How do you divide your daily calorie allowance?

Miz_CYW
Miz_CYW Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Do you divide your daily calorie allowance by three? Is your breakfast bigger than lunch or dinner? Is dinner your biggest meal?

I'm allocated 1,400 calories per day and I've decided to eat approximately 465 for b'fast and dinner, 310 for lunch and one snack of about 155 calories. I'm starving in the AM and have an issue with late night snacking, which is why I made b'fast and dinner my largest meals.

What's your strategy around this?

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited March 2017
    I have no strategy in regards to having X calories per any given meal...it just depends on the day.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    I just eat what fits. The one thing I do is save a fair number of calories for bedtime snacks since that is a time I have the least control.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    Dinner tends to be biggest for me, then lunch, then breakfast. Lunch and breakfast are pretty close, though. No particular reason other than I make dinner to eat with the family and it tends to be a bigger meal that we enjoy together. It seems to work.
  • jms1902
    jms1902 Posts: 6 Member
    I try to eat smaller meals/portions consistently throughout the day like every 3 hours. This keeps me satiated.
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
    I generally eat the same things, so my breakfast is around 300 calories, my snack (coffee with creamer) is about 150, lunch around 300, dinner 500-ish, and maybe a misc snack (aka dessert) from 160 (ice cream) to 230 (for crazyrvr's cheesecake modified and a cinnamon syrup). Weekends are a crapshoot.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    It's very personal...everyone is different, but what worked for me, and still does for maintenance, is a small breakfast, small lunch, no snacks, and a big dinner, complete with wine and dessert.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited March 2017
    I don't eat in the morning, have my biggest meal between 11am-noon (around 700-1,000+ calories) and then something smaller/less calories at around 6pm. If I feel like it I'll include a small calorie afternoon snack (under 200 calories usually).
  • AmandaAW35
    AmandaAW35 Posts: 1 Member
    Like everyone said, it is to each their own. For me I space my food out like crazy. So I can eat ALL day long. haha. I have a small something before I workout in the morning (less then 100 cals), shake after my workout, mid morning snack, nice sized lunch, similar size dinner and lots of snacks. I make sure I have snacks all day long that fit within my macros as well as one after dinner. I also make sure I hit my fiber goal each day. Helps A LOT!
  • marieamethyst
    marieamethyst Posts: 869 Member
    I don't eat breakfast but my coffee with milk is around 100 calories, then around 500 calories for lunch, and 600-700 calories for dinner.
  • cloverdaisy
    cloverdaisy Posts: 64 Member
    I divide my lunch into two and eat roughly every 3 hours, 8:30a, 11:30a, 2:30p & 6:30p ish. It helps to control my hunger and thus stay away from those calorie dense snacks in the office.

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    My eating schedule has changed a bit through the last few years, but now my breakfasts and lunches are pretty similar and I eat around half my daily intake in those meals, and half my intake at dinner. No hard and fast rules though, so if I'm still hungry (or just want something), I'll eat a fourth meal/snack/treat.
  • Mini_Medic
    Mini_Medic Posts: 343 Member
    Different every day. Today I ate one big delicious BBQ plate with sweet potato crunch and that's all my calories for today. Tomorrow I'll probably snack like normal and have a small bag of popcorn, a protein shake, a cheese stick, some fruit like an apple, some chicken breast, eat a half bag of crunchy raw green beans and maybe some fiber rich dark chocolate clusters from kind (yum). Some days I need a big meal and other days I'm very content to nibble throughout the day until I meet my goals. Work out days running/lifting are usually a variety of nibbles, day after is usually one or two big meals.
  • kclaar11
    kclaar11 Posts: 162 Member
    I workout first thing in the morning so I tend to have my largest meal for breakfast after I am done. My meals step down with dinner being the smallest meal of the day.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I happen to eat about the same sized meals each day.
    100-300 calorie breakfast
    400 calorie lunch
    500-600 calorie dinner
    100-300 calorie snacks (afternoon and evening)
  • cross2bear
    cross2bear Posts: 1,106 Member
    I just have coffee for breakfast, usually around 350 for lunch and then the majority is between 6 and 10pm as I like to have dinner and then a snack before lights out.
  • kpkitten
    kpkitten Posts: 164 Member
    I have about 300-450 for breakfast, 500-700 for lunch (often includes a snack that I actually eat later) and at the weekend I usually combine the two for about 800-1000. Dinner is about 500-700 in the week and up to 1000 at the weekend.
    As soon as I decided to stop being a snack person my life got so much easier
  • bienemajamfp
    bienemajamfp Posts: 32 Member
    Only 3 meals a day! No snacks! Breakfast about 500 cal, lunch 600 and dinner 300. works great and I am full all day!
  • TigerLily100
    TigerLily100 Posts: 81 Member
    I split mine between work and after work (800/600). I always have to keep a reasonable sum for dinner at 7pm otherwise I don't make it through the night and wake up hungry which isn't good as that's when the fridge raids happen
  • BonnieDundee78
    BonnieDundee78 Posts: 158 Member
    In most cases, I don't eat breakfast. So I roughly divide up my allowance in three equal parts - lunch, dinner and snacks! I'm a grazer in the evenings, so this works for me.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Breakfast is almost always 350 calories. Dinner is between 500 and 800 calories. Supper is around 500 calories. Whatever is left I eat whenever I feel like it. On weekends breakfast may be 800 calories. Dinner may be 1000+ calories. Supper will probably still be 500 calories. Again, whatever is left (which is generally more than during the week) I eat whenever I feel like it.
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    I don't split up my calories by meal exactly, but my rough goal is 1200ish before dinner. That leaves about 1000 for dinner+evening snack. Much less than that and I'm too hungry and overeat in the evening. Much more than that and I don't have enough calories left for an evening snack. Even when I had lower calorie goals, I still used that sort of goal (maybe 1100ish instead) and was just stingier with what I was allowed as an evening snack.
  • bizgirl26
    bizgirl26 Posts: 1,795 Member
    I am through half my calories before lunch . I need to eat a good breakfast and have a mid morning snack. This works well for me. Most days I could almost stop eating by 3pm . Dinner is usually light. I do go to bed by 10pm , I just have always been a morning person
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    edited March 2017
    Miz_CYW wrote: »
    Do you divide your daily calorie allowance by three? Is your breakfast bigger than lunch or dinner? Is dinner your biggest meal?

    I'm allocated 1,400 calories per day and I've decided to eat approximately 465 for b'fast and dinner, 310 for lunch and one snack of about 155 calories. I'm starving in the AM and have an issue with late night snacking, which is why I made b'fast and dinner my largest meals.

    What's your strategy around this?

    My strategy is to do whatever I need to to make sure I am not hungry. :) I don't get hungry early, so I have my oatmeal (or yogurt or eggbeaters or a bar) around 10am. My lunch is usually late afternoon - 3 or sometimes even 4 or later.
    Maybe a protein bar before the gym, and maybe a light snack(dinner) after I get home, IF I am hungry. Late night snacking is my downfall, so it's easier for me to just say "no eating after 8pm" or whatever...but if I am hungry when I get home from the gym, I will have something small, just to quench the hunger.
  • Chadxx
    Chadxx Posts: 1,199 Member
    I eat about 2500 calories per day and there is no set amount for each meal but generally it works out to around 600 for breakfast and lunch, about 800 for dinner and the rest for post workout protein and sometimes a snack during the day.

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