I posted a few days ago a picture of my breakfast which was really good and filling, but it was 755 calories. Its funny how perspective can change so quickly. After reading the comments on that post and seeing this recent post on Spark People I knew that my meals could stand lightening up.

After my latest post with Poppi's calorie intake and a very poignant "aha!" moment I've been on a mission to eat more food, but with less calories. I'm telling myself "I don't need big/high calories meals" or "right now, i don't need real butter or tons of fat" and its just the truth. Eating a lot is comfortable for me, and I really have had to come to terms with the fact that I just don't need this much food.

How much do I really need to feel full? When I wrote about my breakfast I talked about it being a big breakfast and very filling, but could I replicate the volume with less calories? Yes!

And here it is, my new and improved filling breakfast. It is very similar and only 417 calories! Equally as satisfying, but with 335 less calories (!!). What changed? Well, Instead of two slices of 110 calorie bread (total 220), I had two slices of 35 calories bread (70 calories), Instead of 1 T of real butter (110 calories), I switched to 1 T of olive oil butter (60 calories), instead of two turkey sausage patties (240 calories) I had one vegetarian sausage patty for 80 calories, instead of 1/4 cup of cheddar (110 calories) I switched to 1/2 slice of soy cheddar at 20 calories (its actually really good and melts nicely), instead of 2 or 3 whole eggs I had one whole egg and half a cup of egg whites (137 calories total) and then I added a cara cara orange for 70 calories.

Here is my old 755 calorie breakfast, it looks pretty similar.

I feel like I've been having the same conversation lately about breakfast. I'm always really shocked to find out that so many people don't eat breakfast, and not because its healthy or will apparently help you to lose weight, but I just can't go without eating in the morning and wondering how people do that.

I've always eaten breakfast. I should start this by saying, I've never missed a meal. I eat every meal with avid passion which is probably why I'm trying to lose weight. Every time I hear a report  about breakfast eaters being thin and healthy, eating less calories throughout the day and some other things I can't remember. I wonder how that applies to me. I'm here to tell you that I've been overweight for a long time and I always, always eat breakfast.

I have no idea why I'm writing this, just that I woke up this morning really hungry and wanting a large breakfast. I scoff at cereal and yogurt for breakfast. Whats the point? If I eat that, I will only be hungry 45 minutes later. I want a meal that is full of protein and keeps me full for hours. I don't want a mid-morning snack. I want to be hungry again at like 2pm. haha

I've also been known to eat anything from turkey burgers to lasagna for breakfast and if I skip this meal I feel ill. I've dry heaved so many of a morning at school on days when I skipped breakfast to know that I can't not have it. Is there anyone else out there that must eat breakfast? Come on, I'm not alone in this, am I?

The above picture is my breakfast from this morning which is a little bit bigger than what I normally have. I had two turkey sausage patties, two eggs, 1/8 c cheddar, 2 slices of whole wheat high protein toast and 1 T smart butter. Total calories: 755

I could definitely stand to scale back, I usually try not to eat more than 550 calories for breakfast. I exercised before bed last night and that probably had a lot to do with my appetite this morning. But, I'm really pleased because this breakfast did not give me a blood sugar spike, has not made me crave more food, made me full and satisfied and I won't even think about food for about three or four more hours.

What do you guys think? Big breakfasts, or small meals throughout the day?

PS: If you look up above my banner you will see a link titled "food and exercise log" that is where I will be tracking that information from now on. It has been updated from january 4th to today. I'm working on a weigh-in log now.