Saving your calories for night

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rezbez
rezbez Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi , just wondering if what I am doing is bad for losing weight.

I am on 1500 calories a day and burning about 350 calories at the gym, so I have 1850 Calories per day for food. I eat a very small breakfast (about 220 calories) a bannana before gym (100) , a protien shake after gym (150) , for lunch I eat later at about 3.00pm and usually eat 450 calories ...this still leaves me about 900 - 950 Calories for the evening for dinner and snacks . I don't mind being hungry when I'm busy at work , its the nights that get me so having a decent meal at night works well for me and I can fall asleep better. Is it bad to have half my calories in one meal at night ? (about 4 hours before I sleep ).

Thanks :)
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Replies

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Sounds like a good idea. :)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,999 Member
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    Whatever version of meal timing/sizings/spacings work for you is the best one.

    As long as it fits within calorie allowance and is reasonably balanced nutritiously - all is good.
  • mom2kateRH
    mom2kateRH Posts: 178 Member
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    When you eat calories has absolutely no bearing on weight loss as others have pointed out IF you can stay in your calorie allotment. My personal problem with this type of strategy, which I used to do, is it led to binge eating for me and going way over calorie goal.

    But I know many others who LOVE dinner and a good beer, so this strategy works perfectly for them.

  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,984 Member
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    I did this while losing, and still do it while maintaining...
    Small breakfast (250-300), small lunch (250-300), thus saving me over 1,000 calories for dinner, dessert, and WINE. I have a very busy work day, typically working 6 days a week, so I don't have time to be hungry (or eat much) during the day. So, it works for me, but everyone is different and, as others said, it doesn't matter how you spread your calories.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    I usually spread a bit more evenly though I went out to brunch this Sunday. I had a massive amount of lox (about 6 oz) with two tablespoons of cream cheese on a whole wheat english muffin at about 11AM (about 600 calories). Surprisingly, this kept me very full for the rest of the day and I didn't eat again until our 6:30PM father's day dinner.

    It was pretty cool having all of those calories leftover for one meal, even if I didn't come close to using all of them. I actually ended up eating about 400 calories short of my target that day and didn't miss a single one of them.

    I'm going to try this again next Sunday...have a 600 calorie brunch at about a 50/30/20 ratio and see if it keeps me full until dinner time. It might actually work better for me than equally distributing my calories throughout the day.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    Yup, I do something similar. I enjoy having a big, satisfying dinner so I save my majority of calories for the evening.

    I eat around 1400 calories a day. I'll skip breakfast, have 500 calories for lunch, then 900 calories for dinner.

    Meal-timing won't affect your weight loss so do whatever works for you!
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    Be careful with exercise calories, they are hard to estimate. That is one of the areas that most people have to play with to get correct.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I lost over 40 pounds eating most of my calories at night. I like to have big dinners, so I typically have 40-50% of my calories between 6-10 PM. As long as it isn't impacting your sleep, you will be fine.
  • infinitynevermore
    infinitynevermore Posts: 98 Member
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    I tend to keep my calories for lunch on the weekdays and breakfast on the weekends, but I meal prep, so I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat the rest of the day. It really doesn't matter, as long as you're still in a deficit.
  • oliverwnc
    oliverwnc Posts: 69 Member
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    I completely agree with the comments above - it really doesn't matter for weight loss. That said, it might matter a little bit for how you feel. I only say that because I'm using myself as an example.

    I'm 8 weeks into a cut and I've lost exactly 8lbs, which is 100% on schedule. Everything is going nicely. The easiest way for me to maintain a deficit is, as others have said, to have a light breakfast, crack on with busy days at work with only a small amount of food, and then have plenty of calories left to play with at dinner.

    But for the last 2-3 weeks, I've been finding myself flagging during the day. Everything else is fine - sleep, exercise, hydration and nutrition, in that I'm still hitting my macros and micros. But with a morning workout and a long and busy day, sometimes I think having some food in my system helps energy levels.

    That can go both ways and depend on the person. I think there's a risk of obsessing about having calories left for the evening and becoming a bit overcautious. Don't forget that you can have very good, high volume and low calorie dinners if you're in that situation, so have a bit more during the day if need be.

    Hope that helps,
    OWC

    PS On the other hand, there's an added advantage: if you have 1000kcal to play with in the evening and actually you only fancy 500kcal then you've just given yourself some wiggle room for the week, or mitigated the effects of a day when you've gone over, etc.
  • beesareyellow
    beesareyellow Posts: 335 Member
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    I function better during the day if I have a big breakfast, which I really enjoy. This holds me through the day and my workout. Lunch if meh for me. I usually do a protein shake with a banana or berries which leaves me quite a nice amount of calories for dinner. 400-500 cal breakfast 200-300 lunch, 600-1000 dinner depending on what I did at the gym. So anywhere from 1200 to 1800 a day. Also, I tend to prelog my whole day so I can play around with it as the day plays out. CICO is all that really matters not meal timing in my case.
  • Sheelahelliott
    Sheelahelliott Posts: 1 Member
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    What does calories remains mean?
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
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    I save my calories for night time too. Way easier for me to be busy and skip breakfast (in my case) have a modest lunch and then kill it after work lol.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    I read somewhere that people who don't eat breakfast tend to eat, on average, 400 calories fewer per day than those who do, all else equal. I forget the source but you can find it on google. Not bad if you can swing it.
  • abbynormalartist
    abbynormalartist Posts: 318 Member
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    I try to save a lot of calories for the evening. I eat a really early dinner with my kids so I enjoy another meal later in the evening... and then night time snacks!
  • vickib30008
    vickib30008 Posts: 3 Member
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    Whatever works for you is fine. I find that when I eat earlier in the day I lose weight faster.
  • newlark01
    newlark01 Posts: 474 Member
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    I do the same as I feel hungrier in the evenings - save about 900 of my 1600 for my evening meal and snacks - I often want to eat a snack when the children eat and also get hungry late evening and want to save some calories just in case - sometimes I manage without a late snack and finish the day on 1400 or so which is fine and offsets the days I am less active or eat slightly more.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
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    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    I read somewhere that people who don't eat breakfast tend to eat, on average, 400 calories fewer per day than those who do, all else equal. I forget the source but you can find it on google. Not bad if you can swing it.

    I bet these stats go out the window if you're logging
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
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    I personally find if I DO eat breakfast I'm likely to eat 400 more. I'm hungry all day if I eat early on

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