Meal times

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oat_bran
oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Do you eat at regular times every day or whenever you're hungry?

If you eat at regular times, why exactly at those times?

Do you eat the same amount of calories with every meal or it differs? Do you snack?

I'm experimenting with different meal times and calorie distribution during the day to see what will help with hunger in between meals.

Replies

  • GemstoneofHeart
    GemstoneofHeart Posts: 865 Member
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    Generally yes I eat at the same times just because that’s how it works with my schedule. I usually try to delay breakfast as (sort of IF) as long as a can, if not skip it entirely, so I have more calories for lunch and dinner.
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
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    I'm a grazer and tend to eat about the same thing around the same time most days - I've found that eating maybe 200 calories every couple of hours works well for me, then a normal-ish sized dinner (500-700 calories). There's no right answer for everyone, so play around until you find something that works. Good luck!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Not really. For one, I work in retail so when I eat breakfast/lunch is determined by my schedule for the day. Dinner may range from 5:30 (Saturday when I go into work at midnight) to 10 (Thursdays when I'm out of the house).
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I do a combination. I like to wait until I'm hungry before I eat, but because I don't always recognize hunger as hunger, and I have other things to do besides eating, I basically just aim to eat regularly, which means that I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner approximately 3-4 hours apart.

    I split my calories into 1/4, 1/4, 1/2 - I don't snack, but I have an occasional treat when my weight trends allows it, or if there's something very special, regardless of weight trend. (Christmas is very special.)

    I'm not bothered by hunger, but frequently by "bored mouth syndrome".

    Hunger between meals is normal and to be expected.
  • flyandsleek
    flyandsleek Posts: 10 Member
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    I basically eat at the same time, but have been thinking about using more calories for dinner instead of evening snacks
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2017
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    Regular times. Why? I tend to be hungry when I'm used to eating, so a regular schedule works for me and prevents me from thinking about food/wanting to eat at other times. Also, it fits my schedule and I enjoy eating 3 meals a day, probably due to habit. What times? around 6 (sometimes later if I run in the morning since I don't like to do the whole run in the dark and I eat after), around noon (anytime between 11:30 and 2 depending on my schedule, and when I get home and cook (usually around 9). My meal sizes vary -- breakfast is usually about 350-400, and the remaining get split differently depending on the day. (I don't log all the time, but can eyeball pretty well now).
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    i typically graze - my MFP diary is set up into time blocks rather than meals and i just log what i eat in each time period
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    I try to wait until 6 a.m. to have breakfast, then wait until 12:00 noon to have lunch. I'm still trying to figure out timing for dinner. Today I had it at 4:00 p.m. Last week I was waiting for dinner when my wife came home from work and wanted pizza. That made it too easy to fail that day.
  • ZRunner5Lulaica
    ZRunner5Lulaica Posts: 168 Member
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    I tend to fall into a routine for meals (breakfast before or close to 7 am, lunch between noon and 1, dinner between 5 and 6). But then I'm setting it up to graze during the day since I know I'll be tempted to snack when work gets slow. So I'm combating it by packing veggie sticks to gnaw on.

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