THE TRUTH ABOUT BREAKFAST FOR RESULTS

I want to preface by stating that if you aren't currently active, then you should start exercising regularly to truly experience the benefits of what I'm about to discuss. No one would ever question the value of eating breakfast, regardless of who you are when it comes to fitness, especially as an athlete trying to perform at their peak levels. However, the notion of eating breakfast warrants attention and some scientific merit, just like anything nutrition-related.

What do the leading nutritional authorities say...

According to the ISSN, eating more calories at breakfast with higher amounts of quality protein can promote better weight loss and body composition results. This speaks to a large number of athletes since many struggle with weight issues in our current society, and I'd imagine just about everyone wants to maximize their body composition, right? Cortisol levels naturally peak in the morning and are responsible for waking us up, a predictable response known as the “Cortisol Awakening Response” (CAR). This response can hamper appetite, from what I’ve witnessed with my clients over the years.

But the proposed benefits of breakfast nutrition are there, so athletes and anyone active need to somehow mentally condition themselves to create a habit of eating breakfast to reap the rewards. That is, unless you are adopting a more intermittent fasting approach, where the window of concentrated eating won't arise until later in the day (i.e. 16+ hours after your last meal), since you more than likely ate sometime in the evening before you went to sleep the day before.

Overall, missing breakfast occasionally isn’t going to kill you, and research supports that overall levels of calories and macronutrients reasonably distributed throughout the day are more important than nutrient timing, contrary to popular belief. 1 Please keep in mind that much of what you eat will be stored for later rather than being immediately used as energy, and this notion pertains to all forms of energy as well; carbohydrates are stored as glycogen, protein stores in an "amino acid pool" once broken down into individual amino acids, and fat obviously converts to fat in most instances.

The one exception to the rule

The exception here could be early morning cardio or active recovery bouts. Fat burning will be high since intensities are low, and there is an abundance of this energy type to draw from indefinitely in most, so breakfast certainly won't be necessary here. The true pick-me-up effect can come from early morning workouts along with your morning coffee or tea, which all naturally serve as a metabolic boost to get the day started. Moreover, the pick-me-up has been known to carry on and impact the remainder of your day positively in several ways as well.

SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES:

#1-Kerksick, Chad M., et al. “International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Nutrient Timing.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, vol. 14, no. 1, 2017, doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0189-4.