The 3 Minute Breakfast I Ate EVERY DAY In Fall And Winter That Helped Me Lose 60 Lbs
Boring. But delicious.
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by Audie Metcalf
Me? Audie? Talking about weight loss tricks?! AGAIN? Groundbreaking.
I know it’s a lot. But there’s new people here every day (thank god or I wouldn’t have a job) so for you newbs you can also check out THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, and THIS for more of the exact process, the details, the way to count calories easily, and the very, very basic workouts I did. Oh, and lots of before and after photos to show you it’s real. And without meds. Not that meds are bad or wrong, I just didn’t use them so we know it’s possible. But here’s a couple pics now to show you I’m legit:
Ok, now let’s get onto this breakfast. And when say I ate it every day in the colder months, I mean it. I sort of took inspo from THIS hack, and once I got into the groove of knowing the same thing awaited me every morning, I actually got really excited about it.
Actually wait. A quick disclaimer. If you just eat this breakfast you won’t lose weight. You need to calculate your calorie deficit and then be sure to track your food daily—I use my fitness pal. Not spon con for any of this, but I wish. If you eat around 300 fewer calories a day than your body burns, you will absolutely lose weight. It’s a fact and it’s science.
And this breakfast is specifically what I use to keep me full for around 4 hours in the morning—finding delicious, satiating foods is the cornerstone of weight loss. The only way you’ll be able to eat less than you normally eat (which is the only thing that leads to weight loss) is by making sure you eat foods that are filling. I know all of that sounds embarrassingly obvious, but if weight loss has eluded you your whole life, or if you’ve suddenly put on more weight in middle age and haven’t been able to get it off, re-read what I just wrote. Don’t let anyone tell you differently because this is all it is. The formula is simple—ingesting fewer calories than you burn. The complicated part is making sure all your choices lead to fullness.
And that’s where this PROFOUNDLY delicious and ridiculously easy breakfast is absolutely key. The first meal of the day is not the “most important” (that was actually an invention made up by cereal companies which we wrote about HERE) but I do find that it can either set me up for success for the day, or, if I don’t have enough carbs and protein, throw me into a hunger spiral that, no matter how much I eat, I can’t get out of.
And there is something about oatmeal that just ticks these boxes in the most beautiful way.
So first, these are all of the ingredients:
And the “recipe” such as it is.
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup egg whites
1 tbsp chia seeds
Half a banana
1/2 cup of strawberries
1 tbsp maple syrup
Calories: 415
Protein: 21g
Fiber: 6g
How to do it:
Stir a 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of egg whites, and a tbsp of chia seeds into a bowl and micro for 1:30.
While that’s heating up chop up your strawbs and half a banana.
Once you hear the ding, give your porridge a stir while it’s still in the micro, and heat it for another minute.
Take out your bowl (it will look chunky and gloopy and awful) so stir it up and then pour in maybe a half cup of water—this thins it out and also reduces the heat so you don’t have to wait until next year to eat it.
Pour on your tbsp of maple syrup, then throw in your banana coins and strawberry slices.
I have a little trick where I eat half of it (I have 3 other tricks you’ll accuse me of being “problematic” HERE) and then I return to the rest in about an hour. It just keeps me more full.
I will augment my protein by having a cup of Fairlife fat free milk in my coffee upping the total to 34. OR you can skip the water in the recipe and just do one full cup of egg whites which makes the recipe 35 grams of protein. You can also omit the chia seeds if you want, but my cardiologist told me to eat a tablespoon of chia and flax each day so I do it. (I have my flax in my smoothie later on. Let me know if you want that mind-numbingly easy recipe.)
And here’s the finished product:
Simple, warm, filling, almost treat-like. Especially when you get a bite with some pooling maple syrup like this:
Like the title suggests, the entire prep of this breakfast takes around 3 minutes and I promise you will dream of it. And a lovely bonus? Kids LOVE it and they don’t eat around anything. Praise be.
Audie Metcalf is the Editor-in-chief of The Candidly, and lives in LA with her family. You can find more of her articles here.
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