Eating your biggest meal at lunch!

I am specifically responding to the "eat after 6" thing. According to both my nutritionist and personal trainer: Your body has no idea what time it is. If I was unable to eat after six, I wouldn't be able to eat dinner period because I don't go to the gym until 6 and I don't get home until 8.

If I am hungry right before bed, they would rather me have a very small snack (i.e. a baby bel cheese, or a half a slice of turkey) than go to bed with my stomach growling. I asked both of them if this was advice they were giving me because they both know my schedule and workout regiment and they both said the advice was applicable to everyone.

As far as the OP's question: It turns out for me that my highest caloric intake is during lunch, but that is because I don't eat starches for dinner to try to keep my carbos in check (advice the nutritionist gave me that is not necessarily applicable to everyone else). I do try to eat 5-6 times per day and stay under my 1600 cal goal no matter what exercise I do (My diary is public, if explored you will see that I have stopped logging exercise on this site. I don't want MFP to alter my cal goals, I want to be able to see exactly how much I have left. I track exercise cals via my polar HRM.)

Anywho. Good luck everyone!

Just been to the Doctor to start my weight loss program. Her recommendation was to not eat one "big" meal at any time but to break it up to 5 or 6 meals in a day. This has 2 benefits. It keeps the body in longer digestion periods increasing the metabolism making it (the body) feel like it's being fed. Important if you've had cycles of feast and famines and your body has taught itself to save for the famine times. Also, it helps keep the blood sugar levels leveled. I've only been doing this for a couple of days, so I can't give a yea or nay on the success, but it does make sense. She also recommended no snacking or eating after 6 unless I've just completed a cardio work out.

I like my big meal at night. You won't overeat if you take 5 mins to plan.

I think it's worth a try. I find I'm more satisfied and don't feel like so hungry later on

All I have to say about this is...I live in Italy. The Italians have a small breakfast, huge lunch, a small snack later on during the day, and a small dinner. It‘s rare when I see obese people walking around here. Maybe we can learn a little something from them.

I eat two lunches.. Breakfast at 7. Snack at 930 (sometimes if Im hungry depends on bfast) lunch at 11 and lunch at 2 dinner snack at 4 dinner at 6 ish... I try to make each meal around the same amount of calories. Around 2-300 calories. I dont always eat every snack, it depends on the day.. Or if I plan a huge meal I will go lighter on the calories for rest of meals so it evens out. I dont think it matters when you eat them. I think the issue is if you go to light during the day you may binge on dinner.. Maybe then a bigger lunch would be better.

I know everyone is different, but I stopped eating a heavier evening meal about nine years ago and eat my heaviest meal at lunch. I usually have a lighter snack like fruit or yoghurt at night. It has really helped me maintain weight loss.

I have found if I eat a super big lunch that I hardly eat anything at night time where as if i eat a normal lunch at night time i eat my normal dinner and then i still end up eating a dessert

However I don't do big lunch often as I do like spreading my meals out most days

All I have to say about this is...I live in Italy. The Italians have a small breakfast, huge lunch, a small snack later on during the day, and a small dinner. It‘s rare when I see obese people walking around here. Maybe we can learn a little something from them.

I noticed the same thing when I was in France, so I think there is something to the concept! I also found it a great stress reliever to have lunch as the largest meal...that way the evenings were much more relaxed and easy going.

I do this because my digestion moves very slowly. If I eat a large meal at night, I am uncomfortable and have acid reflux and I don't sleep well. Eating my largest meal earlier in the day gives me time to walk it off and let my body do its thing.

I think it helps with my weight loss but I have no scientific proof that it does. Its just my feeling about it, I think the scale moves a bit more when I eat lighter in the evenings. However, the only person that matters to is me.

Whatever is sustainable for you, do it. As long as you're eating at a deficit, you'll lose weight. I eat most of my calories in the evenings. I like having a big dinner and an evening snack., but that's just me. Everyone is different.