Anyone else spread out their calories like this?

Woodsmoke
Woodsmoke Posts: 360 Member
edited November 21 in Health and Weight Loss
Wondering if anyone else does this?

I generally have a limited calorie lunch and breakfast, but save my calories for a big meal in the evening? I don't get the chance to eat big meals during the day due to early starts and short lunch breaks, and my evening meal can be anywhere up to 1000 calories, but I still fit in to my daily calorie goal.

Anyone else do this? I've still been losing weight (provided I cut short my snacks), so something must be right...
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Replies

  • R_is_for_Rachel
    R_is_for_Rachel Posts: 381 Member
    Do whatever suits. Quite often I'm left with 800 caps for dinner because my breakfast and lunch are often light.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    Yup. Most of my calories are eaten after 730pm
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    Sort of: dinner is definitely my largest meal of the day, but I spread things out a lot more - kind of the six small meals model, although dinner is usually the only time I eat anything hot. My standard break down right now is 185/250/250/100/550/200. That last meal is usually a beer, so I don't know if it counts as a meal. ;)
  • Kullerva
    Kullerva Posts: 1,114 Member
    "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a beggar": generally, that's how I go. Meal timing doesn't matter.
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    My dinner is my biggest meal - 600-900 calories most nights. I eat a lower calorie breakfast as I'm just not hungry early in the AM.
  • emcclure013
    emcclure013 Posts: 231 Member
    I do the same thing! 200 calories for breakfast, 300 or so for lunch, and that leaves me with 1000 for my evening meal plus whatever I exercise. Makes it work at home with a husband who isn't watching what he eats - we can both eat whatever we want!
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I have 100-300 calorie breakfast, about 400 calorie lunch, about 500-600 calorie dinner and 100-300 calorie left for snacks which are usually consumed in the afternoon or after dinner.

    As long as your calories are within your goal you can split them up however you want.
  • Coffee_qd
    Coffee_qd Posts: 31 Member
    190 calories for breakfast, 420 for lunch. That leaves me with 870 calories for dinner and snacks.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    I think it really depends on the person. I am a grazer and eat small snacks constantly so I don't even really have traditional meals, except breakfast.

    If this works for you then keep doing it. Eating is dependent on lifestyle and meal preferences so if you've found what works for you I say do it, but everyone is going to be different. The only thing that isn't different is you have to eat less than you burn consistently to lose weight :)
  • jdlobb
    jdlobb Posts: 1,232 Member
    I do right now, but not on purpose. I'm trying to make a conscious effort to shift more calories to lunch and distributed throughout the day so I'm not left scrambling trying to find 800 calories at dinner and making poor choices.
  • cougargirl1025
    cougargirl1025 Posts: 80 Member
    Totally! Depending on how much coffee I drink, Breakfast is around 300 cals, lunch is about 200 and that means I can eat anything I want for dinner. Last night I had two Chicago hot dogs from Sonic!! Only 840cals, so I was still under my calorie goal for the day.
  • cfredz
    cfredz Posts: 292 Member
    i am the opposite.... i usually eat 400 calorie breakfasts and a few snacks throughout the day, have about 300 cal for dinner left.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    This is almost exactly how I break down my meals. That's what I prefer.
    Yesterday I did 250 Breakfast / 300 Lunch / 500 Dinner / 1500 Evening Snacks
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    I've found that I either don't get terribly hungry in the morning or that morning hunger is much easier to deal with than hunger later in the day. I'm 0/600/800 with 300 for snacks in the afternoon and after dinner.
  • caammph
    caammph Posts: 105 Member
    I try to, I always find I'm hungrier in the late afternoon and the evening, so I tend to eat the majority of my calories then.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    I've always had my largest meal in the evening. For quite awhile I actually did IF and that was my only meal.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Daytime desk job, and rather sedentary even then until workouts - no food until generally 9-10 pm, sometimes 6 pm, until midnight or just past.

    It's whatever works for you to adhere and sustain.
    If methods are done during the diet that you can't wait to stop when you have lost the weight - generally spells disaster for maintaining the loss.
    Do now what will work later for using.
  • SafioraLinnea
    SafioraLinnea Posts: 628 Member
    I pretty much do the same as you OP.

    I tend to like eating 300-400 calories for breakfast and lunch each, then have a large dinner of around 1000 calories, give or take a bit depending on the day. Sometimes I half the calories for supper and have a snack of the remaining amount while I watch Netflix.
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    My intake is between 1400-1500 calories a day, and I usually have around 7-800 left by dinner.
  • maggibailey
    maggibailey Posts: 289 Member
    Yep, if I start eating in the morning it is hard for me to stop. So coffee and maybe a probiotic juice in the morning, small lunch and then family dinner. Otherwise it makes my husband crazy that I'm not eating. Probably because I have always easily out eaten him lol
  • Danimri84
    Danimri84 Posts: 262 Member
    I eat my biggest meal at lunch time, around 1PM. I hardly ever eat before noon, just my coffee. I have a fairly large lunch, a little more coffee at work, and then dinner. I work swing shift at a hotel, so I don't have a lot of time to eat during work, but we have eggs, yogurt, bagels and the like for our breakfast stuff, so I usually can cobble together something decent.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    My calories are quite evenly spread out. I think it's roughly half in the course of the day, including little snacks in-between, and half for dinner in the evening. Works best for me.
  • narspips
    narspips Posts: 48 Member
    Jruzer wrote: »
    This is almost exactly how I break down my meals. That's what I prefer.
    Yesterday I did 250 Breakfast / 300 Lunch / 500 Dinner / 1500 Evening Snacks

    Ha, you sound like me! Not quite as extreme as having 1,500 calorie meals + snacks in the evening, but yes, I generally try to save around half of my calories just for dinner and the inevitable post-dinner snacks. It's hard to eat a lot during the day anyway because of work, so that makes it easier.

    My highest-calorie 'meal' of the day on MFP is invariably the one called 'snacks' :D
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    Usually yes I do the same, although I'm experimenting spreading them out a bit more sometimes.
  • MoveitlikeManda
    MoveitlikeManda Posts: 846 Member
    yep most of the time my dinners are 800+ calories.

    I dont eat alot in the day though.
    I dont tend to eat breakfast, usually first meal of the day is anywhere from 11.30am to 3pm ( even if it is breakfast oats I eat lol)

    then I have a big dinner and a bedtime snack.
    Im defo a night eater. I even have days when I dont eat until after 6pm (just having coffee - black no sugar and water during the day) then have dinner at 8/9pm and go bed with snacks

    I think it might be because I have really bad insomnia and night eating gives me something to do but I make sure everything is logged and accounted for no matter what time of day I eat it
  • CindyWard2
    CindyWard2 Posts: 88 Member
    Dinner is always my biggest meal of the day. I usually eat between 1350 - 1500 calories per day and dinner is typically almost 1/2 of those calories. This was last night's 810 calorie meal...perrsik7c7zp.jpg
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Most of my calories happen at lunch, or at dinner if going out. My main meal is always in the neighborhood of 800-1000, sometimes (way) higher. Sometimes I feel very snacky and most of my calories go into snack. That's the beauty of calorie counting; you get to do whatever you want in whatever way you want and still lose weight if you're within calories. Not being bound by unnecessary rules was liberating for me.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    I find if I eat a bunch of smaller meals and snacks throughout the day, I feel deprived even if I've had the same number of calories. I'm happier saving most of my calories for one big meal, usually dinner with the family.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    CindyWard2 wrote: »
    Dinner is always my biggest meal of the day. I usually eat between 1350 - 1500 calories per day and dinner is typically almost 1/2 of those calories. This was last night's 810 calorie meal...perrsik7c7zp.jpg

    That's what I'm talking about!
  • JennJ323
    JennJ323 Posts: 646 Member
    My breakfasts are between 100-200, lunches 300-400 and the rest is for dinner so usually 600-700. I don't snack, so all my calories are used for meals.
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