What times do you eat?

My schedule usually is breakfast at 8AM, lunch at 11AM-12PM, snack 1-2PM and dinner at 5PM, and snacks 8-9PM. My boyfriend always tells me that I eat too early in the day/night and that's why I tend to snack more in the evening. Should I schedule my lunch and dinner a little later to avoid this? Usually I will eat about two-three snacks in the evenings. (I haven't logged in three days since my phone was taken for repairs, in case anyone looks at my diary.)
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Replies

  • Danimri84
    Danimri84 Posts: 262 Member
    As long as you are meeting your calorie goal, it doesn't matter when or how frequently you eat. If you are snacking in the evening and it is causing you to go over your calories, then you may need to adjust your meal/snack timing or focus on more filling foods at dinner time.
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
    Danimri84 wrote: »
    As long as you are meeting your calorie goal, it doesn't matter when or how frequently you eat. If you are snacking in the evening and it is causing you to go over your calories, then you may need to adjust your meal/snack timing or focus on more filling foods at dinner time.

    Its not causing me to go over, but many times I'll be at like 1300 calories after dinner, and will end up eating 300 calories in snacks, usually about 100 calories per snack, and some of my friends/bf question whether or not I should do that. They believe I should just eat ONE snack and save those other calories so I can lose faster. I get what they are saying, but I'm not sure if it is actually bad to do what I'm doing.
  • vikinglander
    vikinglander Posts: 1,547 Member
    Eat when you're hungry. Learn to tell the difference between hungry and bored, or hungry and thirsty.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    I eat at the times that work for me. It's usually two granola or protein bars between 11-1 (I don't get very hungry early in the day), a big meal around 6, and a snack or two around 9-10. All planned in advance except the snack, which I leave calories for but decide upon at the time.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    Whenever I can. I work retail and my shifts vary (yesterday was 4 AM-12:30 PM, today is 12 PM-8:30 PM), so there's never a set time I eat. Besides, meal timing has no bearing on weight loss.
  • fahdiz
    fahdiz Posts: 10 Member
    I usually eat once every couple of hours, starting about 7:30 AM.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    I eat when I'm hungry, but typically it comes to breakfast 7.30am, lunch 11-11.30am, snack 2pm, dinner 5.30pm. I don't snack after, but there's nothing wrong with it as long as you have the calories for it.
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
    #1 Within minutes of waking up. I need to eat. Sometimes I wake up early JUST to eat. I am famished in the morning and love breakfast food
    #2 Light snack at 1030 (usually fruit)
    #3 Lunch at 1pm (usually leftovers)
    #4 Supper around 430pm
    #5 Nighttime snack around 9pm
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    hiyomi wrote: »
    Danimri84 wrote: »
    As long as you are meeting your calorie goal, it doesn't matter when or how frequently you eat. If you are snacking in the evening and it is causing you to go over your calories, then you may need to adjust your meal/snack timing or focus on more filling foods at dinner time.

    Its not causing me to go over, but many times I'll be at like 1300 calories after dinner, and will end up eating 300 calories in snacks, usually about 100 calories per snack, and some of my friends/bf question whether or not I should do that. They believe I should just eat ONE snack and save those other calories so I can lose faster. I get what they are saying, but I'm not sure if it is actually bad to do what I'm doing.

    If my friends started questioning when I snack, I would quickly set some firm boundaries. And if my husband started to question when I snack, I would do the same thing. Other people can "believe" all they want that I should just snack once a day, but if I decide to snack more than that, I don't really care what they think.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    It really depends on how I'm feeling and on my training, but typically:

    Meal 1 is around 11.
    Meal 2 is around 3.
    Meal 3 is around 6.

    I don't snack. My meals satisfy me until the next time I eat or the next day.
  • Kotuliak
    Kotuliak Posts: 259 Member
    hiyomi wrote: »
    Should I schedule my lunch and dinner a little later?
    No, you should try different things and find out what works for you.
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
    hiyomi wrote: »
    Danimri84 wrote: »
    As long as you are meeting your calorie goal, it doesn't matter when or how frequently you eat. If you are snacking in the evening and it is causing you to go over your calories, then you may need to adjust your meal/snack timing or focus on more filling foods at dinner time.

    Its not causing me to go over, but many times I'll be at like 1300 calories after dinner, and will end up eating 300 calories in snacks, usually about 100 calories per snack, and some of my friends/bf question whether or not I should do that. They believe I should just eat ONE snack and save those other calories so I can lose faster. I get what they are saying, but I'm not sure if it is actually bad to do what I'm doing.

    If my friends started questioning when I snack, I would quickly set some firm boundaries. And if my husband started to question when I snack, I would do the same thing. Other people can "believe" all they want that I should just snack once a day, but if I decide to snack more than that, I don't really care what they think.

    Yea, my boyfriend doesn't really do it, but if he saw I ate dinner, and then eat a snack like 30 mins to an hour later he will just kinda ask me if I need to eat it. And sometimes I don't, I'm not necessarily hungry, but I can and would like to eat a snack if my calories permit me to do so. I guess that's why he questions me about it sometimes. My friends I'm not sure why they ask, they are also on a diet too, and have lost more weight than I have recently, but they also weighed close to 400 lbs. I guess they see their weight loss as they are doing it right because they have had major results, but they are eating less than 1200 calories a day on only sandwiches or chips lol
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
    Kotuliak wrote: »
    hiyomi wrote: »
    Should I schedule my lunch and dinner a little later?
    No, you should try different things and find out what works for you.

    I've actually never really tried eating at different times now that I think about it. But last week I was upset about something and ate dinner around 8PM, as compared to 5PM and I noticed I didn't eat any snacks after that :0
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,905 Member
    hiyomi wrote: »
    hiyomi wrote: »
    Danimri84 wrote: »
    As long as you are meeting your calorie goal, it doesn't matter when or how frequently you eat. If you are snacking in the evening and it is causing you to go over your calories, then you may need to adjust your meal/snack timing or focus on more filling foods at dinner time.

    Its not causing me to go over, but many times I'll be at like 1300 calories after dinner, and will end up eating 300 calories in snacks, usually about 100 calories per snack, and some of my friends/bf question whether or not I should do that. They believe I should just eat ONE snack and save those other calories so I can lose faster. I get what they are saying, but I'm not sure if it is actually bad to do what I'm doing.

    If my friends started questioning when I snack, I would quickly set some firm boundaries. And if my husband started to question when I snack, I would do the same thing. Other people can "believe" all they want that I should just snack once a day, but if I decide to snack more than that, I don't really care what they think.

    Yea, my boyfriend doesn't really do it, but if he saw I ate dinner, and then eat a snack like 30 mins to an hour later he will just kinda ask me if I need to eat it. And sometimes I don't, I'm not necessarily hungry, but I can and would like to eat a snack if my calories permit me to do so. I guess that's why he questions me about it sometimes. My friends I'm not sure why they ask, they are also on a diet too, and have lost more weight than I have recently, but they also weighed close to 400 lbs. I guess they see their weight loss as they are doing it right because they have had major results, but they are eating less than 1200 calories a day on only sandwiches or chips lol

    People. They are so annoying.

    Seriously, just do you. Other people will always have their opinions and of course their opinions are the right ones. Depending on who it is that makes suggestions to me I'll either say nothing, shrug, say, "Thanks for your input," or - if it's someone really close to me who I want to stop them from this, I'll have a discussion with them saying something to the effect of, "You may feel that is right for you, but I'm the one who decides what and when I eat, so let's agree to disagree on this."

  • 2snakeswoman
    2snakeswoman Posts: 655 Member
    I time my meals after the first meal. Sometimes I eat my first meal as early as 7:00 AM, other times as late as 11:00 AM. I time my next meal at no sooner than 3 hours after the last meal. I usually eat 4 times per day, although that varies too, with a bedtime snack, usually a frozen fruit bar.
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
    hiyomi wrote: »
    hiyomi wrote: »
    Danimri84 wrote: »
    As long as you are meeting your calorie goal, it doesn't matter when or how frequently you eat. If you are snacking in the evening and it is causing you to go over your calories, then you may need to adjust your meal/snack timing or focus on more filling foods at dinner time.

    Its not causing me to go over, but many times I'll be at like 1300 calories after dinner, and will end up eating 300 calories in snacks, usually about 100 calories per snack, and some of my friends/bf question whether or not I should do that. They believe I should just eat ONE snack and save those other calories so I can lose faster. I get what they are saying, but I'm not sure if it is actually bad to do what I'm doing.

    If my friends started questioning when I snack, I would quickly set some firm boundaries. And if my husband started to question when I snack, I would do the same thing. Other people can "believe" all they want that I should just snack once a day, but if I decide to snack more than that, I don't really care what they think.

    Yea, my boyfriend doesn't really do it, but if he saw I ate dinner, and then eat a snack like 30 mins to an hour later he will just kinda ask me if I need to eat it. And sometimes I don't, I'm not necessarily hungry, but I can and would like to eat a snack if my calories permit me to do so. I guess that's why he questions me about it sometimes. My friends I'm not sure why they ask, they are also on a diet too, and have lost more weight than I have recently, but they also weighed close to 400 lbs. I guess they see their weight loss as they are doing it right because they have had major results, but they are eating less than 1200 calories a day on only sandwiches or chips lol

    People. They are so annoying.

    Seriously, just do you. Other people will always have their opinions and of course their opinions are the right ones. Depending on who it is that makes suggestions to me I'll either say nothing, shrug, say, "Thanks for your input," or - if it's someone really close to me who I want to stop them from this, I'll have a discussion with them saying something to the effect of, "You may feel that is right for you, but I'm the one who decides what and when I eat, so let's agree to disagree on this."

    Yea, I understand there are times when you need to just focus on yourself and let others do what they want, and let them say all they want, but there are many times where I feel they make valid points and it just gets to me and I start wondering if I should listen to them. >.<
  • fitdaisygrrl
    fitdaisygrrl Posts: 139 Member
    hiyomi wrote: »
    My schedule usually is breakfast at 8AM, lunch at 11AM-12PM, snack 1-2PM and dinner at 5PM, and snacks 8-9PM. My boyfriend always tells me that I eat too early in the day/night and that's why I tend to snack more in the evening. Should I schedule my lunch and dinner a little later to avoid this? Usually I will eat about two-three snacks in the evenings. (I haven't logged in three days since my phone was taken for repairs, in case anyone looks at my diary.)

    As others have said, if you aren't going over your calories then no worries. For me, I eat dinner at around 5 too and often have a snack at around 7:30. I have had to really work on not eating out of boredom, so I have a cut-off now to keep from reaching for too many snacks (ie: only herbal tea after 8 p.m.), but if you aren't going over then just keep doing your thing :)
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    when im hungry.

    i usually eat breakfast (on gym days) around 7. lunch and dinner every day typically around 11am and 5pm
  • famysh88
    famysh88 Posts: 8 Member
    I eat breakfast whenever i wake up. The rest of my meals, I eat whenever i'm hungry. I snack alot though lol. I'm always eating. low calorie snacks, though. I try not to eat past 8pm.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,905 Member
    edited April 2016
    hiyomi wrote: »
    hiyomi wrote: »
    hiyomi wrote: »
    Danimri84 wrote: »
    As long as you are meeting your calorie goal, it doesn't matter when or how frequently you eat. If you are snacking in the evening and it is causing you to go over your calories, then you may need to adjust your meal/snack timing or focus on more filling foods at dinner time.

    Its not causing me to go over, but many times I'll be at like 1300 calories after dinner, and will end up eating 300 calories in snacks, usually about 100 calories per snack, and some of my friends/bf question whether or not I should do that. They believe I should just eat ONE snack and save those other calories so I can lose faster. I get what they are saying, but I'm not sure if it is actually bad to do what I'm doing.

    If my friends started questioning when I snack, I would quickly set some firm boundaries. And if my husband started to question when I snack, I would do the same thing. Other people can "believe" all they want that I should just snack once a day, but if I decide to snack more than that, I don't really care what they think.

    Yea, my boyfriend doesn't really do it, but if he saw I ate dinner, and then eat a snack like 30 mins to an hour later he will just kinda ask me if I need to eat it. And sometimes I don't, I'm not necessarily hungry, but I can and would like to eat a snack if my calories permit me to do so. I guess that's why he questions me about it sometimes. My friends I'm not sure why they ask, they are also on a diet too, and have lost more weight than I have recently, but they also weighed close to 400 lbs. I guess they see their weight loss as they are doing it right because they have had major results, but they are eating less than 1200 calories a day on only sandwiches or chips lol

    People. They are so annoying.

    Seriously, just do you. Other people will always have their opinions and of course their opinions are the right ones. Depending on who it is that makes suggestions to me I'll either say nothing, shrug, say, "Thanks for your input," or - if it's someone really close to me who I want to stop them from this, I'll have a discussion with them saying something to the effect of, "You may feel that is right for you, but I'm the one who decides what and when I eat, so let's agree to disagree on this."

    Yea, I understand there are times when you need to just focus on yourself and let others do what they want, and let them say all they want, but there are many times where I feel they make valid points and it just gets to me and I start wondering if I should listen to them. >.<


    Gotcha. The bottom line is this: Eat a little less food than your daily activity plus exercise. It doesn't matter what food you eat as long as you get enough nutrition (sandwiches and chips work) and it doesn't matter when you eat the food.

    It's about calories in < calories out.