Big breakfasts, small dinners?

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cassandralepandaa
cassandralepandaa Posts: 66 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey there. :)

I've always found that eating a big breakfast in the morning, and smaller meals at lunch or dinner has worked favorably. Has anyone else found this approach useful as well?

I was hoping someone could also maybe have a look at my food intake, mostly for breakfast, just to tell me whether there's anything I should eat less of, or more of?

I usually eat a HUGE meal in the morning, but don't feel hungry until evening, so lunch is like. Never on, aha. And dinner is usually just soup or milk if I can really be bothered, and I'm not sure if this is actually a good idea...

Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    You diary is closed.

    It shouldn't matter anyway. As long as you are comfortable and not hungry, as well as meeting your nutritional goals.

    I eat the opposite way. Tiny breakfast, a bunch of food midday, small dinner, big dessert.
  • lizznagelmiller
    lizznagelmiller Posts: 54 Member
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    I was told once you should eat like a king for breakfast, a queen for lunch and a princess for dinner. It works well for me you can look at my diary and see :smiley:
  • cassandralepandaa
    cassandralepandaa Posts: 66 Member
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    Oh, I hadn't realized you could open the diary out! Hang on. :)
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Do what works for you. I tend to eat light for breakfast. I have my dinner at lunch time, and then supper is light.
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
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    Don't worry. Unless you're fasting for more than two days straight it wont do you any harm (assuming no underlying medical considerations).

    When you eat your calories is not really a big deal unless it starts to effect your performance, satiety/hunger, or dietary adherence.

    If this is the way you prefer to eat and you're seeing results and not having issues with it, then go for it!

    FWIW I like to eat completely the opposite. Very little in the morning, a moderate lunch and a larger intake at night (which is when I'm naturally more hungry, have more access to food at home, and is around my usual training times).
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    You can eat whenever you want! I love snacking in the evening after my kids go to bed (more enjoyable time for me to eat). So I tend to not eat as much at breakfast and lunch, and then eat a big dinner and big snack before bed. Hasn't seemed to affect my weight loss at all, I'm 33 pounds down!
  • gotolam
    gotolam Posts: 262 Member
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    I'm just gonna leave this right here...

    http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v39/n5/abs/ijo2014182a.html?WT.ec_id=IJO-201505
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    gotolam wrote: »
    I'm just gonna leave this right here...

    http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v39/n5/abs/ijo2014182a.html?WT.ec_id=IJO-201505

    Are you going to come pick it up again?
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
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    gotolam wrote: »
    I'm just gonna leave this right here...

    http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v39/n5/abs/ijo2014182a.html?WT.ec_id=IJO-201505

    This is hardly a breakthrough. Whilst there are some interesting points here, particularly with cortisol levels, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that RMR decreases a little as you fast. The point is that it reaches a plateau, and the difference was not too significant given the extra time in an unfed state.

    The carb oxidisation was significantly lower for the LE group pre-meal, but you'll see the big spike upon eating which levels it out, and actually results in higher oxidisation (though I suspect not statistically significantly) than in the EE group.

    What this study does not address is the effect of meal size, and the effect of different macronutrients. I understand that this is a separate issue and could not have been part of this study, but they are still factors that need to be considered in real world applications. If I have a larger meal with a higher proportion of protein, the TEF is going to last longer than if I eat a smaller carb heavy meal (as was used in this study), so if I do this once or twice a day the overall outcome in energy expenditure will be negligible at best.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    cassandralepandaa wrote: »
    Hey there. :)

    I've always found that eating a big breakfast in the morning, and smaller meals at lunch or dinner has worked favorably. Has anyone else found this approach useful as well?

    I was hoping someone could also maybe have a look at my food intake, mostly for breakfast, just to tell me whether there's anything I should eat less of, or more of?

    I usually eat a HUGE meal in the morning, but don't feel hungry until evening, so lunch is like. Never on, aha. And dinner is usually just soup or milk if I can really be bothered, and I'm not sure if this is actually a good idea...

    Yes! This is me as well, except my bulk of calories are by noon, then less calories for the rest of the day. Nothing to do with weight loss, it's just preference.
  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
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    whatever makes it easier to stick to your calorie goal, I do IF and eat a smallish breakfast but a large dinner because going to bed hungry SUCKS
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    I'm completely the opposite. Whatever works.
  • sandryc79
    sandryc79 Posts: 250 Member
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    lizznagelmiller wrote: »
    I was told once you should eat like a king for breakfast, a queen for lunch and a princess for dinner. It works well for me you can look at my diary and see :smiley:

    This saying was popular among the "don't eat before bed because your metabolism slows while you sleep and anything you still have in your stomach goes straight to fat" fad. That logic has been debunked. It doesn't matter what time you eat your foods as long as you are at a daily deficit.

    That said, if eating a large breakfast and small lunch/dinner is the rhythm that makes your particular body feel satisfied through your day, that is enough of a reason to do it.

    I pretty evenly space my calories through my day with 3 small meals and 2 smaller snacks. I have PCOS and insulin resistance so keep my blood sugar even seems to help my hunger level and ability to stick to it.

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