Half my calories at dinner?

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  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    My thoughts on this may be controversial, but hey, I'll throw them out there any ways. In my opinion, the whole "dinner is the main meal" thing is purely cultural, and has nothing to do with the way our bodies best digest foods. I mean, everyone knows not eating food late at night is better, because our bodies are working on stuff other than digesting when we are sleeping, so how does it make sense that dinner should be more calories than other meals? What I have always heard / read is the healthiest thing to do is to make lunch your main meal. It's sorta a circadian rhythms argument - in the heat of the day your digest is at its strongest... But it makes sense beyond that too - you have more action left in the day - your metabolism is up, etc.

    http://www.sharpseniors.com/a/why-lunch-should-be-your-biggest-meal-day

    Other experts say breakfast should be the biggest meal... I haven't run into an article that advocates dinner being the biggest meal.

    Now I absolutely believe that everyone has to do what works for them, and I think the absolute most important thing is total number of calories. So if dinner has got to be your biggest meal situationally, than go for it! BUT, if anyone is stuck in a plateau, I would try changing it up, and see what happens.

    for a long while I've eaten according to the Vinaya, buddhist monastic rules. Following those, you eat a bit of breakfast rather early in the morning (around 5 or 6 am) and then before noon your main meal. In some buddhist streams you eat a little bit, a bit of broth, or some rice with pickles, in the evening, as "medicine". Vinaya rules forbid you to eat past noon. As monastics are supported by the community, this lessens the burden for supporters. But also the thinking is that eating during the afternoon and in the evening will cause drowsiness and interfere with meditation. I think the reasoning behind this is to eat the biggest meal when the digestive system is the most active. So, main meal to be eaten around the middle of the day.
  • ImperfektAngel
    ImperfektAngel Posts: 811 Member
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    I usually have my post workout snack before dinner, so I dont need a huge meal, usually consists of protein and veggies
  • eviltwinkie
    eviltwinkie Posts: 153
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    Well, if it works for you... but I'd be worried about getting use to eating that much at night, then never compensating when you do eat more during the day. I guess just track everything and note if it's working against you.

    I notice I don't function well during the day if I'm not eating a certain amount at each meal. I never really noticed it that much when I use to skip breakfast all of the time. Now that I rarely do, I FEEL it if I do. It's not a good feeling.
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    I like to have 900 calories left after lunch for afternoon snack, dinner, and night snack. Today I have 1100 for dinner and night snack
  • maria1993
    maria1993 Posts: 112
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    I guess I'll just see how it works out before I try changing anything. I've lost 9 pounds in about a week and a half eating the way I am so I'll keep it up until I run into a problem.

    Since I count calories now I don't really eat like I used to, I was always eating because I was bored. Now I'm really only hungry for meals and will have a snack in between (like carrots or yogurt).

    I don't think eating a really big breakfast would work very well for me though, for some reason if I eat much in the morning I feel sick?

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