Some mornings you may wake up and feel like enjoying something light—like Greek yogurt with berries, or a slice of toast with avocado. Other mornings you wake up ready to create the breakfast from your dreams: big, full to the brim, and filled with energy. Whatever mood you’re in in the morning, why not start with a delicious meal that fuels the body and that can help you reach weight loss goals?
According to the Mayo Clinic, adults who eat a healthy breakfast have a greater chance at maintaining a healthy weight, have more controlled blood sugar levels, and even tend to perform better at work. There’s no need to skip the first meal of the day, especially when it has so many great benefits to losing weight and keeping the weight off.
Julie Upton, MS, RD, CSSD, a registered dietitian and communications specialist for Appetite for Health, explains that a common weight-loss mistake of people who cook breakfast in the morning is trying to cut out certain foods or even whole food groups. This can “make their weight loss effort very unsatisfying and then they crave their favorite foods,” or possibly backslide into bad eating habits.
There are plenty of healthy breakfast options out there to not only keep your body content but also nourished and ready for shedding off some of that extra weight. Luckily for us, Upton shared healthy breakfast recipes for all seven days of the week!
To continue helping you reach your goals, check out Exercise Habits for Weight Loss That Science Says Actually Work.
Instead of taco night, have yourself a plate of healthy breakfast tacos in the morning to get closer to your weight loss goals. The dish can incorporate a few well-rounded and nutritious ingredients, such as eggs, fiber-filled veggies, cheese, and a low-calorie tortilla. Due to the combination of protein, simple carbs, and healthy fats will keep you more full during the day and can result in you consuming fewer calories overall.
Get our recipe for Breakfast Tacos With Bacon and Spinach.
“Soy-based meat alternatives are all good options for breakfast,” Upton explains. She makes an amazing egg and veggie scramble that includes: eggs, plant-based sausage, bell peppers, tomatoes, and any other veggies she enjoys or just has on-hand around the kitchen. If you’re on a weight-loss journey, definitely keep your plate bright and full of veggies!
Vegetables are categorized by the CDC as low energy-dense foods, meaning they are low in calories but still impact the feeling of fullness. Many studies have seen vegetables have a great effect on fat loss. A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that when their participants would increase their intake of fruit and vegetables, they were not only more likely to lose weight, but also maintain weight loss. The more veggies in one’s diet, the greater chance of leaning out and/or retaining a smaller figure.
Get our recipe for a Veggie Scramble With Mushrooms, Spinach, and Goat Cheese Recipe.
A breakfast burrito that is flavor-packed, healthy, and can help you reach weight-loss goals? Sign us up! Upton recommends her breakfast burrito recipes of two eggs and one egg white (or four egg whites total) scrambled with spinach, mushroom, chopped tomatoes, or salsa, all wrapped up in a small whole-grain tortilla.
This breakfast burrito has all the healthy nutrients you need: protein, veggies, healthy fats, and carbohydrates. Upton says carbs aren’t anything scary, in fact, she encourages “people to have some carbs for energy.”
If you focus on getting in a lot more complex carbs, you can see much greater success in losing weight. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health explains that complex carbs are “derived from whole and unprocessed plant-based foods,” which have more nutrients and will usually take longer for the body to digest compared to simple carbs. Not only do complex carbs have more nutritional value—like fiber, vitamins, and minerals—but they are also stored in either muscle cells or the liver to give you long-lasting energy until hunger strikes again.
Get our recipe for a Fiber-Filled Breakfast Burrito.
