breakfast issues

[pseudonym]

ok here's my quandry as it stands right now.

I am never hungry at breakfast time.

This surprises me because, during the day, give me any more than a 2-3 hour break between meals and I am starving, (I mean eat the horse and chase the jockey hungry), but of a morning, after at least 8 hours of not eating, I get up and am not the slightest bit hungry.

Now don't panic, I force myself to eat anyway, 'cause everyone says breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but the thing is my body is not asking for the food.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has similar experiences and what you do to combat it. I would love to eat a big breakfast as I'm currently on a 'diet' to put on weight, and the literature says a big breakfast is a key, but the absolute best I can do is a bowl of cereal, MAYBE 2 bits of bread, and a piece of fruit (that takes me about a good half hour to knock over though, more time than I have of an average morning).

Tell me people what's the secret to an early morning appetite ?? (is there one)

thanks

Colin
P.S. I have holidays form school for a few weeks now so I am contemplating running a little in the mornings to see if that stimulates my appetite.

[nathank]

well, i almost always am hungry in the morning - but i force myself to eat the times when i'm not.

but if you're trying to gain weight, i can relay my own experiences since i was 'underweight' until about age 25...

i tried a bunch of different things staring about age 15 and nothing ever worked (i was 6'0" and 130lbs at 18, 6'1" and 150lbs at 25) until i was about 25 and i got serious and then gained 15lbs of muscle in 1 1/2 years (from 150 to 165lbs ) while staying under 8% body fat... 1) i lifted weights hard 5-6 days per week, 2) ate all the time, at least 4 major meals per day making a conscious effort to eat lots of chicken and high-substance foods, 3) i also took weight-gainer shakes with 800+ calories per glass every night before going to bed and 4) i also took creatine which also seemed to help (although the studies don't show any major risks, it's still an unknown, so read about it and make your own choice)

basically if you're skinny and want to gain weight you probably have a high natural metabolism and it's hard to eat enough to exceed what your body burns. lifting weights helps stimulate your appitite as well as triggerering the body to build more muscle while not burning as many calories as cardio activity - i love sports so cutting down on the activity was not an option, besides i wanted to gain muscle, not fat

while breakfast is important so you have energy for the day and it's generally a healthy practice to eat breakfast, i think eating just after exercise and before bed are more important for weight gain, so force yourself to eat a little in the morning and then work on maximizing your calories and nutrients throughout the day and then eat something very high-calorie like a gainer shake right before bed.

well, anyway, hope that is at least a little bit useful for you.