Does this sound normal?

terar21

I've spent that last 3 - 4 weeks changing my diet to spread my food more throughout the day. I'll eat a small breakfast (100 - 200 calories; usually eggs), a mid-morning snack (100-ish calories; usually nuts), moderate lunch (300 calories), afternoon snack (100 calories; usually oatmeal) and then a dinner (300 - 400 calories). Add a variety of smaller snacks in there to get to 1200 or a little higher. When I started off, I'd have trouble hitting it and was seriously struggling with dinner because I'd seriously been eating what I think may have been 2500 calories and I'd gained weight over the past year and overtime I noticed I'll eaten a significant amount more than I did in the past.

But after a while I got used to it and was doing a good job sticking in the 1200 - 1300 range. For the past few days, I've noticed that a dinner, I'm having a hard time getting through the meal but I continue to eat because I don't want to go under 1200. I've literally felt stuffed to the point where I feel like I've eaten a giant restaurant meal. This only happens during dinner and with my smaller meals/snacks, I just feel satisfied, not stuffed. Have I gotten to the point where my body has adjusted to small portioned meals spread throughout the day? If so, should I start increasing my "snack" calories to make up for the fullness I get at dinner and can't get through the meal?

I've cut back on calories before but I've never taken the smaller meals approach so I'm not sure what to expect.

terar21

I've also changed the amount of water I drink significantly. I'm now drinking around 8 cups a day compared to maybe 2 before.

Ange_

I think you might be better off spreading your meals differently so your breakfast is larger and dinner is smaller. Maybe make your lunch a little larger than your dinner too. All the snacks though sound about right. Having a larger breakfast and lunch gives you energy throughout the day which you need. You don't need a large dinner just before you go to sleep and it can actually affect your sleep if you need to digest a large meal. This is something Jillian Michaels recommends (Biggest Looser trainer) in her books. Her recommended breakfasts are anywhere from 300-370 calories.

But of course you need all the calories to add up to the same amount overall.
You might find it difficult getting used to having regular larger breakfasts at first (perhaps just add some wholegrain toast with your eggs or a bowl of muesli) but you'll get used to it and feel better in the long run.