what meal do you consume most calories?

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24

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  • thepandapost
    thepandapost Posts: 117 Member
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    It really depends on the day but normally it ends up being lunch for me. Although if I workout in the morning it sometimes ends up being breakfast.
  • thepandapost
    thepandapost Posts: 117 Member
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    In all seriousness, it seems to vary by the day. I was starving after my workout this morning (probably because I hit the gym last night, too) so I had a bigger breakfast than usual. Typically, dinner is a little bit bigger than my other meals. Because, wine.

    ((wine)) :drinker:
  • kristydi
    kristydi Posts: 781 Member
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    Dinner!!!
    It is easier to control my choices for breakfast and lunch and allows me to have a "normal" dinner with the hubby.

    This is me too. Usually just coffee, maybe some yogurt for breakfast 50-150kcal. Something 500 kcal or less for lunch, then between 700-900 kcal for dinner. Then, if I've been on the bike that day, maybe 200-250 kcal evening snack (usually ice cream).

    Of course today hubby took me to Waffle House for breakfast where I ate over 850kcal. So today I'll eat a small snack at lunch time and a smallish dinner.
  • Spiderkeys
    Spiderkeys Posts: 338 Member
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    Easily at dinner, because I feel get frozen at night, I feel warmer after a big meal, which is telling me, I must be burning calories, Out of my 2,000 calorie a day limit, I like to at least save 1,300 calories for dinner and I can also fit in big bowl of ice cream to enjoy at the end of the day.
  • tar0809
    tar0809 Posts: 122 Member
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    I tend to be really hungry in the AM so I try to eat a big breakfast and if not then I try and make lunch my biggest meal. But I can also say that once in awhile dinner is my biggest meal!! lol I guess this doesn't help much but I suppose it just depends on when your the most hungry and go from there.
  • Jim_Barteck
    Jim_Barteck Posts: 274 Member
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    Dinner is by far my largest meal. I plan my meal, and then plan the rest of my day's eating around how many calories I'll have left over.

    That being said, studies have actually shown that the people who have the largest breakfasts actually do better at losing weight than those who have smaller or non-existent ones. (Most likely because they are less prone to hunger and snacking between meals as a result.)

    Remember how they always used to tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Turns out they were actually right :)
  • maizerage66
    maizerage66 Posts: 367 Member
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    I only eat twice a day with an occasional snack. And my lunch and dinner are usually pretty even as far as calories go, but my dinner has more volume. I like doing it this way so I feel full when going to bed so I don't binge on something I shouldn't.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
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    I eat about half my calories for breakfast, because studies have shown that it contributes to greater weight loss and better control of other health markers (abdominal obesity, fasting glucose, triglycerides).

    But don't take my word for it (as everyone else commenting so far seems to expect you to do), read some of the studies I'll provide links to below.
    All of those sayings about ..."Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a blah blahh" just aren't backed up by any science.
    All else controlled if you eat at a deficit (let's say 1,500 calories is a deficit for you), you would lose the same amount of weight if you ate all 1,500 for breakfast OR all 1,500 for dinner, or if you had 15 meals that were 100 calories.
    meal timing doesn't affect weight loss
    Wrong.

    This study compared eating a small breakfast, medium lunch, and large dinner, [200, 500, 700 cal]
    with eating a large breakfast, medium lunch, and small dinner [700, 500, 200 cal].
    "The [large breakfast] group showed greater weight loss and waist circumference reduction ... fasting glucose, insulin [&] triglycerides ... decreased significantly to a greater extent in the [large breakfast] group."
    In addition, hunger was less and satiety was greater.
    Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23512957
    Full text:
    http://genetics.doctorsonly.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Jakubowicz-at-al-Obesity-2013-oby20460.pdf

    "subjects assigned to high caloric intake during breakfast lost significantly more weight than those assigned to high caloric intake during the dinner"
    Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24467926
    Full text: http://www.tradewindsports.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Nutrient-Timing-and-Obesity-2014.pdf

    "data suggest that a low-calorie Mediterranean diet with a higher amount of calories in the first part of the day could establish a greater reduction in fat mass and improved insulin sensitivity than a typical daily diet."
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24809437
  • jsheter
    jsheter Posts: 13 Member
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    Great weekend response and mine is often similar. I take weekends "off" from posting and enjoy the weekend time, food and drink. I have been enjoying too much lately and have to get back on track--including weekends. Love the post, tho!
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
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    Easily at dinner, because I feel get frozen at night, I feel warmer after a big meal, which is telling me, I must be burning calories.
    When you have a fever you probably feel cold, because you're warmer than the air around you.
  • nomad1000
    nomad1000 Posts: 206 Member
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    I tend to have a smaller breakfast, larger lunch, and smaller dinner so I can have some snacks in the evening.

    But it varies depending on the day and the meals I have planned.
  • Itslozzamate
    Itslozzamate Posts: 56
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    Usually my evening meal
  • crissy976
    crissy976 Posts: 91 Member
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    It depends on how late I ate the night before. If I stopped eating early in the night, I'm starving by morning and eat a big breakfast. But I've always been a big breakfast eater. I think it really just depends on the day.
  • deluxmary2000
    deluxmary2000 Posts: 981 Member
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    I usually consume the most calories at breakfast because 1) I really like high-calorie breakfast foods (eggs, bacon, bagels, etc) and it's when I tend to splurge the most and 2) I go to bed early now with a new baby so I wake up very hungry. After eating a big breakfast and then a reasonable lunch, I'm not normally very hungry for dinner.

    On the weekends I tend to consolidate breakfast/lunch into one big meal, then eat a small dinner with any extra calories going to winey wine wine. That seems to be a common weekend diet theme!
  • enzosmama
    enzosmama Posts: 134 Member
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    Mine really varies daily. Typically between lunch and dinner, but it really all depends on the day. I usually do smaller meals with a morning snack/afternoon snack and sometimes an evening snack. Sometimes I find my snacks are close to the calories I consume in a meal! I don't think it much matters as long as you're eating an appropriate amount of calories and you're not starving or overly full.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    Depends - lunch or dinner.

    I try not to eat late dinners.
  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,067 Member
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    dinner, by far
  • LadyKim66
    LadyKim66 Posts: 20 Member
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    I am getting some fabulous responses here. A little bit of everything. I try to meal plan the day before, and make everything for work the night before. It is really hard to get in my water on days I work, we are not allowed to have anything in the unit, so in order to drink I have to walk off the unit, and being the only RN, it makes it mighty difficult!!.
    One good thing at work is we do not have a cafeteria or snack machines. So I bring all my food in :) My super long day at work is from 0630 until 10 pm. talk about difficult trying to meal plan for those days.
    I found that 1200 calories and under does NOT work for weight loss.. LOL, gee go figure. so today I upped it to 1500.
    I ate 460 for breakfast, rode my bike 7 miles (burned 475).
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
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    It depends. During the week, all my meals are about equal (between 5-600 a piece). On the weekend, usually my lunches are my biggest meal.
  • AbsolutelyRaw
    AbsolutelyRaw Posts: 29
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    I generally eat my largest meals of the day before 2pm. Before 2pm is when I am the most active and I have found that I seem to lose weight better eating this way. I eat 6 smaller meals instead of three larger meals which seems to keep me from getting as hungry.

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