Has anyone tried having small dinners ?

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Replies

  • kmash32
    kmash32 Posts: 275 Member
    I think it is different for everyone and really depends on your body and how it burns. There is no harm in trying for a couple of days. I personally typically eat about 250 for break, 350-400 for l lunch and then 400-450 for dinner and the rest in snacks. However for me I find when I am delegant what works is no carbs for dinner like bread, pasta, cereal (lol). I stick to a good portion of protien and a salad. I don't always manage this but try as much as I can. Another big thing for me is keeping the sodium low at night, if I eat anything with salt I will be bloated the next morning with water gain.
  • naturallyme36
    naturallyme36 Posts: 155 Member
    Dinner has always been my biggest meal of the day, but have also been thinking of changing that due to not being able to burn it off and also being so sluggish after. I would love to hear everyone's feedback on this.
  • fivethreeone
    fivethreeone Posts: 8,196 Member
    I typically like to have my largest meal at dinner. 1 maybe 2 day out of the week I eat out w/ friends at dinner. My problem is that lunch and dinner were both ending up large! I've known a couple of people who have told me they eat their smallest meal at night for dinner and they've lost weight/kept it off. Anyone else take this approach at eating?

    I am thinking of cereal w/ almond milk and strawberries for dinner prob around 250 cals max. So I will eat most of my calories at breakfast/lunch. Am I setting myself up for disaster? I am thinking I'll be hungry but if I eat most of my calories prior to that, maybe not?

    Ideally, breakfast should be the biggest, lunch a little smaller and dinner the smallest. Try eating a healthy, more fulfilling lunch...i.e. chicken!! You'll feel soo full during the day, you couldn't possibly eat a huge dinner!! I know this is difficult b/c I struggle with it too! My dinners are usually the biggest, but that's not ideal. If you cannot avoid large dinners, eat small breakfasts and lunches...that's what I've been doing...and drink plenty of water!

    This is completely false. Meal timing, size, and frequency have nothing to do with weight loss if you are controlling your overall calories.

    Here is a study that shows meal frequency has nothing to do with weight loss: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985
    from this study: "...We conclude that increasing MF (meal frequency) does not promote greater body weight loss..."

    Here is a report that shows that meal size has nothing to do with weight loss, if you are controlling the overall amount of calories that you are eating: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/portion_size_research.pdf

    Here is a study that show that overweight/obese people should, if anything, reduce the size of their breakfasts rather than increase them: http://www.nutritionj.com/content/10/1/5
  • ziggyc
    ziggyc Posts: 191 Member
    I'm the same way with eating large dinners all the time. During my more disciplined times, if I needed to keep it small, I would cook a frozen salmon filet in a little bit of olive oil with seasoning, and steam a ton of broccoli on the side with seasoning and just a shake or two of salt. I would drink a small glass of low fat milk with it and then finish off with a glass of water. I kept a bag of decent frozen salmon in the freezer for these occasions and ate it like once a week or so. Super low cal with some good protein, fiber, and enough fat to satisfy me.
  • mjharman
    mjharman Posts: 251 Member
    Since I cook for my entire family (my husband and my three sons who are all in their 20s), dinner is the meal that I tend to splurge on a little...meaning, it isn't planned as well as breakfast and lunch are. It gives me something to look forward to because, whereas breakfast and lunch tend to be very similar from day to day, dinner is not.

    However, I do carefully control my dinner portions. I use a small salad plate rather than a large dinner plate, and I fill half of it with the vegetable of the day. This seems to be what works best for me!

    ~Marsha
  • Inacay
    Inacay Posts: 47 Member
    I recently tried intermittent fasting. The goal is to have a "feeding window." I fast 12 to 24 hours then I eat. My feeding window has been 8:00 PM to 12:00 PM. My meals have been both larger and smaller. If I want to lose more weight, I may eat less calories. I really get to eat a lot of food in intermittent fasting, but my caloric intake is about 1,500 during a feeding window. Yesterday, I had 4 bowls of matzo ball soup (mostly broth), two bowls of fiber cereal, fruit, and two glasses of apricots blended juice and one slice of pizza. Again, it seems like a lot of food, but I have been losing weight. When I have had calories throughout the day, a smaller meal would definitely help with weight loss. If you feel deprived, your next battle would be not falling off the wagon because you feel deprived. I have gone on the vicious cycle of feeling deprived. What does your heart and body tell you? Make sure you are self-compassionate, because it takes courage to ask these kinds of questions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35CfS0AZemg
  • CycleFlow
    CycleFlow Posts: 55
    I think you need to experminet with yourself.

    My only question is - are you eating a large dinner because you are not fueling yourself properly throughout the day??

    I used to eat large dinners because I would hoard all my calories for the end of the day out of paranoia that I would run out of usable food calories too soon - of course I was starving!

    I find now that I eat more calories througout the day its EASY to eat a small dinner because Im not insanely hungry by 6pm.
    I have found that it also curbs my evening cravings. If I dont eat well in the day then have a huge dinner - guarenteed Ill have the night snacking urge. Strange I know.

    Anyhow - Try it out both ways - but give it a week or two for both...
    You never know til you try!
  • Baileysgirl6
    Baileysgirl6 Posts: 10
    Thank you all for the replies! Lots of good info!

    I totally get calories in vs calories out, doesn't matter what time of day you eat, etc. I was just trying to think of a way to help me curb my evening appetite/snacking. So by eating my bigger meals during the day fuels me throughout the day in the evening I won't need as much energy. I will give it a try and see how it goes!

    I do walk twice a day at work totaling 30 minutes and am "planning" on using my elliptical 3-4 nights a week. I'm going to start with 15 minutes maybe a couple of days then build up. Currently, I'm not active at all at night after work.

    I have tried intermittent fasting and I liked how I felt on it but I didn't like not going to the bathroom every day. It also not very convenient with my current schedule.

    Here's how my days normally go and this is what has me thinking that driving by all these places tempts me to eat bad in the evenings. Thus my theory to avoid it by eating larger breakfasts/lunches from home and then dinner being cereal or salad w/ protein.

    Breakfast
    Raisin Date Walnut Oatmeal & Bacon 285 cals
    or
    Scrambled Eggs, Bacon & Grits 345 cals

    Lunch
    Frozen meal w/ side salad w/ lite dressing 300-400 cals
    or
    Tuna salad on ww w/ veggie chips 300-400 cals

    Dinner
    Whatever I feel like could be a burger and fries or chicken sandwich, pizza (calories go out the window here)

    Snacks anywhere from 200-300 calories a day
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
    Personally, I prefer something like fruit or eggs for breakfast, a lunch of around 400 calories, with the largest meal being dinner.
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