Week 3 was trying to get in some walking at least 4-5 days a week and two Stronglifts sessions. Walking around the park after work is usually somewhere between 40-60 minutes, so I feel like that's fairly good for being basically couch-to-desk three weeks ago. 

I've been watching my calories, and after doing some research I found a couple interesting things I hadn't considered:

• Shorter people require less calories than taller people, so at 5'1" I probably need less calories than I had assumed
• There's mixed feelings on this, but overall consensus I'm finding is that eating at 1200 (on less active days anyway) will probably not put me in the dreaded, much-feared catabolic state where my body eats its own muscles
• "Starvation mode" seems rather misunderstood 
• Breakfast as the "most important meal of the day" and the notion that if you don't eat breakfast you're likely to "gain weight" is a bit of propaganda bullshit backed and financed by companies like Kellog's. It doesn't actually spike the metabolism to a super great effect or is this magical meal that is the key to weight loss

That last point brings to me to this- I've decided to forgo breakfast in favor of coffee and maybe a small mid-morning snack of almonds or fruit. I've never really been a big fan of or like breakfast. When we had a pretty good catered breakfast at work on Fridays (which no longer happens), I did occasionally enjoy a bit of bacon and breakfast potatoes, but I never ate everything on my plate (or in the cup I ended up putting potatoes and bacon in to not waste food anymore)  and for the most part I'm not very hungry in the morning.

The idea of eating when I wake up is incredibly unappealing to me, and my stomach doesn't seem quite awake yet. I've typically not eaten breakfast until a good 2-3 hours after waking up as is but to be honest it often feels more like a chore than a meal I want to be having. Because I bought into the "breakfast is important" myth and that if I didn't eat breakfast I'd be setting up for failure for the rest of the day, oh noes!

Except, if I really think about it and my dietary history, that's not actually true. It wasn't until I started incorporating breakfast into my diet that I started to really see my weight go up. In generally, I don't like to eat a lot in one sitting anyway, so the idea that I would massively binge at lunch and dinner if I don't get some oatmeal in me seems really ridiculous as I stop to think about it. And as for breakfast giving energy? No. It doesn't for me. And I've tried complex carbs, a balance of high protein and good fats, and every which way we're told will give you sustained energy in the morning and I'm still tired in the morning. In fact, for me eating breakfast somehow seems to make me more groggy sometimes. 

So as of yesterday I've quit breakfast since I'm not usually active in the morning (I like working out in the afternoon), opting for a coffee with coconut milk instead, unsweetened, and water which I drink, not smell. And I didn't feel like I was dying or going into low blood sugar descents of needing a fainting couch, and I didn't really pig out for lunch or dinner. I had a salad and a Lean Cuisine for lunch and then half of a medium-sized spaghetti squash baked with short rib ragu and cheese for dinner. I managed to keep to about 1200 calories. One interesting thing I noticed immediately was how less bloated I felt and how my intestines didn't feel as mildly annoyed with me as they usually seem to be on any given day. 

I suppose this fits into some form of intermitting fasting, but I don't really feel I need to label myself as in the IF camp since if I am going to have a busy, active morning I might opt to have something small and see how things feel.

Overall, I'm down 5lbs since the start of the month and hoping I don't undo any of that while in Hawaii for work next week, but I think I'll be okay if I make smart choices and keep active. 

Do any of you share my meh feelings towards breakfast? Leave a comment and let's talk!