Like matt_h, I do best with three meals a day. I try not to eat snacks because for me a snack can easily turn into 3 snacks which is basically a meal.
I'm not very hungry in the mornings so I have a tiny breakfast of yogurt and black coffee (under 100). Lunch and dinner are my bigger meals. I try not to eat after 8 pm if I can help it.
I have to have flexibility in what I eat for meals, I can't handle eating the same thing day after day, so I just have set calorie limits for each meal/snack.
Breakfast: 250-300 This is usually 4 egg whites scrambled topped with my homemade salsa, 1/2 c cottage cheese and an apple, but like today I had raisen bran
Snack:100-150 if needed this is usually some fruit and a protien like a low fat string cheese or just a yogurt
Lunch: 250-300 this can be a wide variety of things from a whole can of progresso soup and some crackers to a wrap made with a low carb wheat wrap with turkey breast some light may and a mound of veggies, to a salad, to what ever else I can find that fits the day
Snack: 100-150 same as before. Now sometimes I will skip a snack and once in a while both depending on how full I feel from my actual meals.
Dinner has a cap of 400, though it is usually around 300 and if I know it's going to be higher than 400 I try to compensate through the day by eating lower calorie meals/snacks.
Snack: 100-150 we are horrible in my house about snacking at night, but as long as I can control it (portion it out and leave the kitchen with it) then I'm going to continue to enjoy it!
My goal is between 1200 and 1500 a day, most seem to be around 1300.
I'm a three-meals-a-day gal. I like to eat big when I eat, and more important, I'm another who is made ravenous by small meals throughout the day. So I eat at around 9:30 a.m., around 11:30 a.m. and around 6:00 p.m. On gym days 6:00 p.m. becomes 10:00 p.m.
My meals are pretty much of equal caloric value, though I often do like to have a little more at dinner. If I am really hungry at the gym I will grab a protein shake, and then I'll eat less at 10:00 p.m.
Last edited by Petite Powerhouse; 11-03-2010 at 09:17 PM.
Most of my calories are consumed at dinner. I know that a lot of dieting wisdom cautions against that but it's just what works best for me and my lifestyle.
So my day looks a lot like this:
Breakfast: 1/2c. low fat cottage cheese with a side of fruit (usually apple or grapes)
Lunch: 1/2 c. low fat cottage cheese with a side of fruit or a lean protein with a side of raw veggies.
Afternoon snack (because I'm usually starving after work): raw veggies or a serving of fresh fruit.
Dinner: Lean protein (turkey, chicken, etc.), veggies and a "carb" side (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, etc.) Usually around 500 calories.
Last edited by Sunshine73; 11-03-2010 at 09:06 PM.
thanks guys! these answers are really helpful. it's interesting how different everyone is- you just have to do what works for you!
i go back and forth between grazing (which keeps me full but leaves me unsatisfied), and eating 2 meals/day.
i like bigger meals, so 2 meals/day works for me. right now my morning meal is too big- i think if i cut it in half and then had dinner, i would do better...
you'd think i'd have this figured out by now...doh!
I eat up to about 450 cals per meal (3 meals and sometimtes more or less cals but around there for the most part) and whatever is left over I use for a snack in the evening. I can't sleep if I"m hungry.
I eat every few hours whenever I'm hungry and generally no amount of food difference between a meal and a snack, which is why I often refer to them as feedings. However I'm not rigid about this and like to shake things up occaisionally with a "real" lunch of 600 calories and skip all afternoon feedings. Or if I know I'm going to be having dinner with another person I will eat pretty lightly throughout the day so I can eat a more normal looking meal than I usually would.
I think my calories are pretty evenly spread through the day - maybe a little dinner-heavy - I never really thought about it. Let's see - my usual weekday schedule:
* Breakfast (after I get to work; I can't eat first thing in the morning): ~150 calories
* Coffee with whole milk (spread across the morning, usually one mug before work and two at work): ~150 calories
* Fruit in the late morning: ~75 calories
* Lunch: ~400-500 calories
* Fruit after lunch: ~75 calories
* Fruit before heading to the gym: ~75 calories
* Dinner: ~400-600 calories
* Fruit/snack/drink later in the evening (occasional, not every day): ~100-200 calories
I guess that's pretty evenly spread out. Weekends all bets are off - I sometimes don't eat before noon, or eat very little during the day and eat a rich dinner, or other sort of unpredictable (but generally within my calorie budget) stuff.
