1500 calories?
 

How I spread them out? I eat breakfast @ 9am-ish, dinner @ 5pm-ish (workdays - almost always fast food - McDonalds or Burger King, and on a frugal budget), sometimes a snack @ 2pm-ish and/or in the 9pm-11pm time frame.
I definitely feel like I should adjust that but my workdays are pretty inflexible. I start @ 11am, 2 10-minute breaks @ 2pm & 7pm, and a 30-minute lunch @ 5pm.
So, yeah...I need help! lol Thanks!

First thing, forget Burger King and MacDonalds, they are full of fat and sodium. Bring some carrot and celery sticks or low fat cheese sticks, things you can eat without preparation. Do you have access to a microwave for your 30 minute break ? You can microwave a Lean Cusine or Healthy Choice meal. I don't know where you live or shop but where I live I can get Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice on special at $2.00 a piece. You can also get sugar free Jello or sugar free puddings , I can get sugar free puddings at Wal Mart for 84 cents for a package of 4. non fat yogurt is also less than a dollar.

I don't know how to suggest help since I have never been able to eat fast food and remain under 1500 calories in a day. My typical Burger King meal will be atleast 800calories so I can't do that anymore on a regular basis.

Here's my general caloric breakdown per day:

8:00AM 200-300 calories
12:00PM 800 calories
7:00PM 400-500 calories

When I throw in snacks in between I shave calories off my main meals.

Here's how I spread out my calorie. I aim for anywhere between 1200-1400 per day.

930AM - 160 - 200
12PM - 400
3PM - 200
7PM - 450


Breakfast is light because there isn't a lot of time between breakfast and lunch.

Grilled chicken sandwiches at fast food joints are generally around 300 cals if you skip the mayo. But like bargoo pointed out, they are still high in sodium.

Do you really go from 9am to 5pm without eating? How big is the snack at 2pm?

You are right, buying some microwave meals is a lot cheaper and a lot less calories than getting fast food. I definitely can do that, but I am worried that it won't fill me up enough and I'll be overeating late at night...I guess I could squeeze in a snack on my last break @ 7...
Unfortunately for me, carrots and celery don't agree with my taste buds, lol.
I also forgot to mention - I don't eat dairy. It's not some kind of dietary restriction, it's my taste buds again. I detest milk, although sometimes I can choke down some chocolate milk; I only like cheese on pizza, and yogurt is just yucky.
Thanks for the suggestions! :)

My snack @ 2pm is usually always something out of the vending machine, usually a small bag of cookies or chips.
I was thinking:
9am - 500c (I really like a savory breakfast like eggs & bacon)
2pm - 200c ?? (definitely nothing from the machine)
5pm - 500c (low-fat microwave meal maybe w/some xtra veggies?)
7pm - 200c (fruit?)

Thanks!

For me my breakfast and dinner are my two biggest meals, lunch is my smallest meal plus I have two snacks. Now starting tomorrow its back to classes so breakfast and lunch will be my two biggest meals and dinner will be my smallest because it will be some kind of nutritional drink as I run to and from class. I also have 3 snacks a day.

My DH and I do things like lean cuisine when its just one of us. It is easy sometimes.

I think your calorie break down looks good in what you posted on your last post. I always add something to my meals like an extra veggie, or instant brown rice. I buy my veggies frozen over fresh most of the time because they are cheaper and quick to prepare.

For snacks if you like nuts you can get them rather inexpensively if you get the store brands. They are small and easily portable. I like also things like fiber bars, cereal bars. Most stores have their own brands of these things that are cheaper than name brand.

Fruit in season fruit is usually fairly inexpensive, or sometimes you can get deals on frozen as well.

i have "night eating" problems, lol. i only have 1200 calories but i split them up into a lot of snack type meals so that im never hungry

breakfast - 250
snack - 150
lunch - 250
snack - 200
dinner - 300
bedtime snack - 100 (usually a skinny cow fat free fudge bar)

I eat 1500 calories on average a day and I break it up so I am eating every 2-2.5 hours so I don't go into binge mode.

I'm not a fan of dairy either and I started out hating yogurt the most. The texture, the tanginess, ewwww!! Like you I much prefer a nice omelette with bacon on the side but I decided I would just force myself to like yogurt. At first it wouldn't go down, and then it got almost tolerable. I still can't say that I love it but for whatever reason I feel amazing on the days I eat yogurt. I get the Fage Total 2%. Here are some toppings that add flavor and crunch.

Honey & walnuts.
Blueberries & wheat chex.
Jam and almonds
Bananas and grape nuts

I would never tell anyone that they SHOULD eat yogurt, but I can tell you that my life has changed because of it. The combination of the fruits and yogurt has completely gotten rid of my dark circles, it's a great protein breakfast, and it's starting to appeal to my taste buds. It IS possible to retrain yourself to like certain things if you think that they will be beneficial to your health.

I'm allergic to dairy, so maybe I can help.

Do you like fruit? Fruit can be really filling because it's full of water. If you have problems with sugar, you can pair any fruit with some nuts and it's a nice, filling snack. For instance, I like to eat raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries (~50 calories) paired with one ounce (22 individual) almonds or cashews (~110 calories). The saltiness of the nuts with the sweetness of the fruit is really delicious. What's also good is apple slices with peanut butter, as long as you don't go overboard on the peanut butter.

What kind of veg do you like? Tomatoes, cucumbers, and the like are really filling because they're filled with water. A delicious snack could be some tomato and cucumber slices (~20 calories) with maybe half an avocado (~160 calories). Or maybe some veg you like paired with hummus.

Edamame (soy beans) make a good snack as well. You can find these usually in the frozen section of grocery stores. A serving is roughly 90 calories, and it's good because it's all protein.