Dear All, I watch the discussion from IFBB Pro Ben Pakulski & Dr. Jacob Wilson about metabolic flexibility, and they said high fat breakfast can switch the body’s fuel from carbs to fat (and keep burning fat as fuel for the whole day even if you eat carbs later), but traditionally i heard that because your insulin sensitivity is high during day time, so you should eat carbs rather than fat, and eating fat at these AM hours will negatively affect your glucose metabolism later during the day. what’s your take of those high fat breakfast eating style? will it be good for fat loss? anyone can help me? i don’t want to eat such high fat breakfast and end up being more fat…
The protein/fat breakfast is recommended by many authorities, e.g. Poliquin’s steak and nuts. IMO, if your goal if fat loss then this is solid advice (assuming you dial in the macros to your daily total). I’m not sure about the science of switching to fat as a primary fuel source, especially if you are NOT glycogen depleted from eating carbs the day before. It is far more likely to occur through intermittent fasting, i.e. skipping breakfast.
I have always liked the advice from guys like CT and Shugart, who talk about prioritising carbs around the workout with any leftover going to breakfast. Just my two cents worth…
This is the same for me. I generally keep breakfast carbless for this reason.
I will say though that if you’re really trying to get bigger then you’ll probably need to include carbs with breakfast purely for the reason it gets hard to hit your daily carb requirements if you don’t.
From my personal experience, anytime I try to get leaner I have protein/fat breakfast and save carbs for around the workout window. I’m half way through contest prep, on training days when I’m still consuming a good amount of carbs I have a protein/carb breakfast, all other days are protein/fat. Eating a protein/fat breakfast will not have any kind of negative impact on your metabolism, and it’ll actually help maintain your insulin sensitivity compared to having carbs with every meal. It CERTAINLY won’t make you fatter. I mean don’t go eating like 50g of fat with breakfast, but if you have 20-25g fats with good protein that would be a good start to the day.
I’m really not sure if he theory behind the high fat breakfast is true or not but like others I tend to feel better when I keep carbs under 40-45 grams and usually more like 25-30 otherwise I too get sleepy or lethargic. I like to save my carbs for around the workout or later in the day keeping calories and macros in check. It’s easier for me to stay leaner this way. That being said I don’t like the high fat aspect with breakfast with or without carbs. High fats also slow me down and kill my appetite for several hours because I’m old lol and can’t digest things like I used to. I prefer keeping fats under 15 grms for breakfast along with the lower carbs and moderately high protein.
But for size and strength it’s carbs all day long
I’ve tried it for several days, my breakfast & mid-am snack are high protein, moderate fat, plus some vegges. then i’ll start having carbs from lunch to dinner. At first few days i feel fine, but after that i feel i crave sugar/food so much more than normal, and that craving keep coming from mid-am and last for the rest of the day. i feel my body is leaner, but the craving makes me lost my control…a lot of times. and i don’t know why…i’m afraid this kind of eating have negative impact on my hormonal health…any input?
Of course when IFBB Pro Ben Pakulski & Dr. Jacob Wilson about metabolic flexibility, they said high fat breakfast can switch the body’s fuel from carbs to fat and keep burning fat as fuel for the whole day even if you eat carbs later <= i’m not sure about that, coz when carbs are eaten, insulin raised, the fuel source will switch back to carb burning, how in the hell the body will be able to keep burning fat as fuel for the whole day if i’ll have carbs later but not at breakfast? any idea?
i think the effect of high fat breakfast came from the research below:
Bray MS, Tsai JY, Villegas-Montoya C, Boland BB, Blasier Z, Egbejimi O, Kueht M, Young ME: Time-of-day-dependent dietary fat consumption influences multiple cardiometabolic syndrome parameters in mice. Int J Obes (Lond) 2010, 34:1589-1598.
i can’t get my hands on the full version, so i can only copy the result & conclusion:
RESULTS:
We report that mice fed either low- or high-fat diets in a contiguous manner during the 12 h awake/active period adjust both food intake and energy expenditure appropriately, such that metabolic parameters are maintained within a normal physiologic range. In contrast, fluctuation in dietary composition during the active period (as occurs in human beings) markedly influences whole body metabolic homeostasis. Mice fed a high-fat meal at the beginning of the active period retain metabolic flexibility in response to dietary challenges later in the active period (as revealed by indirect calorimetry). Conversely, consumption of high-fat meal at the end of the active phase leads to increased weight gain, adiposity, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hyperleptinemia (that is cardiometabolic syndrome) in mice. The latter perturbations in energy/metabolic homeostasis are independent of daily total or fat-derived calories.
CONCLUSIONS:
The time of day at which carbohydrate versus fat is consumed markedly influences multiple cardiometabolic syndrome parameters.
Dr. Jacob Wilson as well is well respected in the industry and has as incredible research lab. I don’t think it’s one of those things where if you eat a protein/fat breakfast you’ll have mind blowing results just from that one change, but another tool you can have in your arsenal that will allow you to reach your goals.
I think this is just an adjustment period for you, especially as sugary foods are literally addicting. It’s normal to have these cravings if you’re used to eating those types of food, so the first few weeks will be more challenging. But, just stay consistent, and eventually your body, and mind, will adjust.
Just to be clear, the cravings don’t make you lose control, you do. You have complete control over the food you eat. I highly doubt there’s any negative impact on your hormones, you just need more will power.
All these little dietary tweaks like a high fat breakfast, timing carbs around your workout, etc., are all well and good but if your diet isn’t totally locked down then they won’t make a damn bit of difference.
Things like this are just tiny little finishing touches you add once everything else is in place.
Couldnt have been stated better, I totally agree. If I’m just packing in the food eating what I want whenever I want stuff like this doesn’t make a difference because my overall calories are high and not in check. Once the diet is nailed down and I’m trying to get into single digit body fat while retaining as much muscle as possible that’s when all the little tweaks matter and make a diferrence.