If you are eating 1500-1800 cals a day, how do you break that down? do you designate a certain amount for each meal/snack or do you just keep track throughout the day without designating an amount?

i'm trying to figure out how to break down the calories throughout the day.

Also, if you want to lose let's say 2 lbs a week, how does that work? I think I read that 3500 cals = 1 pound. So i'm assuming that means I need to eat 3500 cals less? little confused I guess. math never my strong point!

I stay between 1200-1500
200 breakfast
400 lunch
100 snack
500 dinner
100 snack

I do not divvy them most of the time, I just try to watch them throughout the day...but typically I am

Breakfast-200
Lunch-400
Snack-200
Dinner-500

I like to make sure I have at least 500 calories left for dinner as this is the main meal my family eats together. Breakfast we eat together but it is usually in the process of getting ready for the day.

Hi Cheeseheader!
I don't know if this is right or wrong, but I don't break my calories down. I just eat my typical meals and snacks. At the end of the day, I'm usually right where I need to be, but maybe that's because I've been doing this for a while. If I still have some extra calories left, I'll either just not eat them or if I'm hungry, I'll treat myself to a cup of frozen grapes.

Yes, you're right about the 3500 calories = 1 lbs. Here's how I figured things out, but my math is a bit screwy too, so you might want to see what the others say! I figured out my RMR (resting metabolic rate) by doing a Google search for a RMR calculator. That tells me how many calories I burn per day while inactive. Then, I eat about that amount. I try to burn at least 3500 calories per week via my workouts. That way, I *should * lose 1-2 lbs. per week. There have been weeks when I lost more than that and there have been weeks when I've lost nothing at all (or even gained a bit!!!). I don't really know how to make my body do what I want it to do right when I want it to do it...does that make sense? There are lots more factors that go into it than just pure calories, but maybe somebody here can figure this stuff out better....I'm curious to see the other responses you get!

Okay so I did the RMR calculator and it said I should have 1650 cals. So that's the amount of cals I should consume each day. I think I will try that and just keep track for awhile and see what kind of pattern emerges as far as how many cals I use for each meal.

I would stay at 1000 or less...1 slimfast shake for lunch or just skip lunch and Chicken and veggies for dinner and once a week extra cheese & pepperoni pizza or 12 tacos woot! Yummy!

1000 or less is not ideal for a female it would just lower her metabolism eventually. If her RMR is 1650 she probably would want to include some exercise so she can eat atleast 1200.. because theoretically at 1650 the loss would be less then 1lb a week w/o included activity. Of course most of us unless bedbound have more activity then our RMR rate but it's hard to say how much w/o knowing her activity level.

You can play around with the calories.
Personally, I love a bigger brekkie, so my day looks like this:

B: 400
L: 300
S: 200
D: 350
S: 150

You basically want a deficit during the week would would equal 3500 calories to lose a pound a week. Of course, our bodies don't always work by the numbers

1000 cal? yeah, i don't think so on that one. So when you say 1650 of RMR i actually should be eating less than that?

Still confused, but i'll play with the numbers and see what ends up working the best.

Cheeseheader. right on the 1000 cals that is not nearly enough for a female of your age/ht/wt. 1650 sounds pretty accureate to me.

You are right in order to lose 1lb of fat you have to create a defecit of 3,500cals. You can do this by cutting 250cals a day and burning 250 cals a day with exercise. Defecit of 500cals a dayX 7 days a week=3,500cals (ie: 1lb fat) I actually would reccoment starting out at 1600 or so. Maybe bumping up the exercise depending on what/how much you are doing. I eat roughly 1600 a day and have steadily been losing. i dont exactly track calories burned, but i make sure that if im taking a 1hr class i work my butt off to burn atleast 250 cals. Hope this made sence to you.

ETA: Not everyones bodies are the same. Your body may requre more or less than mine at 1600, but this sounds like a good and healthy starting point to figure how much you do need. Also the RMR is what your body would burn is you just layed in bed all day and did nothing. It is an estimate, but if your RMR is 1650 than all you would have to do is exercise to create a defecit. Maybe cut 50-100 cals and you should see a difference

cheeseheader -- 1650 actually could be a little low for someone your weight, but it's not a bad starting place. Track for a while and see what happens!

Also, check out the sticky at the top of the page-- it addresses some of your questions!
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120806

I agree with the others on the # of calories. Try 1600 and see how you do.

I like to eat 6 small meals each day. I don't stick to a specific number of calories for each one, I let my hunger cues tell me if I need more or less food. I do try to eat some protein EVERY time I eat. I try to keep a 40/30/30 (carb, fat, protein) balance every day.

A typical day for me might be
Breakfast - 200 cals
Morning snack - 100 cals
Lunch - 300 cals
Afternoon snack - 150 cals
Dinner - 400 cals
Evening snack - 200 cals

thanks everyone for the info, I really appreciate it and finally feel like I can come up with a good plan. I know the sticky up at the top says 1800 for someone over 200, so I think i'll keep it between 1600-1800 and make sure I exercise. and we'll see what happens!

1600 is probably on the low side for someone over 200, but all bodies are different. I still eat about 1600 (sometimes less sometimes more) and I'm under 200 now, but I exercise quite a bit.

To be honest if you stay with a # that is realistic for you to maintain long term your much better off then trying to suffer with a lower # because thats when people go off and binge and often end up doing the roller coaster thing.

If you find your loss is slow then time to bump up activity... were supposed to get an hour a day anyway.

How you break down the calories per meal is a personal choice. Some say lunh should be the "heavy" meal but that can't always happen. Its better to eat smaller more often meals to keep the body working and metabolism up. One of the reasons they say to eat breakfast is because your body doesn't really start using energy efficently until you've feed the metabolism fire so to speak.

I am sorry, but I completely disagree with this. It isn't healthy to skip meals, and 1000 calories or less a day isn't healthy for a woman, and it is especially unhealthy for a man-because they require even more calories for basic nutrition than women do. It would be much healthier, at the OP's current weight, to eat somewhere in the 1500-1800 calorie range (depending on her personal metabolism and activity level) and eat 3 meals a day, plus snacks.

Not only would nutrition be lacking on this plan, but it is a surefire way to lose muscle mass as well.