Why Starting to Eat Breakfast Again Can Make You Feel Hungrier

You decide it’s time to get back into a healthier routine. You’ve heard that skipping breakfast might not be helping your energy levels or your weight, so you bring it back into your day, maybe something like porridge, eggs on toast, or even a quick protein shake. But instead of feeling fuller for longer like you hoped, you’re suddenly starving by 10am. Sound familiar?

It’s certainly something I come across quite often as a weight loss coach for both men and women, and it’s actually a really common thing when people start eating breakfast again after skipping it for a while. And no, it doesn’t mean your body’s broken or that you’re doing something wrong.

I never used to eat breakfast back when I was overweight. Now, it is my favourite meal, and I find it helps to reduce my cravings through the day. But, when I started to eat breakfast for the first time, my hunger – only at first – was higher in the day.

What’s going on?

When you regularly skip breakfast, your body adapts. Hunger hormones like ghrelin (the one that signals hunger) tend to shift their timing. So if you’re used to not eating until lunchtime, you probably don’t feel hungry in the mornings anymore. Once you start eating earlier again, those hunger signals start firing up earlier too, and for a while, they can be loud.

In simple terms: you eat, your body wakes up and says, “Great, food’s back on the menu – let’s get ready for more!”

Often I find people who don’t eat breakfast snack later at night, which can also slow hunger the next morning as well.

This doesn’t mean eating breakfast is bad or that it’s making you gain weight. It’s just your body readjusting. And that heightened hunger doesn’t last forever.

Will it always feel like this?

Not at all. For most people, that hungrier feeling fades after a week or two of consistently eating breakfast. Your body finds a new rhythm, hunger signals level out, and you stop feeling like you’re thinking about lunch at 9:30.

But during that adjustment phase, it can feel a bit disorienting. You might worry that you’re eating more than before or that you’re sabotaging your efforts. This is especially true if you’re focusing on healthy weight loss and trying to get into a calorie deficit.

What can you do?

First, don’t panic and scrap the whole breakfast plan. Give your body time to settle into a new routine. Try these simple tips:

Choose a balanced breakfast: Include protein, fibre and some healthy fats. Think eggs on wholegrain toast, Greek yoghurt with fruit and seeds, or a smoothie with oats and nut butter. These help you feel satisfied for longer. You can use protein products at breakfast, but I’d always try to lean into real food if you can.
Watch your portions: It’s easy to go from not eating breakfast to going all-in. Keep it simple to start, then adjust as needed.
Plan the rest of your meals: If breakfast triggers earlier hunger, it might help to shift your usual mealtimes slightly or have a healthy snack on hand. It’s not about eating more overall, just spacing things out differently.
Stay consistent: Like any habit, consistency helps your body settle in. After a couple of weeks, most people find their hunger cues become more predictable again.

Does eating breakfast help with long term weight loss?

I think it is worth asking this question within this blog.

So, it depends on the person, but for many people, yes – it can help – which is why I suggest to a lot of my clients that they should try it. This is not because breakfast itself is magic, but because of the knock-on effects it can have throughout the rest of the day.

When you start your day with a balanced meal, you’re more likely to manage cravings later on. It’s often easier to make steady food choices when you’re not running on fumes by lunchtime. A good breakfast can also support your energy, concentration and mood, which makes it easier to stay on track with other habits that support losing weight and keeping it off.

That said, there’s no one-size-fits-all rule. Some people genuinely don’t feel hungry in the mornings, and forcing food down for the sake of it isn’t always helpful. But if skipping breakfast tends to lead you to snack heavily later on, or you find yourself overeating in the evenings, bringing it back can make a real difference.

It’s less about whether you eat early or late, and more about how your overall day looks – how much you eat, the quality of those meals, and whether it all supports your long-term goals.

Eating breakfast doesn’t automatically mean you’ll eat more all day, especially when it’s part of a structured approach to losing weight in a healthy, sustainable way. If anything, it can help prevent the afternoon energy crash or that late-night cupboard raid.

So yes, if you feel hungrier when you first bring back breakfast, you’re not imagining it. It’s just your body recalibrating. Stick with it, make balanced choices, and you’ll likely find your appetite smooths out in no time.