Hi,

I haven't been on here is awhile, but I have a question that I can't seem to find an answer for, and I was hoping you could help me.

I am 5' 8", 184lb, and I go for a 40 minute poer walk five days a week. I believe I should be eating 1600 calories a day in order to lose the 25lbs that I want to get rid of.

The problem is that I don't actually want to count calories. I watch my intake, but I am too lazy to write it all down. I thought if I knew how to break up calorie intake by meal, I could monitor it better.

I have 3 meals a day, and 2 snacks in between. If I want to stay in the 1600-calorie a day range, what is the best way to break that up per meal.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

I shoot for 350 - 400 each meal. and 150 - 200 for each snacks (but I do three snacks a day) If you did (3) 400 calorie meals and (2) 200 calorie snacks - that would be a total of 1600 calories.

I think this also depends on when you want to have your biggest meal.

I started at 1400 a day, aiming for 3 400 cal meals and 1 200 cal afternoon snack. I quickly realized that I wanted to have a bigger dinner, and could easily manage that if I had a smaller calorie breakfast (with more protein and fat to keep me full).

I completely agree with SCraver's numbers, but be willing to experiment to fit your actual lifestyle!

The way I break my day up is usually like this:

450-480 breakfast (I feel that I need a big breakfast to help me through my mornings)
450-500 lunch
380-500 dinner
125-250 snacks (total)

I shoot for anywhere between 1450-1600 calories a day, so I just vary it based on what I am eating for the day.

I am a creature of habit and I tend to eat the same things almost every day, so it's pretty easy for me to track my calories.