What's your calorie goal and how do you distribute them throughout the day?

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  • CallMeRuPaul
    CallMeRuPaul Posts: 151 Member
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    I try to hit 3,000 calories a day:
    Breakfast - 825
    Lunch - 650
    Protein Shake - 155
    Dinner - 925
    Snacks throughout day - 450
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I'm flexible on calories and how to allocate my calorie allowance but nominally my goal is six days 2000 + exercise calories and one day only 650 cals (a maintenance varient of 5:2 fasting).

    As my exercise is a bit extreme in reality my days vary from 650 to 5000+ cals.

    On the six "normal eating" days I will mostly have three main meals + snacks. Guess the calorie amounts per meal vary from 300 - 2000? Not really concerned about individual meals just the day as a whole.
    But if my weight drifts upwards towards my intervention point I may skip breakfast as that's a very easy way for me to drop about 400 - 500 cals.

    My main meal tends to be in the evening but really the choices through the day centre on what I feel like eating, hunger, social eating and overall hitting my calorie and other nutrition goals.

    Also happy to transfer calories from one day to the next and take more of a weekly view.

  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    Main meal is my evening meal.. But it is always fish or chicken, veggies and starch.. This being said, all other calories fall where they may...

    If I happen to go out for lunch (rarely) then that is my biggest meal..

    But right now, I do not plan to stop logging.. Perhaps when the "calorie database memory chip" in my head has enough data, I will know how to calculate calories before I eat them..
  • bunnypy
    bunnypy Posts: 109 Member
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    My maintenance is around 1400
    Breakfast: 50-100
    Lunch: 450-500
    Snack: 250
    Dinner: 450-500
  • drkhoax
    drkhoax Posts: 11 Member
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    @ Op, good luck to you if you can get to the point where you don't have to log. I found in the past for me, when I didn't log, and I thought I knew how to distribute my calories, it would always creep back up.

    But to answer your question, I do 1600 calories for the day (sometimes I dip into the exercise calories). Breakfast is my major calorie hit. 600 - 700. Lunch is usually a protein shake (200 ish). Dinner is 500-600 and I usually end with some chips and hummus if I can.
  • dorkyfaery
    dorkyfaery Posts: 255 Member
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    jaga13 wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    jaga13 wrote: »
    What kind of pizza has 400 calories a slice? I thought the norm for a plain pizza is 250-300ish? Or are you including toppings?

    Aramark cuts their pizzas into six slices and they list the calories at 396 for a Pepperoni Pizza. They list their Meatball Pizza at 412.
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    jaga13 wrote: »
    What kind of pizza has 400 calories a slice? I thought the norm for a plain pizza is 250-300ish? Or are you including toppings?

    Aramark cuts their pizzas into six slices and they list the calories at 396 for a Pepperoni Pizza. They list their Meatball Pizza at 412.

    Thank G-D. I thought maybe my recent 300 calorie estimates were wrong!
    It really depends on the pizza. One slice of Papa Johns Large Pepperoni is about 320 calories, but the same size with deep dish crust from Pizza Hut is 370. And if you get New York style slices, which tend to be cut larger, they are around 400. I don't think I've met a slice of pizza that was near 250 calories, but it sure would be nice since pizza is one of my favorite foods.

    As for the original question, I'm not that strict with how I divide up my calories. I usually try to get around 500 calories at breakfast only because in my experience if I eat less than that I tend to be hungry again by 10:00. I shoot for around 600 calories for lunch/dinner. I cook dinner at night and usually eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. That leaves me room for snacks or desserts. I generally eat anywhere from 1800-2100 calories per day. While I still have my goal set to lose weight, lately I've just been eating around maintenance.

  • hgycta
    hgycta Posts: 3,013 Member
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    Different things work for different people, but my maintenance goal is 1,600 calories a day and this has been the most helpful for me personally (ever since I adapted it I've never felt the need to cheat or go over!):
    Breakfast, usually 1 hour after I wake up since I like to get ready first: 400 calories (30% fat, 30% carbs, 30% protein)
    Snack, I'm not a big lunch person as you'll notice: 160 calories (usually around 1 cup of cereal high in iron, which is also mostly carbs so it evens out the ratios from breakfast and brings me close to 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein for the day)
    Snack #2: 140 calories
    Dinner: 500-550 calories
    Night time snack, which is when I have that chocolate bar or ice cream I've been wanting to treat myself to: 350-400 calories.

    In the end when it's all said and done, I usually end up with about 50% carbs, 20-25% protein, and 25-30% fat.
    I try to make healthier options throughout the day, and then that 350-400 calories at night gives me room to still indulge myself in something satisfying while also keeping me motivated to stay on track during the day so I can earn it. Some people say not to reward yourself with food, but I always do with this small snack. It works for me, so I see nothing wrong with using food as motivation!
  • RaspberryTickleChicken
    RaspberryTickleChicken Posts: 629 Member
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    It's up to your personal eating preference & your particular lifestyle really.

    The general meal caloric guidelines is that each meal should range 500 - 700 calories (I can't remember the source of this info - sry).

    However, personally I have a small breakfast, moderate lunch, and my dinner is my biggest meal of the day.

    But honestly as others have mentioned, I don't break the calories down by the meal - that would drive me completely mad! lol

    In maintenance I glance at my daily calorie intake but I focus on the macros. I don't really put a lot of emphasis on the specific number of calories anymore because I practice a variation of the 80/20 Rule so about once a week or so I will go over my daily allotted calories & I'm A-OK with that. :)

    For me in maintenance is more of a weekly pulse-check on the calories & paying more attention to the macros.

    Best of luck to you!

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