Do I have to always have a "meal" for supper?

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scarletrayne19
scarletrayne19 Posts: 35 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey all! I apologize in advance since this may be a long post:

I work M-Th 8-5 and F 8-2. I've just started very seriously getting back into MFP with meal planning and I go to the gym 5x a week after work. We have catered lunches most of the time at work that I have now chosen to opt out of so I can bring stuff from home and better manage my portions. A typical day for me will be coffee and a breakfast sandwich of some form in the morning, my packed lunch consisting of lots of little things (small sandwich, jerky, little tangelos, cottage cheese, pickles, etc.) and a snack (either I save the jerky or have a protein shake) before the gym.

My problem is supper (or dinner as some of y'all call it). When I get home from work I'm often too tired to want to cook a meal, especially when a typical dinner dish would feed me for a week or would go to waste. I'm just stuck in this mentality of "oh you've gotta have an end-of-the-day meal for nutrition" or whatever. On the weekends I might cook but oftentimes I'm either traveling seeing family or out with friends.

What do some of y'all do for supper? I like eating just a single piece of fish or a big piece of fruit or something but I feel guilty if I don't make a "meal" which often leads to overeating, etc. Thoughts/Ideas?

Replies

  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    There's absolutely no reason you need to have a formal "meal" for dinner. That's really just a cultural thing. Eat what you like and what fits your calorie budget and macros.
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    edited December 2015
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    As long as you're getting a sensible amount of calories and adequate nutrition over the course of the day, then it doesn't matter if you choose to have a light snack in the evening, and get most of the calories in at breakfast and lunch (or vice versa).
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    You can spread your food consumption out however you wish over the course of the day. The timing doesn't matter.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,394 Member
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    If lunch is your biggest meal calorie wise and by the end of the day you don't have a full meal's calorie worth left, then that's totally fine to not fix a whole meal. It doesn't matter WHEN the calories are consumed.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2015
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    Traditionally "dinner" refers to the biggest meal of the day. My grandfather, who was a farmer for part of his life and grew up on a ranch, always referred to breakfast, dinner, and supper, and in that usage supper was a lighter meal vs. the mid-day meal.

    So, what I personally like for my evening meal (which I call dinner) is a nice balanced dinner of protein, lots of vegetables, and a starch of some sort, which is similar in size to my other meals but in my mind my main meal.

    It sounds like what you enjoy is truly a supper, in the traditional usage of the term, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with splitting your calories that way. Enjoy!

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