Half my calories at dinner?

maria1993
maria1993 Posts: 112
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
I know dinner is supposed to be bigger than other meals but how many of your calories do you use for it??. I have been eating about half, or more, of my cals during dinner. Is this the norm? or is there something wrong with that?

Replies

  • music_lover_103
    music_lover_103 Posts: 118
    that's what i do, too. i'm not sure if it's good, bad, or doesn't matter, though.
  • melsat
    melsat Posts: 14
    I save the majority of my calories for dinner also. It is easier and gives me more flexibillity since I am eating with my boyfriend every night who is a "meat & potatoes" kind of guy! No dieting for him. :) I say it's fine as long as you stay within your calories for the entire day.
  • notoriousgtt
    notoriousgtt Posts: 75 Member
    Cant see anything wrong with that. Its supposed to be the main meal, mine is normally 100-200 cals bigger than my lunch but it depends what I'm eating.
  • bunnysone
    bunnysone Posts: 486 Member
    dinner actually works better if it is smaller - the old saying "breakfast like a king, lunch like a peasant, dinner like a pauper" or something like that.

    You will get better weight loss and more evenly balanced blood sugar (lessenning spikes and therefore cravings) if you spread your calories over the day fairly evenly, including snacks
  • Clovergirl17
    Clovergirl17 Posts: 61
    I've heard that dinner should actually be your smallest meal of the day, especially if you eat late like I do (try 8:30 - 9), because your body doesn't have time to burn it off during the day, so most of it gets stored as fat. Plus, when you have a big meal late in the evening, your digestive system is up late digesting your food, leading to a less restful night's sleep. I'm no expert though, so please just take my thoughts as a suggestion :)
  • jrueckert
    jrueckert Posts: 355 Member
    They say you should eat most of your calories at breakfast and lunch because that's when you need the energy. When you eat a lot at night, there's not much energy needed and it just goes to bed with you. It is up to you though.
  • mericksmom
    mericksmom Posts: 222 Member
    mine is between 300 and 500. If I make it at home by scratch then it is about 300 but if it frozen it tends to be about 450-500 cals. Thank goodness I dont eat fast food often . shoot fast food is anywhere from 300-3000 cals.
  • tanyaMax
    tanyaMax Posts: 524 Member
    my dinners usually consist of 500-560 calories and a 100-150 snack *dessert* been working for m so far :0)
  • Xaspar
    Xaspar Posts: 726 Member
    I TRY to eat about a quarter of my calories for dinner and spread out the rest between breakfast and lunch ... mostly lunch (hard to keep up with packing lunches, so I end up getting take-out often.

    But in practice, that doesn't ALWAYS happen either (my food diary can attest to that)
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    I usually eat about third of my daily calories for my evening meal. Definitely the biggest of the day.
  • kelseytanking
    kelseytanking Posts: 17
    I've actually heard that breakfast is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day to ensure that you won't be as hungry the rest of the day. You're supposed to eat like a king at breakfast, eat like a prince at lunch, and like a pauper at dinnertime. Unfortunately, I don't follow it, but usually my dinner is larger than the other two meals.
  • makeachange22
    makeachange22 Posts: 151
    between 200-400 it differs on each night usually i keep it around 260 though :)
  • BrickHouse2011
    BrickHouse2011 Posts: 91 Member
    Actually your buiggest meal is suppose to be Breakfast.
  • Earthhorse
    Earthhorse Posts: 28 Member
    I agree that breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day as you have the whole day to burn calories, but after supper at least 90% of us flop on the couch for a bit and then head off to bed.
    Saying that though I have trouble sticking to that as I don't like to get up early in the morning to make a huge breakfast, nor do I have the time to eat it. I find it easier to split my calories up into even chunks of four. So I will have 300 calories 4 times a day.
    Hopefully you find something that works for you :)
  • Menene
    Menene Posts: 121 Member
    I save the bulk of my calores for dinner. Just in case something comes up, I will have a few extra to spend.
  • swinginchandra
    swinginchandra Posts: 418 Member
    My thoughts on this may be controversial, but hey, I'll throw them out there any ways. In my opinion, the whole "dinner is the main meal" thing is purely cultural, and has nothing to do with the way our bodies best digest foods. I mean, everyone knows not eating food late at night is better, because our bodies are working on stuff other than digesting when we are sleeping, so how does it make sense that dinner should be more calories than other meals? What I have always heard / read is the healthiest thing to do is to make lunch your main meal. It's sorta a circadian rhythms argument - in the heat of the day your digest is at its strongest... But it makes sense beyond that too - you have more action left in the day - your metabolism is up, etc.

    http://www.sharpseniors.com/a/why-lunch-should-be-your-biggest-meal-day

    Other experts say breakfast should be the biggest meal... I haven't run into an article that advocates dinner being the biggest meal.

    Now I absolutely believe that everyone has to do what works for them, and I think the absolute most important thing is total number of calories. So if dinner has got to be your biggest meal situationally, than go for it! BUT, if anyone is stuck in a plateau, I would try changing it up, and see what happens.
  • whateverdamnit
    whateverdamnit Posts: 130
    Like everyone has said, breakfast should be the biggest meal and dinner the smallest.
  • whateverdamnit
    whateverdamnit Posts: 130
    Oh and my dinner calories are always under 400 calories.
  • titletown
    titletown Posts: 377 Member
    I usually try and split mine into even portions over 3-4 meals a day, most are used during lunch if I don't eat a large enough breakfast, and that gives me a chance to work them off during my mainly afternoon workout.

    I don't think it really matters though as long as you are not hungry and are continually losing weight, whatever works for you is fine.
  • RBXChas
    RBXChas Posts: 2,708 Member
    Listen, if it's working for you, stick with it. On days when I've had a larger lunch, it's hard to eat a smaller dinner to compensate - I think psychologically, your brain is used to getting a bigger meal at dinnertime. Plus if others around you are eating larger meals, it might be hard to eat a small meal.

    So if you eat half your daily calories at dinner, and you're still losing weight, then keep on doing it!

    If, however, you are stalled, maybe you can shake things up. Eat a bigger lunch instead one or two days a week.

    Good luck!
  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
    My thoughts on this may be controversial, but hey, I'll throw them out there any ways. In my opinion, the whole "dinner is the main meal" thing is purely cultural, and has nothing to do with the way our bodies best digest foods. I mean, everyone knows not eating food late at night is better, because our bodies are working on stuff other than digesting when we are sleeping, so how does it make sense that dinner should be more calories than other meals? What I have always heard / read is the healthiest thing to do is to make lunch your main meal. It's sorta a circadian rhythms argument - in the heat of the day your digest is at its strongest... But it makes sense beyond that too - you have more action left in the day - your metabolism is up, etc.

    http://www.sharpseniors.com/a/why-lunch-should-be-your-biggest-meal-day

    Other experts say breakfast should be the biggest meal... I haven't run into an article that advocates dinner being the biggest meal.

    Now I absolutely believe that everyone has to do what works for them, and I think the absolute most important thing is total number of calories. So if dinner has got to be your biggest meal situationally, than go for it! BUT, if anyone is stuck in a plateau, I would try changing it up, and see what happens.

    for a long while I've eaten according to the Vinaya, buddhist monastic rules. Following those, you eat a bit of breakfast rather early in the morning (around 5 or 6 am) and then before noon your main meal. In some buddhist streams you eat a little bit, a bit of broth, or some rice with pickles, in the evening, as "medicine". Vinaya rules forbid you to eat past noon. As monastics are supported by the community, this lessens the burden for supporters. But also the thinking is that eating during the afternoon and in the evening will cause drowsiness and interfere with meditation. I think the reasoning behind this is to eat the biggest meal when the digestive system is the most active. So, main meal to be eaten around the middle of the day.
  • ImperfektAngel
    ImperfektAngel Posts: 811 Member
    I usually have my post workout snack before dinner, so I dont need a huge meal, usually consists of protein and veggies
  • eviltwinkie
    eviltwinkie Posts: 153
    Well, if it works for you... but I'd be worried about getting use to eating that much at night, then never compensating when you do eat more during the day. I guess just track everything and note if it's working against you.

    I notice I don't function well during the day if I'm not eating a certain amount at each meal. I never really noticed it that much when I use to skip breakfast all of the time. Now that I rarely do, I FEEL it if I do. It's not a good feeling.
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
    I like to have 900 calories left after lunch for afternoon snack, dinner, and night snack. Today I have 1100 for dinner and night snack
  • maria1993
    maria1993 Posts: 112
    I guess I'll just see how it works out before I try changing anything. I've lost 9 pounds in about a week and a half eating the way I am so I'll keep it up until I run into a problem.

    Since I count calories now I don't really eat like I used to, I was always eating because I was bored. Now I'm really only hungry for meals and will have a snack in between (like carrots or yogurt).

    I don't think eating a really big breakfast would work very well for me though, for some reason if I eat much in the morning I feel sick?
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