How do you divide your daily calorie intake?

carajo
carajo Posts: 532 Member
edited September 25 in Food and Nutrition
I'm just wondering how everyone divides their calories, Meaning at what time do you consume most, and how many are usually left for your evening meal?
What is the "biggest" meal of the day? Mine is typically lunch, but i feel like if i do too many with breakfast and lunch, i'll be hungry and go over at dinner, but sometimes that backfires and i'm starved by dinner, and overeat anyway.....Any thoughts???? THANKS!!

Replies

  • Liatush
    Liatush Posts: 627 Member
    bump
  • carrieliz81
    carrieliz81 Posts: 489 Member
    My smallest meal is breakfast, which is contrary to what most people recommend. I ALWAYS eat something for breakfast, but if I eat too much (I'm talking about more than like 150 calories) then I find I am ravenous throughout the day and can't control anything in terms of eating. So I keep breakfast at like 150, I try to keep lunch at around 400, and then dinner is like 650 ish. But it definitely varies day to day, and I work out frequently and therefore eat more on those days.
  • IndigoFlowers
    IndigoFlowers Posts: 221 Member
    I have around 150-250 calories for breakfast, lunch comes in around 300-500.. and then supper is the rest of my calories and any exercise calories. My biggest caloric meal is supper, I look forward to it, and it's been working fine for me! :)
  • Bviera
    Bviera Posts: 106 Member
    I have 5 meals throughout the day. I have a decent sized breakfast (usually oatmeal, cause it keeps me full longer), at about 250 calories, then a 100 calorie snack at around 10:30. For lunch, I have a bigger meal (350 or so), then another snack at around 3:30 (almonds, fruit, cheese, yogurt, or a combination thereof), and then after the gym, I have my last small meal, usually at around the same caloric value of lunch or slightly larger because I need to eat back at least some of the calories I burn at the gym. I try hard to keep dinner low carb, but it doesn't always work out that way. If I do have carbs, I try to keep it at whole grains and veggies.
  • jenbari
    jenbari Posts: 1
    http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/calories-per-meal.html
    I liked this site. It told me if I prefer 3 meals & 3 snacks a day and want to eat 1500 calories then 2 meals at 375 calories, 1 meal at 300 and then 3 snacks at 150
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I generally don't eat breakfast. During the week I have a cup of soy milk in the mornings with my vitamins, on the weekend I rarely eat before noon and it's usually more like 2:00 p.m.

    During the week my evening meal is always the largest. Usually more than half my daily calories are consumed at night. On the weekend it may be in the evening or in the middle of the day, but I still usually only have one big meal and the rest small meals or snacks. But it really varies on the weekends. Sometimes I may snack all day and never have an actual "meal".
  • BlackKat75
    BlackKat75 Posts: 210 Member
    On weekdays, I work out first thing in the morning and have coffee at home before coming in to work. At my desk I have oatmeal with blueberries and I often have a large skim latte for roughly 450 calories. I have a Greek salad for lunch for about 165 calories. I generally have an afternoon snack of some type of fruit or yogurt for 100-150 calories, and then I have a large dinner - 600 - 800 calories. Once I'm finished with dinner, I close my diary and I'm done eating for the day. I may have some type of dessert with dinner, but I don't have an evening snack, and I'm generally done eating by 7:30 at the latest.

    I used to eat a smaller breakfast and have a morning and afternoon snack but I found that breaking up my food into smaller mini-meals just made me feel hungry all the time and never full. You just have to find out what works for you.

    On weekends, I tend to largely skip breakfast and instead often do a light brunch in the late morning or early afternoon. I also up my cardio on the weekends because I have more time and to give me a few more calories to play with. Again, it's just a question of what works for you.
  • igottaworkout
    igottaworkout Posts: 298 Member
    I have three meals a day.. I usually have my largest meal at breakfast (fruit smoothie with tons of tofu and whey protein powder), a huge salad for lunch (but it's slightly lower in cal then breakfast) and a smaller dinner. If I'm hungry I'll have a snack like some veggies/dip or fruit but really not often.. I include protein at every meal which keeps me full.
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