How do you space out your calories?

catherineandpaul1957

How do you all space out your calories? For instance, I have to eat 1200 a day, but I try to eat 300 for breakfast, 400 for lunch and 500 for dinner. Someone said to me, write down 1200 and when you are hungry eat something and subtract from the 1200. How do you all do it?

seltzermint555

I have been doing this for a couple of years, and generally I find that I'm much more satisfied with 3 meals and no snacks versus many peoples' preference of a bunch of small mini meals. The good thing is you can do it however you want!

When eating 1300 calories I have 200 at breakfast, 400-500 at lunch and around 600-700 at dinner.

I find that I am satisfied with very small breakfasts for whatever reason but if I eat lunch that is under 400 calories I'll get grumpy and crave sugar all afternoon.

ZeroDelta

Breakfast ~150
Lunch ~100
Dinner ~1000

I have the same things every day for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is a family meal so that's where I eat the bulk of my calories.

rankinsect

I eat very little during most of the day (generally 2 granola or protein bars before 5 pm) and then most of my calories at dinner, with a little left over for a snack at night.

Weekends I usually split the big meal into a lunch and a dinner, just because I find not being busy with work changes how hungry I feel.

TrickyDisco

I lost just under 30lb eating 1100 calories most days for about a year, then put a few pounds back on and am currently really struggling to eat 1200 a day to lose about half a pound a week. Wondering how I stuck to 1100 for so long before, can't seem to get back into it now. My breakfasts are around 250 cals, lunch between 350-480, evening meal with whatever's left minus about 80 cals for soya milk in teas/coffees and something for a sweet treat. Trouble is, most days I've eaten everything by about 7pm then find I'm snacking on something later and eat maintenance cals instead. Not surprisingly, I've hardly lost any weight and can't exercise right now either due to a sprain.

joinn68

It'll depend on your appetite (hungry in the morning? not?) and lifestyle. I do better with "heavy" breakfast with lots of proteins, light lunch and heavy dinner (to avoid late night hunger pangs), and 100 cal snacks morning and afternoon. It's trial and error

adhebert8

I have a light breakfast usually under 200 calories (I've never been much of a breakfast eater.) I have two small snacks a day 100 calories or less, lunch is usually around 400-500 and the rest I have left I use for dinner!

queenofpuppies

during the week I have 2% fage everyday for breakfast, which is 150 calories and very high in protein which seems to make me get less hungry. I used to eat granola bars that had the same calories but way more sugar and I would be starving by lunch. Lunch is around 100-300 depending on the day, and how hungry I feel. Dinner is 400-500. I eat the rest of my calories in candy between meals because I do what I want. I limit myself to 1000 calories during the week because I was gaining at 1500 and maintaining at 1200. On weekends I up my calories to 1200 and usually have some sort of awesome fried breakfast both days.

Jruzer

OP I eat about double what you do, but here's my pattern.
Weekdays: ~200 breakfast, 300-400 lunch, 400-800 dinner, ~1000-1500 evening snacks
Weekends: Bigger breakfast and lunch than weekdays; maybe 400 breakfast and 600 lunch

MondayJune22nd2015

Since I have hypoglycemia (low blood sugars), I have to eat several times a day. I try to keep my intake below 200, so that I can eat 6 to 7 times a day when I don't exercise & 8 times a day, when I'm able to exercise.

hapa11

So interesting to see everyone's patterns. I eat 300 calories four times a day--noon, 2, 4, and 6 p.m.

cwolfman13

depends on the day...

CasperNaegle

I don't overwork it really. I definitely eat more at night because I tend to want to snack in the evening.. My GF eats more of hers during the day because that is when she wants to snack. Do it where it works for you, it really doesn't matter when you eat them.

Derf_Smeggle

I'm currently trying to hit between 1550 and 1680 calories per day. I'm eating/drinking* 250 to 350 calories at a go. Taking in calories roughly every 3 hrs.

*Protein and fruit smoothie

steelyjoe22

Dinner tends to be the meal I eat with other people, so I reserve the most calories for it.

A typical day for me would be:
150 breakfast
400 -500 lunch
800-1000 dinner

IF I snack, and IF i stay on my goals, it's only when I'm hungry, and its an apple, banana, or string cheese for 50-100 calories.

GaleHawkins

I do 1100 for breakfast and with the main meal of 1300 late afternoon and an 8 pm 200 calorie snack to slowly lose weight now that I am down to 200. I have always been big on doing breakfast. For the last year I have been off all calories that can be traced back to grains and most all that come from sugars. This manages my arthritis pain OK, cured my leaking gut syndrome which cured my forty years of IBS.

I think one should do what works for oneself the best. I just need food to start the day and like to eat twice with a spread of about 10 hours so my stomach is never totally empty.

TrickyDisco

GaleHawkins wrote: »

I do 1100 for breakfast and with the main meal of 1300 late afternoon and an 8 pm 200 calorie snack

Would love to eat this many calories a day! But it's more than two days' calories if I want to lose any weight - I'm small with a big appetite, so hard sometimes to keep within my calorie limit when everyone around me seems to be able to eat twice as much and not even gain an ounce

kbmnurse

I know what I am having for dinner daily so I add that first thing in the morning. The rest of the day I focus my meals on what I have left for the day. I weigh and have found eating correct portion size has made a HUGE difference. Enjoy!!!!