When working with clients looking to lose fat or just be healthy, one of the first areas of their nutrition I tackle is breakfast. Most people tend to skip breakfast, or if they do eat something, it’s on the go. Cereals, breakfast bars, bagels or basically anything else that is packed with processed carbs and little to no protein.

A breakfast along these lines is not the way to drop body fat or to improve your health. Then there is the question, what should you be eating for breakfast that can help reduce body fat as well as nourish your body?

Look no further than an egg omelet. Sadly, eggs get a bad rap for their yolk not being healthy for us. Really? Says who? The cereal companies, that is who. You want to know what is not good for us? Eating a bowl of sugary cereal with a whopping 45g of carbs by the time you add milk, and a measly 8g of protein (mainly from the milk).

With an omelet simply toss in a bunch of your favorite veggies, or heck even ones that you can tolerate as they will be masked by the deliciousness of the eggs. The eggs provide you with the protein you need to boost metabolism and help maintain your muscle mass, as well as help keep you fuller longer preventing cravings later in the day. The yolks actually contain beneficial nutrients for eye health. Add in some peppers, onions, spinach, tomatoes and you’re getting more veggies in one meal than many of us get in a day. Need to give that omelet a little kick? Toss in some low-fat cheese and salsa.

Really, I dare you to come up with a better breakfast that is packed with so much nutrition and can help shed body fat. Yes, it will take a little longer to prepare than grabbing a strawberry sugar-laden yogurt, but if you really want to lose fat, you got to make some sacrifices. Is an extra 10 minutes worth it to be healthy and lose fat? That’s the question you have to ask yourself.

Ever hear that too much protein is bad for you? Some people, even many medical professionals believe that high amounts of protein can be damaging to the body. Heck, even some of my fellow trainers still hold onto the old belief that too much protein is bad for us.

Are they right? If you read my newsletters, you may know by now I’m not a fan of those who say too much protein is bad for us. Simply look at the statistics. 66% of the US population is overweight or obese, and I can tell you one thing, it’s not because they eat too much protein. In fact, I’d say it’s because they don’t eat enough protein and are loading up on processed carbs.

If someone has kidney issues, then yes, protein consumption does need to be monitored, but for the vast majority of us, without kidney problems, higher amounts of protein can be beneficial for fat loss.

What better way to explain this than with actual results? A client of mine (Wendy) recently had her body fat taken with the Bod Pod. A few months ago she discussed with me that her weight loss was slowing down, and looking at her nutrition she wasn’t consuming enough protein. In fact, most women don’t. Take a typical portion controlled flavored yogurt (yup, tons of sugar in there) that people eat. One of those small containers has a measly 5-8g of protein.

I wanted Wendy to be consuming a minimum of 120g of protein per day. That would be pretty difficult if someone is only eating 5-8g per meal. We worked on her diet and over the next few months she was getting her protein intake up. After 3 months and the next Bod Pod test, she lost another 13 lbs of body fat, but just as impressive, she gained 2 lbs of lean mass (muscle being part of that). Hmm, seems like more protein did her body good.

 Strive to be better than the average, eat your protein!