how to divide calories

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mhmmdmrm
mhmmdmrm Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
Can somebody tell me how they divide 1200 calories throughout the day?

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  • gramacanada
    gramacanada Posts: 558 Member
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    When I am actually working at it, I eat 300 calories 4 X a day.
    You have to make sure you eat a Lot of low calorie foods to feel full.
    Sadly I don't work at it often enough!
  • CrystalEverAfter
    CrystalEverAfter Posts: 29 Member
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    It helps to make sure you eat quality food that will stick with you. If it comes in a package premade, I would steer clear. I am doing 1300 a day and I try to eat oatmeal (whole not quick) fresh fruits and vegetables. Use pineapple vinegar and a touch of honey to make a great salad dressing. Be creative with your salads and add fruit to them. Add nuts to your diet but carefully measured. Drink unsweetened green tea or water and if you feel like something really sweet, try freezing banana and other chunks of fresh fruit and make a smoothie with a scoop of protein powder and a touch of vanilla with some water. Make it thick and it will help. I try to eat a big lunch and small dinner. My breakfasts are bigger than my dinner. Egg whites are your friend :)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    however you want...there's not some magical formula or anything.
  • omkarbhimraobhosekar01313
    omkarbhimraobhosekar01313 Posts: 83 Member
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    Try to eat same calories at the fixed interval of time & drink 6-7 liters of water daily. Eat healthy. Stay fit. As unequal dividing of calories may make you feel heavily filled at one time & hungry at other time. Also decide according to type & amount of movement you are gonna do in next some hours.
  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
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    .... drink 6-7 liters of water daily ..... uh, no. That's nonsense.
  • leslisa
    leslisa Posts: 1,350 Member
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    Depends on person. Love dinner? Give the majority to then. Enjoy lunch with the co-workers? That might be your top. Some folks (such as myself) do weekly calls. Especially during football season. Not giving up Sunday wings and beer for anyone!!! B) . The way I do it is save, say 100 - 150 a day Monday - Saturday, and then blow the extra 700 - 1050 on Sunday. I do the same if I'm going to a birthday party or anywhere else like that. Right now I'm doing 20% breakfast, 5% snack, 25% lunch (I eat vegatarian a lot), and 50% dinner :).

    Best of luck!!

    leslisa
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    omkarbhimraobhosekar01313 wrote: »
    Try to eat same calories at the fixed interval of time & drink 6-7 liters of water daily. Eat healthy. Stay fit. As unequal dividing of calories may make you feel heavily filled at one time & hungry at other time. Also decide according to type & amount of movement you are gonna do in next some hours.

    wut?
  • Alisontheice
    Alisontheice Posts: 9,624 Member
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    I don't need much food during the day so I have about 400 calories divided between breakfast and lunch, I"m not a breakfast eater so it's easy. I save the majority for dinner.
  • ljopurcell
    ljopurcell Posts: 19 Member
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    It is recommended that you eat 6 times per day. 3 meals and 3 snacks. A meal consists of 3 food groups and a snack consists of 2 food groups. So an apple and peanut butter toast would constitute a meal ( 3 food groups). If you have 3 such small meals per day and 3 snacks, you should be able to figure out what to eat each time. Also, if you have a glass of water with each meal and snack, you will have reached your goal of 6 glasses per day.
  • JennieMaeK
    JennieMaeK Posts: 474 Member
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    leslisa wrote: »
    Depends on person. Love dinner? Give the majority to then. Enjoy lunch with the co-workers? That might be your top. Some folks (such as myself) do weekly calls. Especially during football season. Not giving up Sunday wings and beer for anyone!!! B) . The way I do it is save, say 100 - 150 a day Monday - Saturday, and then blow the extra 700 - 1050 on Sunday. I do the same if I'm going to a birthday party or anywhere else like that. Right now I'm doing 20% breakfast, 5% snack, 25% lunch (I eat vegatarian a lot), and 50% dinner :).

    Best of luck!!

    leslisa

    ^^This

    There is no magic formula on how to best divide your calories. I eat about 1600 calories a day. I have about 400 for breakfast & morning snack, 500-600 for lunch & afternoon snack, and the rest for dinner and evening snack.
  • suruda
    suruda Posts: 1,233 Member
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    I do 1200 calories a day....it's been working for me. You have to spend wisely though when you have such a tight budget! Protein, fruits and veggies seem to stretch the calories further.

    Breakfast: 200-300 (Coffee and yogurt or cottage cheese typically)
    Lunch: 300: Chicken breast, celery, apply, mayo...awesome chicken salad...love it!
    Dinner: 300 Protein, veggies
    Snacks: 300 Fruits, chocolate, yogurt, etc...
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    ljopurcell wrote: »
    It is recommended that you eat 6 times per day. 3 meals and 3 snacks. A meal consists of 3 food groups and a snack consists of 2 food groups. So an apple and peanut butter toast would constitute a meal ( 3 food groups). If you have 3 such small meals per day and 3 snacks, you should be able to figure out what to eat each time. Also, if you have a glass of water with each meal and snack, you will have reached your goal of 6 glasses per day.

    These guidelines are outdated and do not aid in weight loss.
  • ryan_aye
    ryan_aye Posts: 12 Member
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    I recommend adding some type of physical activity be it walking, running, riding, weight lifting to push up the amount of calories you can consume in one day beyond the 1200 by 'earning' more calories through your workout then eating back about 1/2 of the calories you 'earned.' My wife has about 1200 calories per day but it's very easy to go over that number if she doesn't do some type of physical activity. You're really not going to be more hungry if you burn an extra 200-300 calories and then allow yourself to eat 1300-1450 calories and you'll still be at a net calorie intake of ~1200 per day.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Spread them out in the way that works best for you and fits your normal eating patterns. You might find that it helps to log things in advance. For example, I know I'm going to want a snack between dinner and bedtime so I always save calories for it by logging it into MFP in advance. Ditto on the beers I'll be drinking tonight during karaoke.
  • ramsounds
    ramsounds Posts: 16 Member
    edited June 2015
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    I am usually nauseous in the morning, so I skip breakfast entirely and have a large cup of ice water to wake up and refresh. Sometimes, if I wake up hungry, I have a single fried egg (~90 calories [7.5% daily calories]).

    I like lunch fine enough but only get a 30 minute break, so I eat 25-40% of my calories then. (210-480)

    I am a big dinner fan and an avid home cook so I reserve most of my calories for then. (900-630)

    I don't enjoy snacking and rarely get hungry enough between meals to warrant them. Sometimes I'll have a bit of high-fiber cereal or nut butter to tide me over, but that is very rare.

    I also have some wiggle room built into my plan. Some days I eat right at 1200 with no trouble, but some I go a bit over to 1400-1500. Either way it is still a deficit. I find that being able to "cheat" almost every day keeps my psychologically motivated, rather than having my deficit set at 1500 and being constantly worried about going over. Sounds silly, but it works for me!

    Basically, just listen to your body and when you are most hungry/enthused about food throughout the day. Adjust other meal sizes accordingly.
  • amy8400
    amy8400 Posts: 478 Member
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    Everybody's different but I am not comfortable eating before noon. My calorie goal is 1330 (highly recommend you up it from 1200--I learned that's hard to do for any length of time) so my day is pretty much 350 calories for lunch...200 midday snack...200 pre/post workout...450 dinner...150 evening snack. I work late into the night frequently so an evening snack is a must for me. If I am not working late, then I can use the calories for dinner or save them up for the weekend. The beauty of logging on MFP is you can see where you are at any given moment, make adjustments or even pre-log. And if you throw in some exercise, you can have more calories. The key is to look at your eating patterns and determine what's best for you.

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