Breakfast - Your biggest meal?

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Hippster30
Hippster30 Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Is it best to intake the majority of our daily calories during breakfast? To anyone who does this; do you find yourself increasingly hungry or less energized throughout the day? I have recently noticed that my caloric intake is lowest at breakfast and highest at dinner.

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  • Russellb97
    Russellb97 Posts: 1,057 Member
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    No, I may get flak from some but I believe having your biggest meal early will spike your blood sugar and set you up for a day of hunger. I personally eat most of my calories after 5pm.
  • alecta337
    alecta337 Posts: 622 Member
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    The average American has their biggest meal at night, which is unhealthy because you have the least amount of time to burn it off before you go to sleep and you convert everything to fat.

    I have a read a lot of places to have 3 equal sized meals and 2 snacks. On a 1200 calorie diet that'd be 300cal per meal and 2 150 cal snacks. Thats what I aim for.

    IMHO i don't think breakfast has to be the biggest meal, just eat something to get your metabolism going and try not to eat a ton at night.

    Even spacing is key... i think

    **Not a specialist of any kind** just trying to help out :smile:
  • mistyb47711
    mistyb47711 Posts: 861 Member
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    i try to eat more for lunch then I do for dinner...but I save some for after workout snacks
  • taliyai
    taliyai Posts: 38
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    My biggest meal is definitely my breakfast. I find that it jump-starts my metabolism and I have a lot of energy throughout the day. I've also read through a lot of articles and message boards -- the consensus is that breakfast is important enough to be your biggest meal.

    As I'm sure you've heard plenty of times, i would focus on eating 6 small meals a day. Even with a big breakfast at 8 a.m., I'm hungry by 11:30 a.m. or 12. That's just how my body works.

    Here is what I usually do for breakfast --
    2 whole eggs (or 0.5 cup of egg beaters)
    0.5 cup of black beans
    0.25 cup of green peppers and tomatoes, chopped
    buena vida low-carb tortilla wrap
    --- I basically make myself a scrambly-omleletty concoction, stick it in a tortilla, and enjoy. Lot's of protein and fiber... and the biggest meal of my day.

    Then, I split my lunch up into two meals -- something like an apple at 11:30 or 12, and a PBJ or tuna sandwich at 2:30. Just to keep me going until 5 or 6 for dinner.

    Probably too many details for you, but I hope you get some good ideas from this.
  • MizzDoc
    MizzDoc Posts: 493 Member
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    I am finding a big breakfast to be my culprit to losing weight. If I have a big breakfast, I find that (1) I am almost over my calorie intake for the day and (2) I am very hungry!
  • McKayMachina
    McKayMachina Posts: 2,670 Member
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    My calories go like this:

    9:30am: Breakfast (435 calories)
    12:00pm: Snack 1 (200 calories)
    2:30pm: Lunch (435 calories)
    5:00pm: Snack 2 (200 calories)
    7:30pm: Dinner (435 calories)

    This is a new plan, so I can't report back on results, yet. But I go to bed at 11:30, so I think it's going to work out okay. :)

    NOTE: Yes, that's 1700 calories. I burn 500/day off with exercise, netting 1200. Since my maintenance calories are 2100, that gives me a total daily deficit of 900, which should result in weightloss of 1.8 lbs./week. We'll see!
  • mykaar74
    mykaar74 Posts: 253
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    my biggest meal is lunch, after breakfast i do about 2 hours of working out, then i have my midmorning snack, then I eat lunch. after lunch i go to the gym with the husband & that's about 2 hours by then i'm tired & not really hungry but to keep in line with my calories I try to have a pre dinner snack before dinner then after dinner i relax, usually get prepped for bed thenbed at 10pm, and I feel great all throughout the day as far as hunger goes
  • Cori615
    Cori615 Posts: 100
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    My biggest meal is lunch sometimes dinner. I don't get very hungry in the morning so i just have cereal or fruit
  • spcopps
    spcopps Posts: 283
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    I am guilty of NOT eating a big breakfast. To be honest just trying to "eat" breakfast makes me gag. I start my day with a fruit smoothie. I use low fat yogurt, fruit and whey protein powder to make a smoothie every morning averaging 250-300 calories. I then have a recovery drink after my mid morning workout, lunch about 1, snack around 3 then dinner around 5:30 or so. If I have left over calories that I can't get by increasing items in previous meals I have a night snack of homemade cinnamon pita chips (110 calories and taste like taco bell cinnamon twist) or a bowl of cherrios :)
  • MelissaL582
    MelissaL582 Posts: 1,422 Member
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    The average American has their biggest meal at night, which is unhealthy because you have the least amount of time to burn it off before you go to sleep and you convert everything to fat.

    I have a read a lot of places to have 3 equal sized meals and 2 snacks. On a 1200 calorie diet that'd be 300cal per meal and 2 150 cal snacks. Thats what I aim for.

    IMHO i don't think breakfast has to be the biggest meal, just eat something to get your metabolism going and try not to eat a ton at night.

    Even spacing is key... i think

    My family and I eat dinner at 5pm and I might have a snack around 7pm. At 7am the next morning I am hungry and ready for breakfast; I eat about 400 calories. Eating an actual meal for breakfast keeps me full for a good part of the day.
  • Nigel99
    Nigel99 Posts: 498 Member
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    For various reasons, if my breakfast calories are low, then I'm almost surely going to fall well short of my daily totals. It is just too hard to make up the cals at lunch (on work days), and then dinner (especially if I'm getting home later).

    I've been trying to eat more cals (but still healthy) at breakfast to keep myself from falling too far behind, and that seems to be working ok.
  • boognish1972
    boognish1972 Posts: 83 Member
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    I try to eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince and dinner like a Pauper. Doesn't always work out that way, but that's what I strive for.
  • SMarie10
    SMarie10 Posts: 956 Member
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    No, I may get flak from some but I believe having your biggest meal early will spike your blood sugar and set you up for a day of hunger. I personally eat most of my calories after 5pm.
    I'm with you here Russel. Each person has to gage their bodies high and low hunger times. I find that I like to save a few calories for my last meal of the day, or else I'm home and hungry. Oatmeal & raisins in the morning keeps me happy till lunch. I think you have to learn what your body wants and feed it appropriately - whether you're a morning eater or something else. I don't know the science behind it, just know what works for me.
  • street_wi
    street_wi Posts: 15
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    My biggest meal is usually dinner. I find that if I eat too much for breakfast I end up eating a lot throughout the day, and it's very easy for me to go over in my calories. I do eat 3 meals and 3 snacks though so I feel like I'm almost always eating something! My workout is also between breakfast and lunch so I don't want to eat too much before working out. Makes it very uncomfortable!
  • Russellb97
    Russellb97 Posts: 1,057 Member
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    Repeat after me..
    "Eating late at night will not cause me to gain fat."

    This has got to be one of the largest and worst diet myths ever invented.

    A constant surplus of calories over many days causes fat gain. Fat gain literally, does not happen overnight.
    I will give you two great reasons why it doesn't.

    1. Metabolism does NOT stop when we sleep, and you will be fasting for several hours. That means many hours where your body needs calories and your not giving it any.
    2. Glycogen, when we diet we are constantly burning up our short-term energy storage and when we eat more calories than we need our body stores glycogen before fat. Short-term is a bigger priority than long-term energy storage. I see glycogen as a "buffer" between excess calories and body-fat.

    As long as you have an overall deficit of calories you'll lose weight, but for me personally. It was when I flipped my calories, and ate more at night, that got me to where I am today.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    i dont think it matters much. its not how much you eat, but the quality of food. usually for breakfast i have oatmeal with one piece of toast and a glass of soy milk. i dont try to even up my calories..but for my big meals it usually ends up being 300-400 cals each meal.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    The average American has their biggest meal at night, which is unhealthy because you have the least amount of time to burn it off before you go to sleep and you convert everything to fat.

    I**Not a specialist of any kind** just trying to help out :smile:

    this is a myth. one of many perpetuated on this forum. if you converted everything to fat, you'd be huge. please...i work night shift..when i get home, i usually eat oatmeal before my workout. i hit the gym, come back and have a whey shake and a snack. then I go right to bed. if you go under this myth, i'd be hugely fat. i'm not..i'm 119 lbs.
  • mamawildbear
    mamawildbear Posts: 93 Member
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    My biggest meal is dinner because that's when I like to eat. I'm totally satisfied with a small breakfast. If I eat a big breakfast, I'll still eat a big dinner so then my total calories for the day will be too high - BAD. I'm way better off eating small meals during the day and saving all my calories for dinner.
  • itzamos
    itzamos Posts: 24
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    I try to keep my breakfast calories lower because I'll inevitably go over for the day if I don't.

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