Do you prefer 3 larger meals or snacking all day -what helps you?!

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Replies

  • David_2015
    David_2015 Posts: 231 Member
    Breakkie - 700
    Lunch - 300
    Dinner - 400
    Snacking - 700

    Love knowing I'm never more than an hour away from having something to eat!!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited April 2015
    3 meals (usually all decent sized and similarly sized) + (lately) a planned (smaller) snack. At least when I'm on plan.

    I like having more time between meals and only added the afternoon snack because I tend to go from noon to 9:30 between lunch and dinner.
  • lectric102002
    lectric102002 Posts: 19 Member
    I've done the 3-hour diet for years. I eat every three hours, as exactly close to that time as possible. As soon as I get up, a piece of fruit or handful of cereal, breakfast at 8:00, 100 calorie snack at 11:00, lunch at 2:00, 400 cals or so, another 100 to 150 cal snack at 5:00 before I go home. Dinner at 7:30 to 8:00, try to stay around 400 cals, then frozen yogurt before bed. I'm never hungry and have lost 40 pounds in 5 months.

    Try it. It works.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    People are different. I'd hate that and I always end up eating more when I snack more, even with healthy snacks. I just tend to find snack foods less satisfying than a real sit-down, cooked meal.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    People are different. I'd hate that and I always end up eating more when I snack more, even with healthy snacks. I just tend to find snack foods less satisfying than a real sit-down, cooked meal.

    I'm like that too. Many of my snacks are really just my meals eaten in a couple of segments a couple of hours apart. I have a hiatal hernia so I can't eat a big meal at one time, but if I eat my entree and one side in a sitting, then wait for about 2 hours I can eat the other side dish and dessert if I have one. If I tried to eat it all at once, I would be in excruciating pain (that feels like a heart attack) for an hour or two until it digests.

  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
    6 or 700 calories at lunch. All the rest at dinner. 12 to 1400.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    I like having two meals with snacking thrown in.
  • hyIianprincess
    hyIianprincess Posts: 302 Member
    I munch on something typically every 2-3 hours. I prefer smaller meals. Easier on my stomach. That way I don't get that heavy, sluggish feeling afterwards.
  • Winterlover123
    Winterlover123 Posts: 352 Member
    Small things through the day starting at 10am, big dinner around 6:30 - 7pm-ish for me :) That's just how my work day tends to work out
  • PeachyPlum
    PeachyPlum Posts: 1,243 Member
    I skip breakfast and eat two fricking giant meals.

    It's awesome.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    600 cals for breakfast
    250 for AM Snack
    1000 for lunch
    250 for PM Snack
    1000 for dinner
    250 for late PM snack

    Give or take...
    Ahh this was pretty much my bulking split. Memories... ;)

    But yea I do a small breakfast, medium lunch, large dinner with snacks in between.. I'm pretty much eating all day


  • SteveMFP123
    SteveMFP123 Posts: 298 Member
    350 breakfast
    350 lunch
    800 dinner
    450 snacks

    I enjoy eating still, especially at night so I save snack calories for then.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    edited May 2015
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    People are different. I'd hate that and I always end up eating more when I snack more, even with healthy snacks. I just tend to find snack foods less satisfying than a real sit-down, cooked meal.

    Same, no chance I'd be full (or functional) on say 400 calories (excepting the snack).

    I'm in a hating cooking moment right now, myself. Can't be bothered to prep/cook/eat more often than 3.5 times a day. Boo to dishes. Lately, I just want to get the stuff down, and forget about it until I have to remember again.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    PeachyPlum wrote: »
    I skip breakfast and eat two fricking giant meals.

    It's awesome.

    I did this for a bit, kind of like an unintentional IF, just because I was too lazy to make breakfast, in my case. Very into the less cooking part, but less happy with the lack of energy and crabby mood that got me. Great if you can do it, though!
  • kisses71213
    kisses71213 Posts: 97 Member
    lectric102002 wrote: »
    I've done the 3-hour diet for years. I eat every three hours, as exactly close to that time as possible. As soon as I get up, a piece of fruit or handful of cereal, breakfast at 8:00, 100 calorie snack at 11:00, lunch at 2:00, 400 cals or so, another 100 to 150 cal snack at 5:00 before I go home. Dinner at 7:30 to 8:00, try to stay around 400 cals, then frozen yogurt before bed. I'm never hungry and have lost 40 pounds in 5 months.

    Try it. It works.

    Thanks for breaking down the cals as I have about a similar limit. I believe my snacks have been too high in cals and so I found myself having much smaller meals... soon every time I ate it was only about 250 cals and I never feel satisfied. So I was thinking of just 3 large meals but not sure if I could go very long in between meals. However, your post has great advice. Eat every 3 hours and have smaller sized snacks. Thank you!
  • kisses71213
    kisses71213 Posts: 97 Member
    PeachyPlum wrote: »
    I skip breakfast and eat two fricking giant meals.

    It's awesome.

    hahaha love it!
  • kickassbarbie
    kickassbarbie Posts: 286 Member
    I'm a constant munchies type person. What seems to work best for me is four to five small snacks/mini meals (150-300 cal one of those is usually hot chocolate and squirty cream with mini Marshmellows before bed) and a normal sized (500ish cal) dinner. Sometimes an extra shake thrown in.

    I don't think there's much correlation between meal timing and weight loss/gain though. Except for me im incapable of not snacking long term, three meals I struggle to hit my macros and seems to trigger weird late night carb binge behaviour after a week or two.
  • annette_15
    annette_15 Posts: 1,657 Member
    Usually do
    250-300 breakfast
    250-350 lunch
    300-500 dinner
    400-500 snacks after dinner
    25-75cal in milk for coffee throughout the day
  • Looncove_Farm
    Looncove_Farm Posts: 115 Member
    Always 3 meals and 2 snacks.
    Breakfast 630am, snack 8am, lunch 1230pm snack 230pm, dinner 5pm, then nothing because we are so busy after dinner theres no time for snacking.
    The times I put down are almost spot on each day. When my belly growls I eat something.
  • paulaviki
    paulaviki Posts: 678 Member
    If I'm at work I need snacks. I tend to graze at work. At home I can easily just have 3 meals. I think it depends on how bored I am!
  • auntyp147
    auntyp147 Posts: 38 Member
    Both - normally 3meals and snacks during the day - but only when I'm hungry. Prefer eating more at night then during the day too. Did try snacking every 2 hours during the day once - but it didn't work for me - my tummy didn't like it.
  • BuckyArden33
    BuckyArden33 Posts: 146 Member
    5 meals a day/1 every 3 hours. seems to work for me
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  • bewarethedog
    bewarethedog Posts: 42 Member
    I eat breakfast (200cals), lunch (300-400cals), afternoon snack (100-200cals), dinner (600-700cals), and late night snack (whatever cals I have left). It usually works out so I'm eating something every three hours (8:00, 11:00, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00). If I go any longer between eating I start to get really hangry and act more like the hulk than a normal person should.
  • ab_1203
    ab_1203 Posts: 88 Member
    Three large meals for me of whatever I like, about 700 calories a meal. I hate not eating a lot of food at once, so it has to be three. I only snack once between and its a banana.
  • MonsoonStorm
    MonsoonStorm Posts: 371 Member
    3 meals.

    The rest depends on how much exercise I am doing. If I am doing a fair bit then I eat in between too. Do what suits you.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    2 - 3 well-balanced meals a day. No snacks. I get satisfied and satiated, but not stuffed. It is really great and freeing.

    Back when my body craved sugar and carbs I had to eat all day or I would freak out, but not anymore.

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I prefer larger meals and then my snack is just to finish off my calories. My meals are usually 500-700 calories and then the snack is around 200.

    This week my meals have been messed up and I have felt very...blah. I need to get back on track with my normal eating pattern because it works well for me.
  • fannyfrost
    fannyfrost Posts: 756 Member
    I snack all day. I have standard snacks and meals that have my protein and my carbs, my snacks are the veggies and such. I get hungry often, some days more than others. there are days I will eat a meal and be hungry 30 minutes later, other days, same meal more than enough. So I do a lot of veggie snacks. My average calorie intake is about 1500 a day.

    This is what works best for me.

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