9 healthy breakfasts for weight loss

What should a breakfast include to keep you full until lunchtime?

Three pieces, and with that almost everything is done:

• Protein. Include egg, plain yoghurt, milk, tofu or hummus: it can help make breakfast filling.
• A wholegrain cereal. Wholegrain or rye bread, crispbread, corn cakes or oat flakes, corn or millet. The WHO recommends that carbohydrates come mainly from whole grains, vegetables, fruit and pulses [2].
• Whole fruit. The whole piece brings the fibre, fills you up more than juice and does not provide free sugars.

The fourth piece is optional. It is a little healthy fat, such as olive oil, seeds, walnuts or avocado. It goes in small amounts, because these are the foods that provide the most calories per mouthful.

9 breakfasts for weight loss, with quantities

These are the nine we prepare in consultation, with our usual quantities. You can accompany them with water, coffee or an infusion. Where it says milk, a plant-based drink with at least 3 g of protein per 100 ml also works. The best is soy, unless you have a soy allergy. The calories are indicative and you do not need to count them.

1. Oatmeal with milk, kiwi and chia. 250 ml of skimmed milk, 40 g of oat flakes, a medium kiwi (140 g) and a tablespoon of chia seeds (10 g). Around 376 kcal. The oats and chia provide fibre, and the milk, the protein. It can be filling if you have breakfast early.
2. Corn cake with turkey, fresh cheese and tomato. One wholegrain corn cake (38 g), 100 g of sliced tomato, two slices of turkey (50 g), rocket and 40 g of fresh cheese. It is served with a whole orange. The quantities are indicative and can be adjusted to each person. It has two protein sources, for those who do not want sweet food.
3. Yoghurt bowl with grapefruit, wheatgerm and seeds. Two skimmed yoghurts, a medium grapefruit (300 g), 40 g of wheatgerm, 20 g of chia and two large walnuts. Around 355 kcal. If you take medication, ask your doctor or pharmacist whether grapefruit interacts with it. While you confirm it, choose another fruit. Do not change your treatment on your own.
4. Spinach omelette with crispbread and orange. One whole egg and one white, 60 g of spinach and 5 ml of olive oil. It is served with two wholegrain crispbreads, a whole orange and a coffee with 100 ml of skimmed milk, if you feel like it. Eggs are the cheapest and fastest protein on the list.
5. Wholegrain toast with egg, avocado and tomato. A slice of wholegrain bread (60 g), one egg, 50 g of avocado, 10 g of chia and tomato to taste, with 100 ml of skimmed milk. Around 357 kcal. Avocado is a garnish, not the base: that is why it stays at these calories.
6. Rye toast with tofu and tomato. A slice of rye bread (60 g), tomato, 50 g of tofu, one tangerine and a glass (200 ml) of calcium-fortified plant-based drink, preferably soy. Around 366 kcal. The only one without animal-derived foods: suitable if you are vegetarian or vegan.
7. Oat, banana and strawberry smoothie. 300 ml of skimmed milk, 50 g of ripe banana, 140 g of strawberries, 40 g of oat flakes and vanilla extract. Around 331 kcal. For mornings when you cannot face solid food: make it the night before.
8. Wholegrain bread with peanut butter and banana. A slice of wholegrain bread (60 g), 10 g of peanut butter, a small banana (60 g), 15 g of chia and a coffee with 100 ml of skimmed milk. Around 331 kcal. A little peanut butter goes a long way: make sure the only ingredient is peanuts.
9. Rye bread with quark, spinach and peach. A slice of rye bread (60 g), 40 g of skimmed quark, baby spinach leaves, one chopped peach (200 g) and 100 ml of skimmed milk. Around 328 kcal. It is another option if you prefer a breakfast with fruit and quark.

These breakfasts are general examples, not a plan calculated for pregnancy, breastfeeding, under-18s, athletes with specific needs or anyone who needs to gain weight. Nor are they a plan for people with chronic kidney disease, diabetes treated with insulin or with medicines that can lower blood sugar too much, or who have or have had an eating disorder. If you have a condition with its own plan, speak to your health team. For the other end of the day, there are the nine dinners for weight loss.

Does skipping breakfast make you gain weight?

Skipping breakfast does not make you gain weight in itself. At Alimmenta we recommend having breakfast at whatever time suits you, unless it sits badly or does not fit your lifestyle. An analysis of 13 randomised trials compared those who had breakfast with those who did not [1]. Those who added breakfast ate around 260 kcal more a day and weighed 0.44 kg more on average [1]. The authors themselves urge caution, because the studies were of low quality and lasted only a few weeks [1].

How many calories should breakfast have for weight loss?

There is no calorie figure for breakfast that suits everyone. These examples are indicative; the quantities are adjusted to your needs and the rest of your eating.

The deficit is counted over the whole day, without cutting one particular meal. There is no need to rush either. Losing the maximum weight in the shortest time is not the key, according to the European obesity guidelines for primary care [3]. A loss of 5 to 10% already brings important health benefits [3]. In consultation we do not go below 1,200 kcal a day without medical indication and follow-up. If you are looking for the complete plan, it is in the weight-loss diet, and for a specific goal, in how to lose 5 kilos.

Are there breakfasts that target belly fat?

No. You cannot choose which part of the body loses fat. It is lost across the whole body at once, and the order is set by your genetics, your sex and your age. No food moves fat from one place to another, and any list promising otherwise is selling something. What does change with breakfast is the hunger you arrive with at lunch and dinner, and that ends up showing.

How to choose breakfast cereals

Compare the ingredients list and the nutrition table. Corn, oat or millet flakes without added sugar fit in. Coated, filled or chocolate cereals and some mueslis can carry quite a lot of sugar. Check each label.

The WHO recommends that free sugars, which include added sugars and those in juices, stay below 10% of the day’s energy, with 5% as a desirable target [4]. A bowl of sugary cereal uses up a good part of that margin before nine in the morning. The alternative is homemade muesli, a jar with the flakes you like and nothing else.

What mistakes do we see in consultations?

There are three mistakes we hear almost every week.

• Just a coffee, without having decided it. You reach mid-morning hungry and sort it out with the first thing you grab. If that is you, decide beforehand what you will eat at that time.
• Cutting breakfast to “save”. What you take out in the morning tends to come back as more hunger mid-morning or in the afternoon.
• A breakfast without protein, such as toast with jam or biscuits. It is quick, but hunger returns before lunch.