The best part of waking up was this in my cup. Trust.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. At least, that’s what all the cereal commercials told me as a kid. I never really appreciated that until I began my weight-loss journey. A well-known fact about me, especially among family and friends, is that I don’t do hunger well. I can be ornery on the best of days. When I’m hungry, I’m an outright asshole. I just accept it as a personality quirk (as should everyone else).
However, when you’re working out all the time, you need to fuel the body. I can burn well over 1,000 calories a day through extensive cardio exercise on top of my regular daily activities. When I began my weight-loss journey I would sometimes forget to grab a banana or a yogurt before leaving the house. Eventually that came back to bite me—and whomever was in my vicinity.
I quickly learned if I didn’t want to conk out, I had to have something in my stomach. What took a while to sink in was that a bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich with a two giant glasses of orange juice were going to slow down my progress. I was going HAM on the breakfast plate.
What I needed was moderation. When I began doing the “Extreme Fat Smash Diet,” I had to tone down my meals. Gone were the days of a couple of bowls a cereal, toast and two giant glasses of OJ (I like my orange juice—sue me). The plan some days required just one egg and a cup of juice, hurting the pride of my inner Vitamin C addict. I’ve said before that the diet was strict and that cutting back on how much I ate in the morning was a big step.
It’s not so much that I was a fan of breakfast. It’s just that if I was going to have it, then I needed to have the works. The plan didn’t allow for that. The miniature meals plus the extensive cardio routine made me feel like I was headed into trouble. Would I be eating too little? The answer was no. By eating a small meal at the start of my day, I was basically revving up my body to do the work required for the rest of the day. It didn’t matter if I was working out at the beginning or the end of the day. Breakfast was keeping me focused, both at work and at the gym.
That was a good thing. I don’t like to go all “Hulk smash” on people, especially on an empty stomach. No one deserves that kind of treatment.
I know what a busy morning we all have, especially of late. If your area is anything like mine, you’ve had to traverse icy sidewalks, driveways and streets. You’ve had to layer up, adding more time to your morning routine. These time additions can make you want to put other things to the side, possibly breakfast. I strongly urge you not to do that. Instead, maybe wake up 15 minutes earlier. Grab something you can eat in the car or on the way to the subway stop, like a granola bar or a yogurt. Make time for the things that are important to you and for you.
How do you adjust your routine for the things that are important to you?
photo credit: sweetbeetandgreenbean via photopin cc
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