How do you divide your calories throughout the day?

TOPIC: How do you divide your calories throughout the day?

I divide mine with a fork. Maybe with a knife if I'm having a steak. Beyond that it really doesn't matter.

I find using a spoon helps me shovel more calories in...

I eat most of my calories earlier in the day. I find it quite easy to eat a very light dinner, and I need the energy during the day more than I do at night.

Speaking of meal time, I will leave this interesting study link here. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23357955

BACKGROUND:

There is emerging literature demonstrating a relationship between the timing of feeding and weight regulation in animals. However, whether the timing of food intake influences the success of a weight-loss diet in humans is unknown.Objective:To evaluate the role of food timing in weight-loss effectiveness in a sample of 420 individuals who followed a 20-week weight-loss treatment.
METHODS:

Participants (49.5% female subjects; age (mean ± s.d.): 42 ± 11 years; BMI: 31.4 ± 5.4 kg m(-2)) were grouped in early eaters and late eaters, according to the timing of the main meal (lunch in this Mediterranean population). 51% of the subjects were early eaters and 49% were late eaters (lunch time before and after 1500 hours, respectively), energy intake and expenditure, appetite hormones, CLOCK genotype, sleep duration and chronotype were studied.

RESULTS:

Late lunch eaters lost less weight and displayed a slower weight-loss rate during the 20 weeks of treatment than early eaters (P=0.002). Surprisingly, energy intake, dietary composition, estimated energy expenditure, appetite hormones and sleep duration was similar between both groups. Nevertheless, late eaters were more evening types, had less energetic breakfasts and skipped breakfast more frequently that early eaters (all; P<0.05). CLOCK rs4580704 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associated with the timing of the main meal (P=0.015) with a higher frequency of minor allele (C) carriers among the late eaters (P=0.041). Neither sleep duration, nor CLOCK SNPs or morning/evening chronotype was independently associated with weight loss (all; P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

Eating late may influence the success of weight-loss therapy. Novel therapeutic strategies should incorporate not only the caloric intake and macronutrient distribution - as is classically done - but also the timing of food.

Totally depends on when I'm hungry or not, honestly!

Usually goes like this:
Breakfast 300 - 400 calories
Lunch 800ish calories
Dinner 300 - 400 calories.

Lunch is almost always my biggest meal. Sometimes I skip dinner because I'm still full from having such a huge lunch.

I eat most of my calories earlier in the day. I find it quite easy to eat a very light dinner, and I need the energy during the day more than I do at night.

Speaking of meal time, I will leave this interesting study link here. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23357955

BACKGROUND:

There is emerging literature demonstrating a relationship between the timing of feeding and weight regulation in animals. However, whether the timing of food intake influences the success of a weight-loss diet in humans is unknown.Objective:To evaluate the role of food timing in weight-loss effectiveness in a sample of 420 individuals who followed a 20-week weight-loss treatment.
METHODS:

Participants (49.5% female subjects; age (mean ± s.d.): 42 ± 11 years; BMI: 31.4 ± 5.4 kg m(-2)) were grouped in early eaters and late eaters, according to the timing of the main meal (lunch in this Mediterranean population). 51% of the subjects were early eaters and 49% were late eaters (lunch time before and after 1500 hours, respectively), energy intake and expenditure, appetite hormones, CLOCK genotype, sleep duration and chronotype were studied.

RESULTS:

Late lunch eaters lost less weight and displayed a slower weight-loss rate during the 20 weeks of treatment than early eaters (P=0.002). Surprisingly, energy intake, dietary composition, estimated energy expenditure, appetite hormones and sleep duration was similar between both groups. Nevertheless, late eaters were more evening types, had less energetic breakfasts and skipped breakfast more frequently that early eaters (all; P<0.05). CLOCK rs4580704 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associated with the timing of the main meal (P=0.015) with a higher frequency of minor allele (C) carriers among the late eaters (P=0.041). Neither sleep duration, nor CLOCK SNPs or morning/evening chronotype was independently associated with weight loss (all; P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

Eating late may influence the success of weight-loss therapy. Novel therapeutic strategies should incorporate not only the caloric intake and macronutrient distribution - as is classically done - but also the timing of food.

Interesting read, however, when a study is performed where the subjects keep an individual food diary instead of consuming meals under strict caloric control, this leaves massive room for under-reporting, especially in a 20 week study.

Energy intake before and during treatment

To evaluate habitual dietary intake before the treatment, intake was determined by the “24-h dietary recall”, including 24-h recalls of food intake from all days of the week in the total population. Dietary intake during the treatment was assessed by the “7-day dietary record” measuring and weighting food daily. Subjects recorded their dietary intakes for 7 days, every week during the whole intervention. Patients also recorded the time of day that each meal (e.g., breakfast, lunch, and dinner) was eaten. After excluding atypical weeks due to vacations, sickness etc. we randomly selected one week from the total treatment in each patient to analyze data in order to cover the 20 weeks of treatment and to obtain an overall picture of the dietary intake along the whole weigh loss period. Importantly, patients indicated in each weekly notebook whether or not this was a usual week, and after double checking by the nutritionist, a representative week was chosen for the study.

Also, without said control (or any dietary control for that matter) it is more likely that an obese individual who fasts early then consumes the majority of meals late will overeat. While there was no significant statistical difference between leptin and ghrelin levels between the groups in the study, it has been theorized that obese individuals are leptin resistant.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17212793

Lastly, according to the data and standard deviations, 1kg weight loss difference between the lunch group and breakfast/dinner groups hardly seems to be significant. Caloric deficit reigns supreme over meal timing.

I tend to stick to the same types of food everyday and even pre-log most everything so I know exactly what calories and protein/fat/carbs I’m going to be getting.

Breakfast – 380
Elevenses – 700
Lunch (1:30pm) – 400
Pre-working (4:30pm) – 330
Post workout – 480
I also eat 160 cal worth of nuts usually around mid afternoon (3:30ish).

I'm mostly trying to get my meals carved up into four 400 - 500 calorie chunks throughout the day. When not being healthy, I stacked nearly all of my calories into the last part of the day so now I'm just trying to pace myself a bit better. I don't know if I buy the whole eating earlier is better thing but I do know that when I am laying in bed bored and restless I am probably not at my peak dietary decision making point.

I lean more towards the "Eat breakfast like a king (usually 400-500 calories), lunch like a prince (300-400 calories), dinner like a pauper (200-300 calories)" plan, with a couple 100ish calorie snacks thrown if needed. Up to a couple years ago, breakfast was unthinkable to me, but it's pretty much routine now.