When do you eat the bulk of your calories

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  • beulah81
    beulah81 Posts: 168 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    mc62412 wrote: »
    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:

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    If you do some experimenting, you'll figure out what works best for you. :)

    This^, especially bolded.
  • donidaily
    donidaily Posts: 825 Member
    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!
  • GummiMundi
    GummiMundi Posts: 396 Member
    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.
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    Usually around 3-4 pm. I have been eating only two meals lately with a protein shake or snack in between.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    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
  • mc62412
    mc62412 Posts: 195 Member
    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 time
  • Kodekai1988
    Kodekai1988 Posts: 49 Member
    Kitten replaces a swear word :D

    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.
  • mc62412
    mc62412 Posts: 195 Member
    [quote="Kodekai1988;c-45115908"]Kitten replaces a swear word :D

    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]

    😂😂
  • gradchica27
    gradchica27 Posts: 777 Member
    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.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,586 Member
    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. :)
  • Mazintrov13
    Mazintrov13 Posts: 133 Member
    I do about 500-650 breakfast, 300-400 lunch and 800 dinner and 100 for a snack when maintaining
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,243 Member
    It's pretty evenly spaced out for me most days but dinners are often a few more calories. I meal plan though, so depending on what I am having for dinner, I will adjust breakfast and lunch. Today lunch will be my biggest meal but yesterday it was dinner.

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