Calories... When and how?

lmalma

Does it really matter when and how you eat your calories as long as you don't go over your daily goal? Is it bad to pig out and eat so much during the day that you can't have dinner or don't even want dinner? Is it bad to eat then lay on your butt afterwards if you were allowed the calories in your "buget"?

erickirb

the thing that has the largest effect on weight loss is total calories in vs out. That being said you can make some gains by eating the right things at the right times, but will have a smaller affect than total calories.

annadilynn

We all have our moments...I was talking about that with my hubby...I was trying to tell him that at some point what you eat besides calories is gonna make a difference....

Mindful_Trent

It may not affect weight loss much, but it can definitely impact your overall mood/health when you binge and eat a ton of your daily calories all at once. I know I feel much better when I spread my calories out - I think it keeps my blood sugar levels more stable. I also feel gross when I binge and eat a ton at once.

There's so much more to health than just weight loss - even if something doesn't have an impact on weight loss, you need to consider the effect it will have on your overall health - mentally and physically. Is allowing yourself to pig out during the day the best way to set yourself up for healthy habits in the future?

erickirb

It may not affect weight loss much, but it can definitely impact your overall mood/health when you binge and eat a ton of your daily calories all at once. I know I feel much better when I spread my calories out - I think it keeps my blood sugar levels more stable. I also feel gross when I binge and eat a ton at once.

There's so much more to health than just weight loss - even if something doesn't have an impact on weight loss, you need to consider the effect it will have on your overall health - mentally and physically. Is allowing yourself to pig out during the day the best way to set yourself up for healthy habits in the future?

Well said

ImpossibleOfMe

It really does matter.

Why it matters is because by binging and then not eating for hours you are throwing your metabolism completely out of whack. You can cause long term metabolism problems if this is what you do often and if you are making bad choices in where your calories come from you are risking an effect on your bodies reaction to insulin production and other problems as well depending on the foods. For example - eating junk foods will cause your body to produce the hunger triggering hormone called ghrelin much sooner than if you ate a healthier meal/snack.

I have only a small education on nutrition and I'm sure there are others who could go more in depth about it, but you really should try and choose healthy foods.

BethanyMasters

I try to eat small portions every three to four hours to keep my metabolism going and I always eat if I genuinely feel hungry.

As far as what you choose to eat you are going to find it pretty miserable to try to stay within your allowance if you eat cheeseburgers and pizza and the like. You'll find that if you choose healthy foods you can eat more and eat more often and still stay within your allowance.