How To Eat Later Dinners?

24

Replies

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I don't know how people wait that long either! If i had to wait til 8pm or later for dinner, i'd break and snack beforehand which would inevitably put me over my calories. So i choose to eat dinner when I'm hungry (instead of white knuckling it and waiting til later), between 5-6pm, followed by dessert and then I'm done for the day.

    I don't have breakfast, i eat lunch between 1-3pm. I'm also in bed at 9 most nights, so eating earlier fits my schedule.

    My husband doesn't eat his dinner til 7-730pm, we very rarely eat together even though he's home when i have dinner. The difference between us is he eats by the clock, I eat when I'm hungry, I don't care how early it is or what the clock says.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    I wish I could eat dinner earlier but with my work and gym schedule I have time for a snack before (i hate lifting after dinner) and I have to eat late. At the end of the day, whatever works with your schedule but don't force yourself to eat or not at a specific time because it makes no difference.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    How to eat: Put food in mouth. Chew. Swallow.

    How to eat later in the day: Put food in mouth later in the day. Chew. Swallow.

    Every individual is different from every other individual. I, for instance, often have my main evening meal at 8 p.m. That is because I get home late. That is because I get to work late. That is because I sleep as late as I wish to and wait until traffic is less congested before attempting to drive to work.

    How I wait that long: I have a breakfast at home of usually less than 500 calories. I have a lunch of usually less than 400 calories. My workplace lunch is not particularly recognizable as a meal. Three hours before I plan to leave work, I have part of my lunch. Two hours before leaving, I have another part. One hour before leaving, I have another part. The 5 hours between arriving for work and beginning to slowly eat my lunch are when I drink, and drink, and drink, coffee and tea.

    The thing I have to manage is that once I start eating later in the day, I can easily eat too much, so I deliberately spread it out.

    After my dinner, I almost always have more calories to consume. That is where I usually have tasty treats.
    If I have time to exercise in the evening, I'll use my exercise calories to enough protein to hit my adjusted protein macro.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    It was that way in France, dinner at 8pm, but I also had a large snack around 4-5pm... An earlier dinner helps me consume less calories overall, and helps with reflux at bedtime, so it's a win/win situation as I can just skip the 4-5pm snack.

    So yeah, I'm not sure how people do it either, lol. Especially with kids, as mine go to bed at 8.30pm and still need a shower and to brush their teeth after dinner... Heck I'm in bed at 9.30pm most nights. My mom always has a hard time with 6pm dinners when she comes over.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    edited February 2018
    cee134 wrote: »
    I am trying to figure out how people eat dinners so late.

    I see people eating dinner at 8 PM or 9 PM and don't know how they wait that long.

    I know if you eat a later lunch or a really big lunch it helps however that's not always possible. Also I'm curious if anyone know a way to do this without snacking between meals.

    I typically don't leave work until 5:30. It takes half an hour to get home. So that's 6. If I go to the gym, I go straight there, and either run or swim -- so we figure 7:15 by the time I'm done, another 15 minutes to change, and then another 15 to drive home. 7:45. And then I still need to cook.

    If I go to barre, I'm not going on a full stomach -- and I'm still getting home at 6, only to have to leave the house at 6:30 for a 7 p.m. class. Class is an hour, takes 30 minutes or so to get home. So 8:30. And then I still have to cook.

    There's quite literally no time to eat dinner earlier. I might grab a snack if I come home before barre, but that's only if I have the calories to spend, and if I'm hungry.
  • Momepro
    Momepro Posts: 1,509 Member
    I've always been a late eater, but I don't like food too soon after I get up, and can't sleep hungry. Personally I prefer my breakfast and lunch to be pretty light (under 300 calories) and I seldom snack that early, but after 4 or so is when i start wanting munchies.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    For me it's about routine. During the working week my day goes:
    Breakfast (if I feel like/want breakfast) at about 7:30am
    Work
    Lunch at 12pm-1pm
    Work
    Snack at 4pm - 5pm while heading home from work
    Home at 6pm
    Housework/TV/Relax/Study/Whatever till about 7:30pm
    Cook dinner and eat at 8:00pm
    More whatever
    Treat at about 9pm - 10pm
    Bed

    Rinse, repeat.

    Weekends are a bit more relaxed. I tend to skip breakfast as I sleep in so my first 'meal' will be a mid-morning coffee followed by lunch and then I just kinda eat when I'm hungry regardless of set times and use my diary to choices so that I don't find myself running low on calories for the end of the day.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
    I can eat at 8:00. First meal is at 11:00, snack at 3:30, gym, dinner, dessert. I don't know...I'm used to it.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    It could be that they have a different schedule. For instance, I work overnights, so I eat my breakfast around 6pm.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    Just to throw a different schedule into the works here - most of my days are Breakfast, Dinner, Supper, rather than Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.

    I eat Breakfast around 6:30am, my heaviest cooked meal "Dinner" at around 1:30pm, home from work by 5:00pm, mostly back out again from 7:00pm to 8:30pm with a sandwich and cup of tea for Supper around 9:00pm.

    Not much snacking. Sometimes a cup of coffee at work around 10:30am and maybe one at 6:45pm.
  • rockymir
    rockymir Posts: 498 Member
    edited February 2018
    I often do a second training session between 6pm and 8pm, takes me 30 mins to come home from the pool. Another 30 mins to prepare some sort of a meal. There you go, it's 9pm, how did I make it to wait till so late? I trained.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    Meal timing doesn't matter, if you don't want to eat late, don't.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Habit I guess. When you're used to it you aren't as hungry. I don't eat dinner late but I can see how people can do it. When I was a child we ate dinner late because my mom worked till 4, so we had lunch at 4 and then dinner at 8. It was normal. We had breakfast at 7:30 am and had a snack break at school at noon. Mom didn't do snack breaks and would go from breakfast to lunch without anything. It's was okay because it was normal for her and what she was used to doing. I'm guessing those who have late dinners either have some sort of snack or are just used to not eating between lunch and dinner.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    trimi1104 wrote: »
    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    2000 isn't late to eat dinner, it's civilised ;)

    No, that's unfair. Different countries and cultures eat at different hours, inform yourself.
    The Spanish to say one don't have dinner before 10pm, northern Europe countries are more around 7pm, Italians 8pm.
    There are other countries in the world you know, not just yours.

    Got to love the sarchasm...
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Also curious why you feel this is something to try to implement? What are you hoping to gain by pushing meal times later?

    I work out in the mornings, eat breakfast after I get to work, around 9 am; eat lunch around 11:30-1:30 depending on my meeting schedule, sometimes an afternoon snack, sometimes not. Leave work around 5:30 to get kids, if we don’t have activities then dinner is around 7 pm after homework. If we do have activities I often feed the kids early and wait to eat till after they go to bed, usually eat around 9pm those evenings. I end the evening either way with a glass of wine or a hot tea and sometimes a cookie or some ice cream.

    But that’s my schedule and if it’s not your schedule then I don’t know why you think you should be eating later?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    I have no idea how anyone eats that late, but I've been eating at 5:30 all my entire life, I do a dessert/snack around 7:00 pm each night but dinner is my largest meal of the day.

    I thought eating later was a cultural or traditional time related to where you live. I guess like anything we can adapt to a new meal time.

    I would have to snack at 5:00-5:30 to move my dinner to 8/9, I guess I could swap my dessert/snack to this time. :smile:
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,831 Member
    edited February 2018
    cee134 wrote: »
    I am trying to figure out how people eat dinners so late.

    I see people eating dinner at 8 PM or 9 PM and don't know how they wait that long.

    I know if you eat a later lunch or a really big lunch it helps however that's not always possible. Also I'm curious if anyone know a way to do this without snacking between meals.

    How do you manage to eat dinner earlier than that?? I'd like to eat earlier, but who has the time?

    My day ...

    Get up and dash out the door.
    Quick walk to the bus.
    Bus into work.
    If I'm early enough, I'll hop off the bus a stop or two or three early and walk the rest of the way
    Climb 2 flights of stairs (first 2 of the day, hopefully aiming for 10+).
    Make myself a cup of black coffee and pour myself a glass of cold water and I'm ready to start my day.
    About 10:15 am, I'll get up and climb a bunch of flights of stairs.
    About 10:30 - 11:00 am, I'll have one of those small cheese and cracker snacks.
    About 12:30, I'll have a banana.
    And then I head out for about 45-55 minutes of walking and/or errand running.
    On my way back, I'll climb anywhere from 2-4 flights of stairs.
    About 2 pm, I have lunch.
    Busy at work
    3:30 pm, I'll have a small low-cal yogurt
    4:30 pm, I'll have a piece of fruit
    And about 45 min later, I'm dashing out the door to catch the bus.
    Home again at 6 pm
    Quick snack of cottage cheese and raw veggies + some rye crackers.
    Then my husband and I go for a walk or bicycle ride. Today was stormy, so I rode my trainer in the basement and lifted weights.
    And finally, about 8 pm, dinner is served.
    Homework, housework and other projects until sometime between 10:30 and 11:30 ... whenever I happen to start noticing hunger ... and then I have another yogurt.
    And in bed around 1 am to catch a bit of sleep before it starts all over again.


    That's what works for me. But if it doesn't work for you ... do something that does.

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