How to Split the Calories?

DittoDan

I was just thinking. I am trying to eat about 1,400 to 1,800 calories a day to lose weight. I personally eat two meals a day with some snacking. I usually only eat Lunch and Dinner. I'm one of those persons that sleeps as late as I can in the morning, then I sh**, shower and shave and go to work. No time for breakfast. Sometimes I eat a fat bomb, or a piece of Velveeta, but not consistently.

I was wondering how others split their calories between their meals? If you eat two meals a day, do you try to eat equal cal's per two meals? Or do you favor one over the other? If so, which do you eat more at? In other words, is it better to eat big early, or have a larger dinner than lunch?

I have not been disciplined enough to eat the same way each day, so I can't tell one way or another. But maybe you have...?

Or does it make any difference at all?

If it does make a difference, I would consider planning my meals better....

Thank you for your thoughts,

Dan the Man from Michigan

SteveKroll

Hi Dan,

I'm 5'10" and 243 lbs (at the moment). My goal is 1850 calories a day. I think that's the number one of the keto calculators spit out at me. I try to spread the calories out by always eating three meals a day (usually without any snacks in between) and try to stay around 500-600 calories per meal. If I stay within my goals on any given day, I treat myself to a glass of dry red wine after dinner. That level works well for me, and if I stay on track, I never have any problems with hunger.

I've gotten in the habit of always making time for breakfast, even if it's just a couple of hard boiled eggs. If I don't, I'm paying for it later in the day with cravings. Not a good thing at my work, where there's always bagels or doughnuts on hand, and a snack machine close by.

aeb09

Hey Dan. Research shows there's no benefit to eating more or less at certain times of the day. If you like splitting them evenly and that works for you, keep doing it. Basically "don't eat after 8" and "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" are myths, is my point. Considering your success to date, I think you're doing great!

nicsflyingcircus

Like you, I only eat two meals a day generally, though it may be two meals plus fat-heavy coffee, or the coffee may be included in my first meal. I only use 1350 cals though.

DittoDan

aeb09 wrote: »

Hey Dan. Research shows there's no benefit to eating more or less at certain times of the day. If you like splitting them evenly and that works for you, keep doing it. Basically "don't eat after 8" and "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" are myths, is my point. Considering your success to date, I think you're doing great!

I am so glad you said that, I believe the same thing. I just wanted to make sure. Thank you...

Dan the Man from Michigan

DittoDan

SteveKroll wrote: »

Hi Dan,

I'm 5'10" and 243 lbs (at the moment). My goal is 1850 calories a day. I think that's the number one of the keto calculators spit out at me. I try to spread the calories out by always eating three meals a day (usually without any snacks in between) and try to stay around 500-600 calories per meal. If I stay within my goals on any given day, I treat myself to a glass of dry red wine after dinner. That level works well for me, and if I stay on track, I never have any problems with hunger.

I've gotten in the habit of always making time for breakfast, even if it's just a couple of hard boiled eggs. If I don't, I'm paying for it later in the day with cravings. Not a good thing at my work, where there's always bagels or doughnuts on hand, and a snack machine close by.

I feel your pain. I think ever since I started this diet, my company has doubled the amount of free donut and bagels! And those were two of my favorite foods pre-LCHF. I would usually eat two or three of them every time they would bring them in. But I haven't eaten any of them. Thank God!

Dan the Man from Bagel Resistance Land

DittoDan

nicsflyingcircus wrote: »

Like you, I only eat two meals a day generally, though it may be two meals plus fat-heavy coffee, or the coffee may be included in my first meal. I only use 1350 cals though.

Well you're doing good, so more power to ya'

Dan the Man from the Wannabe-in-the-100 lbs-Loss-Club

sljohnson1207

I vary, but lately I find myself eating two larger meals per day. Maybe that's because it's the holidays and I'm busy, but I don't know. I often find I'm not hungry in the mornings, so I skip breakfast and eat a bigger lunch and bigger dinner. The days after a good workout, though, I tend to be starving for breakfast. Meh, I eat when I feel hungry.

Overall, if I had my way, though, I'd eat non-stop and most of it would be bread/carbs/sweets.

truelove7

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, so I never skip it. Also, I find if I skip breakfast, I tend to make poor food choices the rest of the day. My usual keto breakfast is 4-5 pieces of bacon and 2 eggs with cheese. Lately I haven't been hungry during the day so I'll usually snack about 3 or so, then save the rest of my calories for dinner. I have my calories set to 1700, FYI.

lulalacroix

I love this question!

Most days I eat two meals, brunch and dinner. I snack whenever I want, often before bed. My snacks are typically nuts and cheese. Sometimes lunchmeat and a small pickle slice. My calories are set to 1600 but I often don't reach that number.

cchild2

Try to eat two meals a day, although some days I do add a breakfast (mostly weekends). Don't snack too much, but I do keep nuts at work. I am a stress eater and having a LC snack near keeps me from jumping off the wagon. I do the best when I prepare meals ahead of time.

DittoDan

cchild2 wrote: »

Try to eat two meals a day, although some days I do add a breakfast (mostly weekends). Don't snack too much, but I do keep nuts at work. I am a stress eater and having a LC snack near keeps me from jumping off the wagon. I do the best when I prepare meals ahead of time.

I whole heartedly agree with preparing in advance. I do it much more now than pre-LCHF. I actually bought about $700 of new food prep stuff for this diet. I have bought: (to name a few) a new InfraRed BBQ grill, pots & pans, a digital scale, a blender, crock pot.... I cook more now than ever before. Then I bag or put in dollar store plastic containers (all different sizes). I grab what I want each morning.

Dan the Man from Michigan

TheTrophyWife

Dan! You are the man!

JennyToy

i asked Santa for a george foreman. Can't wait to try it out!!!

BansheeCat

I fluxuate..sometimes I graze, or eat 3 meals, now I'm eating just dinner ( I have a fat coffee in the morning). If there's a routine I typically eat the big meal in the evening. Always have.

As someone said in an above comment, it doesn't make a difference when you eat to loose weight. However, on a higher carb diet it might because of fluxuating sugar levels but keto elminates that problem for most people I imagine. Hypoglycemics not so sure.

radiii

Thought of this thread today, physical therapist said that ideally I would eat every 3 hours. Not for calories/carb reasons like a nutritionist might, but for bowel/bladder health, which is the core of the reason I'm in PT (pelvic floor physical therapy, though its expanded into working out posture and lots of tightness/problems through my entire body caused by a lifetime of sitting and inactivity).

So anyway, I'm doing a full log of everything for the next week and will be taking it into PT. I won't be eating every 3 hours, but I am going to make an effort to eat 4 times a day consistently. I'll cut a few calories out of breakfast to allow for a mid-day snack so I'm not going 8 hours between the big breakfast and big dinner, and I have been making a dessert daily for a few weeks now, a chia pudding with chia seeds, almond milk, heavy cream and a few other things to add some flavor in an effort to increase the fiber... so that'll get me to 4 meals. From a keto perspective none of this matters but we'll see what happens with the bathroom issues.

More importantly, this will be the first time I've really shared in detail with any medical type person exactly what I'm eating. My primary care doc knows I'm doing some low carb thing and is thrilled with the results but I haven't shared details. I'm going to stress about this a ton, I have a spectacular working relationship with the therapist and hope this doesn't cause problems.