How many calories per meal?

Redribbon73
Redribbon73 Posts: 117 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My goal is 1350, I do it this way, log my workouts and at the end of the day have about 2-300 calories left which I don't eat just in case my workout or meals logged calories are too high .

I do get in a tizz after lunch and worry that I might not have enough left for evening meal which is my main meal and my must have treat after the meal.
I haven't ever gone over but that worry makes me look at the lowest calorie lunch so I don't run out of calories.

My question is does this happen to you? How many calories average to you eat per meal (breakfast lunch and dinner?)

Many thanks

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I usually eat 5 meals a day, dinner being the biggest, 600, and an evening meal the smallest, maybe 150. The last three around 200-300 each. Total 1500. I'm 5'3" 134.7 lbs. I sort of preplan, but I don't bother logging exercise.
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
    I eat several times throughout the day, I am a snacker. My meals are usually around 150 to 200. It's hard to tell with the snacks because I usually log a lot of them under "other". I always make sure to leave myself 100 calories or so for the end of the day. For snacking LOL. Pre-planning and preparing helps a lot with this problem.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    It's whatever works for you. I would though suggest you could probably eat more than you are you only have 17 pounds to lose so should be aiming for around .5 pound a week. A few more calories might stop you stressing over the amount you have for each meal. Most average women can eat 1500/1600 calories easily and lose weight. Maybe relook at your MFP goals? if you've not seen it before this link may help. Good Luck

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=guide+to+sexypants&page=1#posts-18361594
  • Jessie24330
    Jessie24330 Posts: 224 Member
    I don't personally worry about this as I usually have a lot of calories left by dinner time but I do have a suggestion for you if it might help. We log in 24 hour days but there is not reason that that day needs to go from 12am to 11:59pm. You could always log from 6pm ( or whenever you eat dinner) to 5:59pm so that your dinner is the first thing you log for the day. Then you would know exactly how many calories you have left for the other two meals and snacks. It might not interest you but I thought it would throw it out there in case it might make it easier for you.
  • aneary1980
    aneary1980 Posts: 461 Member
    I have a similar allowance look at my diary if it helps.

    Note yesterday was a nightmare day and saturday was a birthday meal.
  • bmele0
    bmele0 Posts: 282 Member
    I was at a 2 lb loss per week, but I had over a 100 lbs to lose at the time.

    I have another 70 or so to lose, so I dropped my loss to 1.5 since I'm doing more intense exercise too.

    I model my diet after the diabetic diet since I had gestational diabetes during pregnancy- it's a pretty good diet all around. I limit carbs, but everyone needs to eat them. It's also high protein. I stay around 30 carbs (varies from 25-45) for the three main meals, and under 20 carbs for snacks. I try to pair all my carbs with protein, nutritionist at the hospital told me that will help my body process the carbs.I sure hope so. :)

    Breakfast 230-300 calories
    Snack- 100-150 calories
    Lunch- 230-300 calories
    Snack- about 120-140 calories
    Dinner- 300-450 calories
    Snack- 150-200 calories

    I don't eat whatever is left for the same reason you do, but I do try to eat my exercise calories back, so the calorie number above may fluctuate depending on exercise.
  • StevenH74
    StevenH74 Posts: 129
    I have just switched from slightly active to sedentry and my calorie allowance has dropped from 1930 to 1560. I aim to do approx 500 calories of exercise a day, I have to really.

    To splt my intake up I really re-think it....
  • estaticaa
    estaticaa Posts: 67 Member
    I eat around 1400 a day when I don't exercise and what I usually do is I save more calories for lunch and dinner (around 400 - 500) and distribute the rest of the calories throughout the day. If I am more active in the morning, I choose foods that will give me more energy and make me feel full in the morning (like eggs for example), but will have to cut back a bit on dinner (cut down olive oil a bit). The opposite is also true. When I'm not particularly active during the day, I tend to choose foods that will satiate more in the evening so I don't get cravings before I go to bed.

    So, sometimes it's not just about the calories, but the quantity / type of food you eat that will affect how hungry or energized you feel throughout the day.

    You should try different things and see what works for you. Check your diary to see what types of food left you feeling less hungry in the past and how much you really need to eat at lunch to get you through the day, so you can enjoy your dinner with a treat.
  • Clarehc
    Clarehc Posts: 15 Member
    Can you pre-plan each day? I do that before I get out of bed. It's a bit boring in terms of variety but I find it very helpful for staying on track. I add in the same snacks each day, the same breakfast and I add in my main meal first thing every day (I'm the cook in the house so I decide what we have). I also add in my work outs as that forces - er, inspires me to complete them. Then I adjust as I go along, add in extras that I eat, take out what I don't eat etc. It lets my view the day's calories as a whole, iyswim.

    And to answer your question, I don't eat breakfast until around 10.30 but it's always the same so same calories (around 200) then often don't eat lunch (because I've eaten b'fast so late), snack mid afternoon (around 150), keep my dinner under 600 cals then I like to leave some cals for evening snacking, it's my 'treat' for the day. If I eat differently, I adjust my dairy. Hope this helps!
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    Don't over think it, and please read the sexypants link that was given to you earlier.

    Typical day for me is:

    Lots and lots of coffee
    Meal 1 - 300-500 calories
    Meal 2 - 1100-1400 calories

    Total daily calories 1600-2000 daily

    Has worked great for me.
  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
    Don't over think it, and please read the sexypants link that was given to you earlier.

    Typical day for me is:

    Lots and lots of coffee
    Meal 1 - 300-500 calories
    Meal 2 - 1100-1400 calories

    Total daily calories 1600-2000 daily

    Has worked great for me.

    HAHAH glad to see I am not the only coffee person lol I agree.... My lunch yesterday was 800 calories... I don't pay attention to how many per meal.. my morning are pretty slim.. big lunches and big dinners for me :)
  • candistyx
    candistyx Posts: 547 Member
    I normally have 3 meals a day, the smallest being breakfast at 200-400 calories usually since I can't be bothered to cook something complicated first thing in the morning and lunch or dinner being the largest between 500 and 800 calories (sometimes as much as 1100 calories though). Dinner is usually larger just because my partner is home from work by then and his lunches are too small (because they have to fit in his lunchbox) so he ends up having a large amount of calories he needs to eat (we both track) in the evening.
  • Supertact
    Supertact Posts: 466 Member
    I eat several times throughout the day, I am a snacker. My meals are usually around 150 to 200. It's hard to tell with the snacks because I usually log a lot of them under "other". I always make sure to leave myself 100 calories or so for the end of the day. For snacking LOL. Pre-planning and preparing helps a lot with this problem.

    I do exactly this
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,286 MFP Moderator
    Don't over think it, and please read the sexypants link that was given to you earlier.

    Typical day for me is:

    Lots and lots of coffee
    Meal 1 - 300-500 calories
    Meal 2 - 1100-1400 calories

    Total daily calories 1600-2000 daily

    Has worked great for me.

    I do this. Coffee is the nectar of the gods, and keeps me in a NON-homicidal frame of mind.

    Mornings are usually coffee with half and half. Usually less than 100 calories.
    Lunch is a progresso soup can usually (because I'm lazy AND I prefer to have a large dinner at home with my family) or a salad from the cafeteria at work, so anywhere from 150 to 600 calories.
    Dinner is cooked at home, and I tend to have a LOT of it, Anywhere from 600 to 1200 calories, depending on what fits my calorie goal and how hungry I am.

    Edit to add - I DO go over my calories sometimes. I wouldn't stress about the possibility of going over your calories by a little sometimes as long as you're eating under maintenance. It takes a 3500 calorie surplus to gain a pound. You're probably not going to hit that by going over on calories once in a while. :flowerforyou:

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