Cannot eat early in the morning. Any solutions?

[ibex333]

As long as I can remember myself I could never eat in the morning unless it was past 10am. I cannot even look at food before then. Most of the time I just skip breakfast and wait till lunch or dinner. It all escalated somewhere between high school and college when I developed severe IBS and was afraid to eat something before heading out anywhere. Because I could never get any real help from doctors, I elected to deal with my problem the only way I could, which was NOT eating, unless I know I can stay home. This didn't impact my weight negatively at all, because I would always eat like crazy before going to sleep to compensate for the whole day. I already heard all I can possibly hear about the evils of living such a lifestyle, but so far I don't see a solution.

I tried forcing myself to eat at 6am before work, but that only lasted for two days. I tried eating something that would be easy, like cereal, fruit or yogurt, but even that disgusts me this early in the morning, when I just want everyone to leave me the hell alone so I can go back to sleep. I guess I am just not a morning person.

I really want to change though, because I feel like I don't have enough energy for my boxing classes and the whole day at work I am really tired.

Anyone here who has a similar problem? How do you deal with it?

 

[JellyBaby]

Some people do better eating 5-6 small meals a day, others do just fine eating 2-3 big meals. Some skip breakfast while others eat one as it helps them eat less throughout the day. I don't believe there's a one-size fits all perfect approach for how often you eat and when you start.

If you eat cereal, fruit or yogurt for breakfast you could be shooting up a lot of carbs and sugar early on so there's the inevitable crash an hour or two later when you run out of pep. A better breakfast would be bacon and eggs. Get some fats and protein in there for some sustained energy that won't spike your blood sugar.

Do you still have IBS or other digestive issues?

 

[Exodist]

Tried a glass of milk with some protein supplement added yet?
You may be able to get the mass builder that has higher calories per scoop and use that with a cup or two of milk to supplement your morning meal and it would have enough calories to get you to lunch and any boxing classes without fatiguing. But be careful with mASS builders though.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I typically have a whey protein drink on my drive to work.

Once at work, I have a cup of coffee, a small handful of nuts/dried fruit (lower carb trail mix) and top it off with a fish oil pill.

 

[marmasatt]

Some people do better eating 5-6 small meals a day, others do just fine eating 2-3 big meals. Some skip breakfast while others eat one as it helps them eat less throughout the day. I don't believe there's a one-size fits all perfect approach for how often you eat and when you start.

This.

I tried forcing myself to eat at 6am before work, but that only lasted for two days.

I guess I'd ask why? Some folks kind of need breakfast. Many don't. Are you just trying to eat because your mom always told you you should eat breakfast? The "rest" of the day (after 10am), is plenty of time to stock up some fuel for your boxing classes. Might as well skip it and save the calories if you are not hungry. Kind of what I do. Listen to your body.

 

[Saint Nick]

Try drinking a small glass of water immediately when you wake up. Go about your routine.

I feel like this on some days, and when I do, it seems that drinking some water kick starts my stomach and all of a sudden I am starving.

 

[Lamont Burns]

Worrying about 2 meals, 6 meals or 12 meals a day is stupid. Take a total Macro approach. I know people who do the Warrior diet(1 meal a day) and gain and lose just the same as anyone else.

The, "never be hungry" bullshit is just that, old bullshit science.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

take a shake with an ACV tablet.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Aside from individual preference, there's really no benefit to partitioning your meals in any particular way. If you don't want to eat breakfast, don't eat breakfast.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494

"Studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24 h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging".

If lack of energy is why you want to change, try back coffee or tea, or if you're dead set on morning calories, a shake of some kind that goes down quick.

 

[ibex333]

Some people do better eating 5-6 small meals a day, others do just fine eating 2-3 big meals. Some skip breakfast while others eat one as it helps them eat less throughout the day. I don't believe there's a one-size fits all perfect approach for how often you eat and when you start.

If you eat cereal, fruit or yogurt for breakfast you could be shooting up a lot of carbs and sugar early on so there's the inevitable crash an hour or two later when you run out of pep. A better breakfast would be bacon and eggs. Get some fats and protein in there for some sustained energy that won't spike your blood sugar.

Do you still have IBS or other digestive issues?

Just IBS from what I know. If it was anything more serious I am sure it would manifest itself in worse ways by now.

As for breakfast, the reason why I tried forcing myself is because the widespread opinion seems to be that breakfast is very important and I feel like I am doing something inherently wrong by skipping it.

 

[marmasatt]

As for breakfast, the reason why I tried forcing myself is because the widespread opinion seems to be that breakfast is very important and I feel like I am doing something inherently wrong by skipping it.

Yeah, about that. Don't so much feel that way about it, dude. Unless you had a crazy dead lifting work out the night before (where your body kind of needs protein) you are not doing anything wrong by skipping breakfast. The "most important meal of the day" is pretty old school thinking I believe.

 

[coreyb]

I man up and eat anyway.

 

[bettlebrox]

I have and had the same problem; unable to eat when I first get up. The problem is I then don't eat till lunch time and if I delay past 1pm I just get irritable and cranky and light headed.

These days I usually have a fruit smoothie, or a Lowfat Yogurt-Probiotic Smoothie which are really easy to drink but a little on the sweet side. The Yogurt Smoothies are approx 140 calories and get me through to lunch without a problem, if I'm going to the gym after work I quaff one about an hour beforehand and it keeps me going through to dinner.

 

[Kaido]

I had this problem most of my life. Two things resolved it:

1. Fixing my evening eating habits
2. Figuring out my food allergies

Part of it was discovering I was allergic to dairy and some other stuff, but a lot of it was what and when I ate food. I used to stay up late and eat junk, but now I stop eating 2-3 hours before bed and do a lot better. Once I cleaned up my diet (no soda, sugar, etc.) that also helped a ton - eating clean throughout the day and then stopping the food intake a few hours before bed did the trick. This also got rid of my nightly acid reflux, which was fantastic.

Now I do multiple small meals throughout the day and can eat within 30 minutes of getting up. My stomach doesn't feel gross in the mornings now, and it also doesn't feel like a dried sponge, if you know what I mean - just not ready to take in any food at all. Drinking water throughout the day to flush my system also helped.

It was quite an adjustment, but those things helped me a ton.

 

[ibex333]

I had this problem most of my life. Two things resolved it:

1. Fixing my evening eating habits
2. Figuring out my food allergies

Part of it was discovering I was allergic to dairy and some other stuff, but a lot of it was what and when I ate food. I used to stay up late and eat junk, but now I stop eating 2-3 hours before bed and do a lot better. Once I cleaned up my diet (no soda, sugar, etc.) that also helped a ton - eating clean throughout the day and then stopping the food intake a few hours before bed did the trick. This also got rid of my nightly acid reflux, which was fantastic.

Now I do multiple small meals throughout the day and can eat within 30 minutes of getting up. My stomach doesn't feel gross in the mornings now, and it also doesn't feel like a dried sponge, if you know what I mean - just not ready to take in any food at all. Drinking water throughout the day to flush my system also helped.

It was quite an adjustment, but those things helped me a ton.

Those are some very useful ideas! As a matter of fact, I eat little throughout the day and then I stuff myself late at night when I come home. I never really considered that this may be affecting my appetite in the morning. I will try to do something about my habits but it is very hard because I hate eating at work and the only time I can "really" eat is when I come home in the evening.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

A little wake and bake should cure that.