Eating over half my calories for supper

I plan out all my meals at least the day before. There are a lot of mixed feelings about how much to eat at dinner. Honestly I try to eat more for breakfast and lunch and a lighter dinner. I found it helped me most with my weight loss since I work out in the morning especially.

If your meal plan is working for you, definitely stick to it. But if you find you hit a snag, try switching it up to see if it works better for you!

I get panicky if I don't have at least 1000 calories available for supper + evening snack.

Haha It's not only me then!! Good!

I thought your morning-mid day meals were supposed to be the largest, and the smallest meal should be your evening meal because your metabolism slows overnight. Is that incorrect?

Your metabolism doesn't slow down at night. As a matter of fact your body can't tell the difference between 2 am and 2 pm.

I don't know about your body, but my body is asleep at 2am and doesn't use anywhere near the calories as it does when I am up and working at 2pm.

Metabolism vs consciousness?

That is activity calories. Metabolism calories are your BMR which makes up about 75-80% of the calories you burn in a day. That doesn't stop at night.

If it did, you'd have bigger problems on your hands...

I like to put my recipes into the site, and figure out how many calories are in each average meal I eat. Most of my dinner meals end up pretty close to each other, calorie wise, and I know what I have in my fridge at any given moment. I always eat the same cereal for breakfast (Kashi) so I plan lunch and dinner based on what I have as much as how many calories are in each. Sometimes I get surprised with plans and end up eating out, and I just make sure to get in an extra workout, or skip my "off" day for working out that week. Your body doesn't know when midnight is, and sometimes it's easier to look at weekly calories than daily. Sometimes I'm a bit over on a given day, but my week is just fine. I don't stress about it unless I were to happen to have 2-3 days where I was seriously over my calories.

I try to eat more during the day, more often, but inevitably dinner is generally my biggest meal even though I wish it wasn't... lol

I don't know how you guys have one meal a day. I feel like crap if I don't have my 3 squares.

OP: I generally leave about 40-50% of my calories for dinner, but over the past few weeks, I have found that it is difficult if not impossible to eat over 600 calories in a single meal. If I am still hungry, I have an after dinner snack: 100-200 calories. Sometimes it isn't needed. Sometimes it is, but I consume most calories after 2 pm.

I eat one big meal spread over about 2-3 hours and I am done for the day. Bigger meals may satisfy you better.

I need to plan out my meals better so I *know* what I'm having for supper. Lately, I save over half my calories for the day just for supper, because I don't know what meal I'll have in the evening and I don't want to go over. I know that isn't healthy so I need to plan a menu for the week. Any good ideas?

Also, what kind of alcoholic beverages can you enjoy? I like to have a drink now and then in the evening, but the stuff I usually drink is so high in calories!

I don't "save" a lot of calories for dinner but I do exercise for 2-3 hours every afternoon so unless I go nuts at Ben And Jerry's I have quite a few calories left at the end of the day. I like to eat. I love food so I make sure I exercise enough so if I want to I can enjoy my food without guilt. Be careful however. I still try to keep my calorie intake under 1200 total. I don't pay attention to the "net" calories. It's easy to get carried away if you go by "net" calories instead of actual calories. People subconsciously overdue it with the rational that "I can eat this. I worked off the calories this afternoon." and then can't figure out why they aren't losing weight.

As far as the alcohol is concerned, I'm a beer girl. I like by beer which is not a good choice. lol This is my "Do as I say, Not as I do" moment. lol Choose something like rum and diet coke or a vodka tonic or vodka soda. Wine is also a good choice. Stay away from creamy drinks like white russians. Lots of calories in those. Also stay away from sugary drinks like margaritas. If you're gonna go with beer, pick a light one like coors light or michelob ultra. They are only about 100 calories.

i try to plan my meals and snacks for the day so i have a guideline to follow..sometimes i make a change because there is a change in plans so i readjust it when i get home..however if i have an idea as to what i planned for my day i can try to work around it if im out and having to order a meal. usually i keep my meals between 250-400 calories and then i have my two or three in-between meals which can be anywhere from 100-200 calories. it keeps me full all day to do it that way and keeps my metabolism running wild. there are days it doesnt work out that way but this is a typical day for me

dinner is usually my biggest meal.

Most of my calories go towards my dinner...because for me, it's my biggest meal.
It goes breakfast> lunch>dinner....

However, been told, breakfast should be your largest...it just can't do for me...having a wee dinner won't curb my hunger pangs at 10pm!!


...so dont fret saving half of them for dinner ! I like to do it, cos I know i snack in the evening, or at least want something else to eat in the evening...

I also try eat something every 4 hours...

So..

Breakfast: 8amish
Lunch: 12-1pm
Snack:3/4pm
Dinner: 6/7pm
Snack: 9pm

Bed at midnight etc...x

I get panicky if I don't have at least 1000 calories available for supper + evening snack.

Haha It's not only me then!! Good!

I thought your morning-mid day meals were supposed to be the largest, and the smallest meal should be your evening meal because your metabolism slows overnight. Is that incorrect?

There is no metabolic benefit to meal timing. Many people, including myself, skip breakfast altogether and still lose weight just fine.

I typically only eat 1 meal per day ... and it works fine for me.

I'm a night eater too. I've lost weight just fine eating at night. I try to save at least half of my day's caloric allotment for Supper and afterwards. I'm on just a slight deficit now, so this usually equates to 500-600 calorie each for breakfast and lunch, followed by afternoon 200-300 afternoon snack. I usually have 1500 calories or more for the evening.

Another "trick: I have recently discovered when on caloric restriction is having a cup of coffee in the late afternoon or early evening. It helps control my appetite. Then, I postpone dinner until as late as possible. If I eat too early I stand the chance of running out of calories.

I skip breakfast, to have those cals late at night when i really actually want them!

I tend to eat half of mine for lunch during the work week. My breakfasts are usually around 200 unless I pick up an egg mcmuffin (only on days when I know it's going to be a late lunch, usually a couple times a month because of meetings). But my downfall is that I go out for lunch every day because I have to get away from my cubicle! It doesn't do me any good to bring my lunch and a book anymore because I get bothered constantly.

Since my hubby works out of town during the week, I figure if I have my large meal at noon, it's sometimes easier to cook for one at night to meet my calorie/macro goals. For example tonight was whole wheat pasta with a bit of ricotta cheese and some peas stirred in as I was way low on my carbs. Last night was a veggie & cheese omelet since I had a big salad at lunch.

I think everyone's needs (and schedules) are different so as long as you feel that you're making progress then that's what should count!