When do you eat most of your calories?

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  • CherylG1983
    CherylG1983 Posts: 294 Member
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    I consume most of my calories for breakfast, morning snack, and lunch. I find I'm not usually that hungry at dinner, and just eat because I have to. I don't really do anything at night to burn off a big dinner anyway.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
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    Biggest meal for me is generally dinner...
  • TheEffort
    TheEffort Posts: 1,028 Member
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    My largest calorie consumption is at breakfast. :smile:
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
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    My doctor and diabetic nutritionalist recommend breakfast be the largest meal of the day. I usually eat a larger breakfast around 9a, a small lunch around 1:30p, then around 5-6p a larger dinner.

    My hardest part of the day is after I get home. I'm trying to destress from the day and I tend to munch on stuff from when I get home to when I go to bed.
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
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    I have a 300-500 calories at breakfast, most if not all of my remaining calories at lunch when I'm hungriest except on weekends when we go out to dinner. Then I have a medium breakfast, a very light lunch and a big dinner.
  • Rosie_McA
    Rosie_McA Posts: 256 Member
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    I have always taken the majority of my calories for dinner with relatively small breakfasts and lunches. In France there is also the traditional "gouter" around 4:00pm to consider (usually something like a pastry with a drink such as hot chocolate). I know I should try to have a bigger breakfast and spread out my calories throughout the day, but habits and working patterns make this difficult to change. Whenever I've had big lunches at work I found myself falling asleep around 2:00pm!

    Typical breakdown: Breakfast 15% Lunch 20% snacks 15% Dinner 50%.
  • fast_eddie_72
    fast_eddie_72 Posts: 719 Member
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    Evening grazing is my evil.

    Mine too. I started saving a lot more calories for the evening because it's just when I seem to want to eat. Might not be ideal (I don't really know) but it's working for me.
  • Beastmaster50
    Beastmaster50 Posts: 505 Member
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    Actual scientific studies have shown that timing of calories is irrelevant. The only concern with eating more in the evenings is if you are subject to acid refux or heartburn. No need for breakfast if you aren't hungry in the morning either.
  • JaniePapageorgio
    JaniePapageorgio Posts: 142 Member
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    Actual scientific studies have shown that timing of calories is irrelevant. The only concern with eating more in the evenings is if you are subject to acid refux or heartburn. No need for breakfast if you aren't hungry in the morning either.

    Agreed. Spread your calories the way you want.

    I used to try to follow the idea that a large breakfast makes you less hungry in the afternoon- that NEVER worked for me; no matter how much I eat in the morning, I get really hungry around 2pm-4pm. So now I don't eat breakfast, when I am almost NEVER hungry, and I eat a big meal when I am. Makes more sense to me.
  • davadoto
    davadoto Posts: 105 Member
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    Actual scientific studies have shown that timing of calories is irrelevant. The only concern with eating more in the evenings is if you are subject to acid refux or heartburn. No need for breakfast if you aren't hungry in the morning either.

    Agreed. Spread your calories the way you want.

    I'm not sure that is quite accurate. Nutritionist have different approaches on a lot of topics, but there seems to be a consensus on the benefits of eating breakfast for weight control and general health http://www.mayoclinic.org/food-and-nutrition/expert-answers/faq-20058449 . Of course there are individual considerations (age/metabolism) and not having breakfast may not hinder overall results for some but that's the exception, not the general rule.

    For my part, I spread my calories throughout the day (1200 calories: 3 meals/500 cal lunch- 2 snacks) I tend to adapt to my day to day activity (dining out or not, exercise time) , but generally avoid going over 250-300 calories for dinner.
    But like most people said, I agree that you have to find the calorie distribution that what works for you, your hunger patterns and your daily activity regimen (work schedule and exercise routines).
    Success on your weight loss journey :flowerforyou:
  • FindingAmy77
    FindingAmy77 Posts: 1,266 Member
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    I space out my three meals so they are even and have two snacks. I pretty much treat my calories like money or my budget for the day. Don't want to use it all up on just one meal.
  • topazora
    topazora Posts: 82 Member
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    I try to make my biggest meal lunch time, so I don't eat or eat very little in the evening.
  • youcrazything
    youcrazything Posts: 32 Member
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    Dinner is usually my biggest meal. Its the one I take the time to prepare and cook, so why not enjoy it? Breakfast and lunch are always either whatever I can throw together or leftovers from dinner. Besides, I find it easier to eat less during those meals without getting grouchy. A small dinner doesn't usually make me a very happy person to be around.
  • softncudly
    softncudly Posts: 722 Member
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    I try to eat most of my calories during lunch.
  • ab_1203
    ab_1203 Posts: 88 Member
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    Most days, lunch is my biggest meal, it could be anywhere from 600-800. Sometimes breakfast is my largest meal, today it was around 600 calories and dinner will most likely be 500 calories.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    Most days I eat >75% of my calories between 4 and 10 pm. The only important thing about timing is that you get the right amount of calories in within any given 24 hour period in the way that works best for your self-control and life schedule.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    Actual scientific studies have shown that timing of calories is irrelevant. The only concern with eating more in the evenings is if you are subject to acid refux or heartburn. No need for breakfast if you aren't hungry in the morning either.

    Agreed. Spread your calories the way you want.

    I'm not sure that is quite accurate. Nutritionist have different approaches on a lot of topics, but there seems to be a consensus on the benefits of eating breakfast for weight control and general health http://www.mayoclinic.org/food-and-nutrition/expert-answers/faq-20058449 . Of course there are individual considerations (age/metabolism) and not having breakfast may not hinder overall results for some but that's the exception, not the general rule.

    For my part, I spread my calories throughout the day (1200 calories: 3 meals/500 cal lunch- 2 snacks) I tend to adapt to my day to day activity (dining out or not, exercise time) , but generally avoid going over 250-300 calories for dinner.
    But like most people said, I agree that you have to find the calorie distribution that what works for you, your hunger patterns and your daily activity regimen (work schedule and exercise routines).
    Success on your weight loss journey :flowerforyou:

    No study that has ever indicated that breakfast consumption was useful for weight loss was worth a damn. causation =/= correlation.

    Some people eat better if they eat breakfast. Some don't. Some people skip it for conscious, purposeful reasons. Some do it because they're lazy and oversleep and work will have free donuts when they get there. Breakfast isn't the cause of the failures or successes. It's just a time when some people eat.
  • kristinc89
    kristinc89 Posts: 27 Member
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    most of my calories come from lunch around 400 and then I try to eat light for dinner
  • AMNimlos
    AMNimlos Posts: 34 Member
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    Definitely dinner. I don't like eating a lot in the morning and I don't have time to eat a big meal at lunch, so most of my calories are in the evening. I probably do around 300 in the morning, 500-600 in the evening, and then about 700-800 in the evening. Of course, this is average. On the weekends when I sleep in, I probably have a pretty big brunch breakfast, and then a small lunch and then normal dinner.

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