When do you eat the bulk of your calories
mc62412
Posts: 195 Member
When do you eat the most of your calories ? At any specific time of day ( breakfast, lunch or dinner ).
Does it really make a difference when you eat the bulk of your calories ? My diner tends to be higher then the rest of my day.
Does it really make a difference when you eat the bulk of your calories ? My diner tends to be higher then the rest of my day.
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Replies
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It’s usually at dinnertime but it can also be breakfast, lunch or I might eat more calories in snacks than in any of my meals, it just depends on my hunger. I didn’t have a problem losing weight as predicted by counting calories and I’ve maintained for 6+ years.2
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I prefer a larger dinner. Breakfast is usually about 300-35p calories, same with lunch. Then dinner can be about 800, with 200 or so left for dessert.1
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Half from breakfast to dinner, the rest dinner and dessert (usually like to split it 1200-1500 cals)1
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I eat about 2/3 between supper and early evening. But time of day is only important in how it satisfies you. How often you eat or times don't affect weigh loss long term.1
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I eat the bulk of mine in the evening, usually between 7pm and 9pm. I'll usually eat about half my calories throughout the day, and then the other half in those 2-ish hours. I don't have a strict timeframe, but I just prefer to sleep with food in my stomach.1
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Lunch and the hours after. I run or hike in the morning and am very hungry by lunch, and usually also want some snacks/dessert type stuff and a coffee not long after. My breakfasts and dinners are light in comparison.0
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When do you eat the most of your calories ? At any specific time of day ( breakfast, lunch or dinner ).
Does it really make a difference when you eat the bulk of your calories ? My diner tends to be higher then the rest of my day.
To the extent that it matters, in objective terms, IMO the biggest reason is in how it affects one's compliance with a sensible calorie level. There's some (kind of poor-quality) research suggesting that calories earlier in the day are "better", and someone may trot that out, but the methodology really is problematic (there's a discussion of it over in the Debate secion somewhere).
However, personal calorie compliance seems to be a bigger factor, as a practical matter. People who like big meals, for example, tend to benefit from Intermittent Fasting (IF). Some people find a solid breakfast helps them avoid evening cravings (I do; I assume the mechanism has something to do with fatigue-induced hunger, and my body rhythms). There are a lot of happy breakfast skippers, or people who save calories for evening/bedtime snacks.
Personally, I usually eat fairly even-sized meals (sometimes 2, sometimes 3), but if I vary from that, it's based on factors in my day's schedule (small breakfast before AM workouts, for example) . I eat snacks randomly, usually something small and protein-y if I'm feeling hungry when a mealtime isn't close on the horizon. (I've found I'm better nipping that hunger in the bud, vs. letting it grow).
This is what I think is true about priorities, in an objective sense:
If you do some experimenting, you'll figure out what works best for you.
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Between about 5-11pm right now. Once I go back to work it will be 2pm-10pm.1
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Looking at my diary, I would say I eat just about the same amount of calories at each meal, about 375. That allows me some snacking.0
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I prefer to eat my largest meal at lunchtime and have something lighter at dinner. This works best for me0
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12-2pm.0
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I have a light breakfast at work about 9 and my largest meal is lunch about noon. Afternoon snack around 4 and a really something light....sometimes.... when I get home. I don't like eating heavy close to bedtime and I live alone so dont have to worry about family mealtimes and such.
I find for me that this is most successful. When I eat a lot at night my weight loss slows even when eating the same calorie amount. . I know this isnt the case for most people but for myself it's a thing.
So short answer 9-10 -
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At this point it is at dinner. I lived in Europe for many years where the big meal of the day is lunch. I easily lost weight there, because you work it off just moving around. However in the US it's very hard to have the big meal in the middle of the day because of almost no lunch hours and you do want to eat with your family and eat the same food.0
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About 4 pm. Because that is when I’m hungriest.0
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When I'm awake.4
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Usually lunch around 2-4 pm for me. Doesn't really matter, whatever makes things easier for you.1
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Usually for dinner, which I have 2-3 hours before bed. Psychologically, I do better when I know throughout the day that I still have plenty of food to eat and it helps me avoid evening snacking.2
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Evening.
If I didn't have to take medicine in the morning, I'd probably skip breakfast. But now I eat a light breakfast, a little more for lunch and leave most of it for dinner and night time snacks. Dinner is always with the family so I have less influence on what I eat. Night time is when the family is at home and I'm a social snacker. I eat when I see people eat so I try to save up my calories during the day for that0 -
Lunch and dinner. Usually a large lunch means a light dinner, and vice versa. I haven't been able to eat a big breakfast since I had my kids, and that works out okay because of when I work out; I come home and can eat lunch, and not have a lot on my stomach.0
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When do you eat the most of your calories ? At any specific time of day ( breakfast, lunch or dinner ).
Does it really make a difference when you eat the bulk of your calories ? My diner tends to be higher then the rest of my day.
To the extent that it matters, in objective terms, IMO the biggest reason is in how it affects one's compliance with a sensible calorie level. There's some (kind of poor-quality) research suggesting that calories earlier in the day are "better", and someone may trot that out, but the methodology really is problematic (there's a discussion of it over in the Debate secion somewhere).
However, personal calorie compliance seems to be a bigger factor, as a practical matter. People who like big meals, for example, tend to benefit from Intermittent Fasting (IF). Some people find a solid breakfast helps them avoid evening cravings (I do; I assume the mechanism has something to do with fatigue-induced hunger, and my body rhythms). There are a lot of happy breakfast skippers, or people who save calories for evening/bedtime snacks.
Personally, I usually eat fairly even-sized meals (sometimes 2, sometimes 3), but if I vary from that, it's based on factors in my day's schedule (small breakfast before AM workouts, for example) . I eat snacks randomly, usually something small and protein-y if I'm feeling hungry when a mealtime isn't close on the horizon. (I've found I'm better nipping that hunger in the bud, vs. letting it grow).
This is what I think is true about priorities, in an objective sense:
If you do some experimenting, you'll figure out what works best for you.
This^, especially bolded.0 -
I like to eat more at breakfast and lunch, then just have a snack/supper in the evening. It’s easy at the moment, working from home (and no kids). I don’t like waking up feeling still full from the night before. Figuring this out has been one of my keys to feeling satisfied, I think everyone is different!1
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For me, it's dinner. I tend to skip breakfast, because I'm rarely hungry in the morning. I have a light lunch, and a light snack in the afternoon. So I get to enjoy the majority of my calories at night.
It works for me but, as many others have said, it's only a matter of personal preference and everyone's different.1 -
Usually around 3-4 pm. I have been eating only two meals lately with a protein shake or snack in between.0
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I half-*kitten* IF until about 2 PM then graze until I reach my calorie budget. It's usually all inside the 8-hour window between 2 PM and 10 PM0
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »I half-*kitten* IF until about 2 PM then graze until I reach my calorie budget. It's usually all inside the 8-hour window between 2 PM and 10 PM
What is this “kitten” I keep seeing people typing.
Mine tend to be dinner time1 -
Kitten replaces a swear word
I do approx 500 cals at breakfast, 400 at lunch, 700 dinner. 200 on snacks. But the snack tends to be after dinner - so half my calories are post-7pm.
That’s just what keeps me feeling satiated - I need a decent breakfast after my morning run, can get through lunch without too much as I’m working, and then look forward to a really nice dinner and after-dinner snack. If my life were differently structured I’d probably need to eat differently.0 -
[quote="Kodekai1988;c-45115908"]Kitten replaces a swear word
I do approx 500 cals at breakfast, 400 at lunch, 700 dinner. 200 on snacks. But the snack tends to be after dinner - so half my calories are post-7pm.
That’s just what keeps me feeling satiated - I need a decent breakfast after my morning run, can get through lunch without too much as I’m working, and then look forward to a really nice dinner and after-dinner snack. If my life were differently structured I’d probably need to eat differently.[/quote]
😂😂0 -
Afternoon/evening. I realized for me I can tolerate hunger in the morning but not at night, so I either skip breakfast or eat something small so I can have a large and filling lunch and dinner, with a few calories left for a small something after dinner.0
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Weeeeeeell, I used to eat the bulk of my calories at night but I tend towards lots of little things and not one big meal (which takes time to retrieve from the kitchen and then eat) and I started dinner later and later so started carrying over some of the foods I logged into the next day. Basically I ended up just eating foods I needed to "prepare" like my eggs, cereal in a bowl with almond milk, my corn thin with whipped cream cheese and sliced deli turkey and eating the rest of my more portable foods at work the next morning.
Then I'd get snacky later so would have a little somethin' somethin'.
So now I pretty much eat all day. 0
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