skipping breakfast!
It turns your body into a pro-fat burner. When you’re eating, your body has a hard time burning fat. When you’re not eating, your insulin levels are lower so your body can use your fat reserves for fuel which = inches lost…
You eat - ALOT. Its important to eat enough whole foods during your eating window. Pairing IF with carb cycling & tracking macros (which is what we do in the FASTer Way), we cycle through high carb days & low carb days to ensure we are fueling our bodies effectively so IF can do its thing.
There’s more to it than losing weight. IF has many more benefits to your overall health than just losing weight or inches. Here are some of them:
reduced inflammation
improved sleep
greater mental clarity
better digestion
improved hormone levels
It makes life easier. Having a little one when I first started IF, skipping breakfast made my life SO MUCH EASIER. I didn’t have to think about myself first thing in the morning - just the small one. I follow a 16/8 protocol, meaning my eating window is 8 hours long, 12pm-8pm to be exact. It doesn’t have to be complicated - just a time frame that fits your lifestyle.
Above all else, if you are new to IF I encourage you to find a coach or support system to ensure you’re doing it correctly. Practicing IF the incorrect way & under eating can actually do more harm than good. We do just that in the FASTer Way, both for new clients & for our VIP community!
Cheers!
Brooke