Disbursement of Calories

Tandksmommy10
Tandksmommy10 Posts: 80
edited September 2024 in Food and Nutrition
How should I be disbursing my calories for the day?

I'm allowed 1650 per day, but have been coming in under that usually with about 200 left over, and then another 150-250 for exercise.

When should I eat the most calories? DH works 2nd shift, so I usually end up eating a bigger meal in the afternoon vs the usually dinner time.

How many calories should snacks be limited to?

Replies

  • Luckymam
    Luckymam Posts: 300
    Eat when you are hungry. Stop when you are full. It's taken me over 30 years to work it out but it really is that simple.
  • georgette70
    georgette70 Posts: 158
    Hi there, I have heard some on here use the saying "Eat like a King in the morning, a Prince at lunch and a Pauper at Supper" (hope I got that right) It's my underdstanding that your your biggest meal shoudl be breakfast. I try to do that, but it doesn't always work out that way. Hope that helps! :)
  • ashlee954
    ashlee954 Posts: 1,112 Member
    A good rule of thumb it to start out big and lessen the calories at each meal. So the most on breakfast, a little less at luch, and the least at dinner. This is because our metabolism is full throttle during the day so we need more energy (calories). It slows when we sleep so we don't wanto over burden our system close to night night time. Snacks are usually good at around 100 calories. Good luck to you!
  • littlemamajamie
    littlemamajamie Posts: 118 Member
    I would say to go by when you are the most hungry. My days vary some days I eat more during the day and not very much at supper and other days I eat a little during the day and a lot at supper. It just depends on how hungry I am and what I have going on. For instance I play softball on Tuesday nights so I allow myself more calories that day and I try to eat a lot at supper so I have energy to play. You just have to experiment and see what works for you. It is best to eat smaller meals every 2 to 3 hours and for my snacks I usually do 100 calories or less. But it all depends on you so all you can do is see what works best. I hope this helps some :)
  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
    I eat when I am hungry and come in under your calories, its what I do
  • thedreamhazer
    thedreamhazer Posts: 1,156 Member
    I struggle with this a lot. I'm living at home and my dad cooks dinner every night. He's been awesome with cooking healthier lately, but I know that if I eat dinner with the family (and I refuse not to, because it would be rude in my house since we have sit down dinners) I need to save up 600-800 calories for dinner. Since I try to take in a net of 1200 calories, and I work off usually around 400 in exercise, I'm eating a SIGNIFICANT portion of my calories at dinner.

    I work it out so that I eat a LOT of low calorie protein at breakfast to feel balanced. Breakfast is usually under 300 calories, and then I just eat a few small 'snacks' before dinner, like veggies dipped in tuna salad. It works for me, even though I'm sure it's not the best way to do it.

    My advice, from my experience, is that a good-sized, protein heavy breakfast will make you feel the best throughout the day and keep you going and less hungry :)
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
    No one can tell you this. You just have to play with it and see what your body reacts well to... I started out eating a big breakfast, smaller lunch, smallest meal at dinner with snacks at about 100-200 calories. Now, I just plan out my day and arrange however I want. If I'm hungry and can't wait 'til the next snack or mealtime, I can just eat the next thing now and plan for something else when the snack or mealtime creeps up and say, I'm hungry again.

    You can check my diary to see what I mean (don't take into the weekend - I was on vacation so my eating schedule was all kinds of crazy).
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
    Another thing to consider is that how much you eat at each meal/snack effects your blood sugar. If you are prone to going too high or too low with blood sugar (diabetes or hypoglycemia), then I would suggest taking your calories and dividing it by how many meals you eat to get an even amount at each meal. This will help keep blood sugar more regular without as many spikes and dips throughout the day. Even people who have little spikes and dips in blood sugar with no known disease can see problems with weight loss from the way the body reacts to insulin levels.
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