Will Breakfast Actually Help Us Lose Weight?

The ideal breakfast for fat loss

Firstly, breakfast comes from the idea that we "break" our "fast." And for a lot of people, that takes place in the morning. Most of us eat it thanks to the marketing genius of a popular cereal brand; when we were told it was "the most important meal" of the day, no one questioned it!

But thankfully, some scientists did.

And what we learned was whilst breakfast is no more important than any other meal, there is a favourable way to eat it for fat loss.

Firstly, it has been shown in multiple studies like this one, that meal frequency and eating every few hours doesn't increase your metabolism. So, eating breakfast to "kick off the metabolism" isn't true. What matters is that we consume fewer calories than we burn.

But amongst this, what we've also learned is that taking an "intermittent fasting" approach to breakfast might be a good idea.

One study took 49 females into two groups: breakfast at 8:30 am for 4 weeks, or an "intermittent fasting" style breakfast later at 11:30 am, where they both consumed 15% of their daily energy requirements in their respective breakfasts.

So, what did they find?

The group eating the early breakfast consumed as little as 266-496 extra calories over the day and gained just under a kilo more than the other group. They also reported no better measures of hunger or satiety, increased exercise, or decreased sedentary time.  

But this isn't a surprise. Other intermittent fasting studies have always shown that "fasting" (like the non-breakfast group did, not eating until after 11:30 am) is beneficial for reducing food intake.

What's the best breakfast for fat loss?

It's critical to point out that these studies looked at high sugary breakfasts like cereal. So, if you're going to eat breakfast, there is a better way to do it for fat loss. It's not that eating breakfast is a problem, it's that the food people eat (a load of carbohydrates like in the aforementioned study) chews up their daily calorie intake and steers them closer to the iceberg of a calorie surplus for no added benefits.

So, what's the best breakfast to have then?

Well, consuming a whey protein isolate shake and coffee is a great solution!

Coffee can help blunt your appetite in the morning, whilst protein is obviously as good as it gets for satiety.

Moreover, studies that look at this directly support it; a high protein breakfast has been found to prevent hunger and thus fat gains in overweight/obese people. Moreover, given whey protein will have next to zero effect on your fat gains, consuming it for breakfast is ideal.

An alternative is egg whites with 1-2 yolks with a coffee, as this also counts as a lean breakfast solution, and is perfect if optimal weight loss is your goal. 

Breakfast for muscle growth

Do you need to eat breakfast for muscle growth? Well, it all depends on your situation. If you have a significant amount of calories to eat to achieve a calorie surplus, then starting to consume them in the morning is a good idea.

The bottom line is that a high protein and low-calorie breakfast is a great idea when optional fat loss is the goal. A whey protein shake and coffee might assist you with keeping hunger at bay and losing weight. When muscle growth is the goal, a higher calorie breakfast might be ideal to ensure you consume all your required calories for the day, starting as early as you can.