Saving calories for later in the day...how to plan

lizholt326

In this process of losing weight, changing my lifestyle, and becoming more in tune with myself, I'm still trying to figure out what is going to work best for me in the long run. I've been reading in some posts here about people saving their calories for later in the day and that they can better ignore mild hunger in the morning before they've eaten anything at all compared to when they eat a full breakfast. Today I tried it out and I can see how this might be good for me. For those who eat like this, what does a typical day look like? Do you have one big meal or a couple of meals late in the day? I've always had a hard time eating a lot in one sitting, so I can't imagine being full on one meal a day, but I'm just curious to see the different ways to approach this.

I have been eating 1200-1400 calories but feel free to comment whatever your goals are!

bbell1985

I have a coffee with milk and sugar for breakfast, around 90 calories
I eat lunch sometime between 11-1 (when I work I get up at 5 am) for about 300 calories
I have a snack at 4:00 around 200 calories
Dinner at 7:30 around 500 calories
Dessert at 9:30 around 300 calories

This is all give or take a couple hundred calories depending on my goal/needs. That's about a 1400 calorie day there.

If I eat something for breakfast it jacks up my day. I hate being done at dinner. The day is such a hustle, I'd rather eat the bulk of my food when I can enjoy it.

usmcmp

On days I work I tend to only have a protein bar or fiber one bar for breakfast (I can't go completely without food). Then I have my lunch around 1:00 or 2:00, a small snack on my drive home at 6:00, and dinner at about 7:30-8:00

livingleanlivingclean

I generally just have coffee in the am.

I eat a meal sometime between 1 and 3 ish, dinner is after training at about 8, followed by dessert.

Momepro

Generally I don't eat breakfast unless I'm starving, yhdn it's pretty light. Usually I do a light lunch and a biggish dinner. And something before bed. Sometimes if I eat breakfast I skip lunch.
Often I'll have a small goodie at some point in the day.

cnbbnc

I have coffee/Greek yogurt with a bit of protein powder for breakfast (200cals) Lunch is usually salad....lean meat with a ton of veggies (around 250cals). Dinner is about 400 and dessert is 300.

I've done something along the lines of IF where I only had coffee up until lunch. I would have about 600 for dinner and 300 for dessert then. It was pretty easy to stick to because if I ate heavier in the evening I stayed kinda full until lunch the next day.

Just depends on what you want to do.

rmgnow

I have around 350 Cal's for breakfast
Coffee oatmeal
About 600 for lunch
Brisket sandwich and banana chips.

Then I have about 900 to play with in the evenings

kokonani

I have black coffee for breakfast and tons of water. Then around 12 or 1, I have one huge meal (1500 calories) Some protein with salad and vegetable, then have my sweets- muffins, or cake, or ice cream or bit if everything,! I am so full after this one meal. I'm only 5'4", weigh 115lbs, so this is alot of food for me. But it makes me so happy and satisfied! I don't eat again until 24 hours later. It is the best diet or eating routine I have found. I'm at maintenance so I can eat like this everyday and also eat my excersise calories back. I will eventually add a little more days where I eat more than one meal, but I'm enjoying it too much right now!

feisty_bucket

lizholt326 wrote: »

what does a typical day look like? Do you have one big meal or a couple of meals late in the day?

I eat pretty flexibly, but on exercise days I try not to eat much beforehand. Then I'll go get sweaty, and then it's time to *eat*. Like the rest of the day's calories in one extended meal.

It's a common approach - there's a variant called the "Warrior Diet" which is a 4-hour eating window (shortest I know of), and then Leangains is an 8-hour feed time. You could look those up if you wanna see more.

DebLaBounty

I drink coffee with half and half (2 cups for 80 calories). Then a small protein shake (160 calories). Then I run, or Zumba, or do a BodyPump class. I can't work out on a completely empty stomach. Sometimes I have the coffee and 2 scrambled eggs with 1/2 ounce of cheddar cheese, the protein helps me avoid fatigue. I have lunch around 1 p.m., and dinner around 6 p.m., with a small snack in between.

Zara_Pi

I find that once I start eating, all I want to do is eat. So to avoid this, I set myself a target time of 9pm and I plan in advance what I will eat.

do find that I get full quite easily so I allow myself to eat whatever I want until I go to bed.

I don't have a set calorie limit, but I still add my calories up and I consume between 1200-1800 calories daily.
I don't worry about only eating healthy food to stay within my calorie limit; I eat whatever I fancy.

Sometimes I might feel a little hungry but not enough that all I can think about is eating. And my energy levels are fine.

I have done this for 8 weeks and I have lost the last 12lbs I needed to to get to my GW.

kokonani

Zara_Pi wrote: »

I find that once I start eating, all I want to do is eat. So to avoid this, I set myself a target time of 9pm and I plan in advance what I will eat.

do find that I get full quite easily so I allow myself to eat whatever I want until I go to bed.

I don't have a set calorie limit, but I still add my calories up and I consume between 1200-1800 calories daily.
I don't worry about only eating healthy food to stay within my calorie limit; I eat whatever I fancy.

Sometimes I might feel a little hungry but not enough that all I can think about is eating. And my energy levels are fine.

I have done this for 8 weeks and I have lost the last 12lbs I needed to to get to my GW.

Just out of curiosity, what are your plans for maintenance? I'm at maintenance and was wondering how to stay on OMAD or switch to IF.

Zara_Pi

kokonani wrote: »

Zara_Pi wrote: »

I find that once I start eating, all I want to do is eat. So to avoid this, I set myself a target time of 9pm and I plan in advance what I will eat.

do find that I get full quite easily so I allow myself to eat whatever I want until I go to bed.

I don't have a set calorie limit, but I still add my calories up and I consume between 1200-1800 calories daily.
I don't worry about only eating healthy food to stay within my calorie limit; I eat whatever I fancy.

Sometimes I might feel a little hungry but not enough that all I can think about is eating. And my energy levels are fine.

I have done this for 8 weeks and I have lost the last 12lbs I needed to to get to my GW.

Just out of curiosity, what are your plans for maintenance? I'm at maintenance and was wondering how to stay on OMAD or switch to IF.

It's only been a week since I reached my goal weight.
I will continue to stay on OMAD for at least another 2 weeks, but continue to eat without calorie restriction.

After this I plan to alternate between OMAD and 2 meals a day; first meal to be about 5pm and second around 9pm. I will also start incorporating some light exercise such as going for a 30min walk on the days I have two meals.

I will see how I fare on this. If I find myself eating non stop after 5pm, I will most likely revert back to OMAD.

ccruz985

First of all, the fact that you can stick closer to 1200 cals is amazing. I can but it's freaking not easy! I find it easier to do it if first, I'm actually getting enough sleep (or else I'm going to be awake and hungry when I should be in bed!) Green tea with Splenda and lemon does help curb my hunger. I drink it about an a hour to an hour and a half after I have breakfast (when I would normally have had a snack attack) and it helps me hold out til lunch. This is especially helpful on the days I'm working extra long shifts; I eat that snack later on instead. Also, I find that I'm not hungry after I work out, not for a couple of hours so either I'll work out when I get home and end up skipping dinner (or having a protein shake for recovery purposes) or I'll work out before I go to work and thus have a lighter or a later breakfast and end up eating a heartier meal later on. I like to apply this method when I know I'm going out for dinner.

kokonani

Zara_Pi wrote: »

kokonani wrote: »

Zara_Pi wrote: »

I find that once I start eating, all I want to do is eat. So to avoid this, I set myself a target time of 9pm and I plan in advance what I will eat.

do find that I get full quite easily so I allow myself to eat whatever I want until I go to bed.

I don't have a set calorie limit, but I still add my calories up and I consume between 1200-1800 calories daily.
I don't worry about only eating healthy food to stay within my calorie limit; I eat whatever I fancy.

Sometimes I might feel a little hungry but not enough that all I can think about is eating. And my energy levels are fine.

I have done this for 8 weeks and I have lost the last 12lbs I needed to to get to my GW.

Just out of curiosity, what are your plans for maintenance? I'm at maintenance and was wondering how to stay on OMAD or switch to IF.

It's only been a week since I reached my goal weight.
I will continue to stay on OMAD for at least another 2 weeks, but continue to eat without calorie restriction.

After this I plan to alternate between OMAD and 2 meals a day; first meal to be about 5pm and second around 9pm. I will also start incorporating some light exercise such as going for a 30min walk on the days I have two meals.

I will see how I fare on this. If I find myself eating non stop after 5pm, I will most likely revert back to OMAD.

Sounds great! Thanks.

lizholt326

ccruz985 wrote: »

First of all, the fact that you can stick closer to 1200 cals is amazing. I can but it's freaking not easy! I find it easier to do it if first, I'm actually getting enough sleep (or else I'm going to be awake and hungry when I should be in bed!) Green tea with Splenda and lemon does help curb my hunger. I drink it about an a hour to an hour and a half after I have breakfast (when I would normally have had a snack attack) and it helps me hold out til lunch. This is especially helpful on the days I'm working extra long shifts; I eat that snack later on instead. Also, I find that I'm not hungry after I work out, not for a couple of hours so either I'll work out when I get home and end up skipping dinner (or having a protein shake for recovery purposes) or I'll work out before I go to work and thus have a lighter or a later breakfast and end up eating a heartier meal later on. I like to apply this method when I know I'm going out for dinner.

I only do 1200 for a couple weeks at a time, then I'll go back up to 1400. I find it easier to cycle like that. And right now I'm doing 1200 because I want to look my best for my sisters wedding that's less than 2 weeks away! I do eat some exercise calories back though. You're right though, it's not easy!

sympha01

I do something a little different: I have a big breakfast but eat a VERY light lunch. I work out in the morning and I need food after that, but otherwise I really don't feel super hungry or get the munchies in the middle of the day. So overall by the time I get to dinnertime I've still usually eating less than half of my calories for the day, and I can have either a big dinner, or a moderate dinner and some very nice treats before bed. Typical:

1. Breakfast: 450-600 calories. Might be pancakes, or a frittata w toast, or oatmeal. Typically also a carby meal for me -- I need it because of the exercise.

2. Lunch: 200 - 350 calories. Like a small tortilla (<50 cal) plus a slice of cheese and some veggies or hummus and chicken. Frequently it's a green salad w/ grilled chicken and some chickpeas, no dressing or just vinegar. Today was a "big" lunch with a 4 oz turkey burger.

3. Dinner: 300-600 calories. Usually a ton of roasted seasonal veggies (summer might be eggplant and zucchini or tomatoes or mushrooms; winter it might be squash and brussels sprouts, etc.) plus some grilled lean meat. Or a stew of meat and veggies. Tends to be very light on starch -- that's a good way for me to spare calories.

4. TREATS: Greek yogurt and seasonal fruit, plus an artifically-sweetened cocoa or chocolate almond milk. If I've spared a lot of calories during the day, there might also be a couple of squares of chocolate, or cookies, or nuts.

nowine4me

It's really trial and error to figure out what best suits your satiety. I've tried every combo of meal timing including IF and have figured out that the following is what works for me....most days
8 - 300 cal breakfast
11 -250 cal snack
1 - 400 cal lunch
4 - 250 cal snack
7 - 500 cal dinner
I'm a volume eater, so the 3 meals are very large portions of mainly veggies and fruits, beans, whole grains.

SafioraLinnea

Today I knew I would be eating out for dinner. My meals were: 210 calorie breakfast (homemade shake), 285 calorie lunch (a generous but weighed portion of watermelon), 1190 calorie dinner including dessert, and that was under my calorie goal for the day. Life is good.

lizholt326

Thanks guys!

My biggest challenge at the moment is that I'm unemployed...recent graduate on the job hunt! On one hand I have plenty of time to workout 6-7 days a week and prepare healthy meals, but on the other, I have waaaaay too much time on my hands. Sometimes I I find myself looking at the clock thinking, hmmmmm, is it time to eat yet? Lol

Francl27

Delay eating as long as possible. Focus on lots of veggies and lean protein.

Honestly though, I'm quite sure it just won't work for everyone. I'm always hungry early in the day and can skip dinner most days. Saving calories for dinner is absolute torture for me.

SuzySunshine99

I maintain at around 1700 calories and save most of them for later in the day.

Breakfast is greek yogurt and cereal for about 250 calories.

Lunch is a big salad for about 250 calories.

Which leaves me 1200 calories for dinner, wine, and dessert.

If I go to the gym, I'll add an afternoon snack of around 150 calories.

It works for me...I'm usually too busy at work to worry about being hungry.