How do you divvy up your calories?

JigglyPig
JigglyPig Posts: 231 Member
edited September 26 in Health and Weight Loss
How do you divide your calories throughout the day? Do you have a specific plan that you stick to each day? Sometimes I feel like if I would have planned my day better, I would feel less hungry.


Should I save the majority of my calories for dinner?
Should I divide my calories equally throughout my meals?
How much should I be spending on snacks?

Replies

  • jr1985
    jr1985 Posts: 1,033 Member
    Ideally you are supposed to follow the eat like a king for breakfast, like a prince for lunch and like a pauper for dinner... so to be eating most of your calories in the morning where you will have all day to burn them off... but this just doesn't work for me... I have dinner with friends a couple of nights a week... which is putting a lot more calories/fat at the end of the day... which ideally isn't great but I like the social aspect so if I know I'm going out I will butget. Look up the calories online if possible and get a little extra work out in. As long as i'm under my calories for the total day I generally don't worry about it too much. Good luck!
  • mstephanie63
    mstephanie63 Posts: 3 Member
    I try to have the lowest calories possible for breakfast and go from there.I like to save atleast 500-600 calories for dinner.just in case.I never know exactly what we are doing for dinner. If I make a sandwich for lunch then I only eat half of it for some fuel and maybe some strawberries or blueberries.then go back an hour or two later and finish my sandwich as if its a snack.saves me from over eating calories.
  • mrs_mouse
    mrs_mouse Posts: 24
    I think the biggest thing is planning ahead and listening to your body... try a few different distributions throughout the week (one day try eating lots at breakfast and a little at dinner, and then try the other way around)... I know for a fact that if I don't plan ahead, I will go over my calories for the day, and it helps to look ahead to the week and see what days I need to be really careful at breakfast and lunch so I can go out for dinner and not feel deprived, or what days I am going to be home on my own in the evening, and can have a bigger breakfast and lunch, or a "treat" for a snack because I know I can just have a salad for dinner.

    mstephanie's advice about eating only half her lunch and then eating the rest as a snack is really good too. We almost always eat more than we really need, just because it's right there in front of us. Learn to listen to when your body is done (not your brain/eyes/taste buds) and you will start to notice whether you need more food in the morning or later in the day. I don't even start to feel hungry until 10am usually, so my breakfast is very small, and then I need a pretty good afternoon snack or I will be STARVING at dinner time and ready to eat everything in sight!
  • casey12105
    casey12105 Posts: 293
    Supposedly it's best for your largest meal to be breakfast, but personally I just can't do that. I usually have a meal plan for dinner for the week since we're on a budget so I always go ahead and put in what I'm gonna have for dinner and see what that is, then put in whatever I"ve had for breakfast, and figure out my lunch and snacks from looking at the numbers I have left.
  • lajuice24
    lajuice24 Posts: 409 Member
    My largest meal in usually lunch because I just can not eat heavy for breakfast.
  • funkyspunky871
    funkyspunky871 Posts: 1,675 Member
    I don't ever have a set amount. I wake up and then decide for the day. Sometimes I eat a HUGE breakfast, medium lunch, small dinner. Other days I eat a small breakfast, medium dinner, and a huge lunch. Sometimes I eat a pretty much equal amount of calories for each meal. It all depends on how I'm feeling. I say there is nothing wrong with saving calories for whichever meal you want to eat the most, just as long as you don't SKIP a meal. When I first started, I liked to eat a 700-800 calorie dinner because that's when I seemed to be hungriest. Now, I'm always hungriest in the morning; I think it just turned into a vicious cycle, lol. (Big breakfast, small dinner, wake up hungry for another big breakfast, leave only enough calories for a small dinner, etc.)
  • callipygianchronicle
    callipygianchronicle Posts: 811 Member
    Most days I think I’m lower calorie at breakfast and tend eat pretty equal calories for lunch and dinner. I often have a late morning workout, so I am very hungry at lunch time and larger dinners are lifelong habits. Although I have general idea what we’re eating for dinner each day, I don’t plan ahead very much. I occasionally fill out my diary for the full day at breakfast time, but I like flexibility too much to commit ahead of time.
  • joolzsd
    joolzsd Posts: 51
    I'm happiest if I can eat every 2-3 hours... roughly like this:


    6:00 Breakfast 200 (I can't eat more than this... unhappy tummy)
    9:30 Snack 100-200
    12:00 Lunch 300
    2:30 Snack 200
    5:00 Snack 100
    7:00 Dinner 300-350
    8:00 Snack 100
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