I know a lot of food plans call for calories to be spread out evenly during the day and that you shouldn't go "x" number of hours between meals, but I've noticed that I don't get hungry till lunchtime but I get the munchies very bad in late afternoon and sometimes after dinner. I aways have a good breakfast of around 350 calories with protein and carbs, even though I don't really have much appetite for breakfast and eat it only because I ''should". I'm thinking of reducing my breakfast calories by 100 cals. and save this for later in the day.

I've just started having my morning snack in the afternoon and then saving my afternoon snack till after dinner. I think by saving more calories for my "danger" times is helping me not go overboard and starting a binge. I noticed that my binges are ALWAYS in the afternoon/evening, NEVER in the morning. Has anyone else had success by moving their calories around?

I have a problem with being so hungry in the afternoon, that I pretty much just engulf whatever leftovers are in the fridge the minute I walk in the door from work.

What I am doing now is, I bring a snack (200-300 cal) with me to work. At the end of the day (3pm) I eat my snack and drink a bottle of water. This way, by the time I get home it has had 1/2 hour to sink in and I am not hungry. It totally prevents my pre-dinner snack attacks.

I hear you about engulfing anything in the fridge. When I get the afternoon (or evening) munchies I'll eat anything - even stuff I don't really like much. The other day I was scarfing down spoonsfull of corn chilli salsa - at 45 cals for 2 tbsp. even that soon adds up!

Yes, I know that after I eat dinner, I won't be hungry again. So I don't have to save calories for after dinner -- I can eat a nice meal late in the day.

A friend of mine, who is a dietitian, has me eating 6 times a day. I have three meals and three snacks. I was only thinking about it yesterday and I have an apple for morning tea and afternoon tea, and I do not have any rush to eat lunch and dinner. I DO have cravings for morning tea, afternoon tea and my evening snack. I am wondering whether apples are just a good food for me and keep me full longer. I am going to track things better to test out that theory. I'm not sure how many apples a day would be TOO many, but I may just move them around. I may have an apple with breakfast instead of other fruit and move that fruit to morning tea. I like experimenting to work out what is best for my body. I know that everyone is different, so I like to find out what MY body likes and doesn't like. I am recently finding out that my body REALLY doesn't like salt. It holds fluid like there was a water shortage! I love that I am learning something new all the time. That is the clue to maintaining weight loss I believe.

My dietitian friend had me add a snack at night because I was having dinner quite early and she thought there was too long a gap between dinner and breakfast. She wanted my metabolism to have something to work on overnight. I generally have a banana and yogurt. I am SURE that the banana helps me sleep, which is something else I have 'tested'.

Take care,

Zelma

Penny -- I also wonder if also the kind of food you're eating is an issue -- and perhaps this changed over time?

I have started getting hungrier during the day and when dinner rolls around I'm 100-200 calories higher than I had been in the past 4-6 months. Fortunately, I seem less hungry AFTER dinner, which was always my tough time, so I'm still okay at the end of the day.

I'm eating the same foods as I had been, but I'm wondering if that's part of the problem... maybe my body's needs are changing and I need to eat different food? More protein?

So, yeah, I don't know that I have an answer to your question at all! But moving the food to the evening may help... but I also wonder what happens if you put a higher protein food earlier in the day... would that reduce evening cravings?

Seems like not only are we all different from each other, but we may also change over time!

I am EXACTLY the same. I dont have too hard of a time in the morning, but I could eat ALL night. I have 200-250 cal for bfast, then about 300 for lunch, then a 150cal snack, then I break my dinner into 2 or 3 snacks, because if I eat a lot at any one sitting, Im STILL going to eat the same amount later.
I know we're supposed to eat early instead of later, but Im just working with my own peculiarities and I really cant resist the evening cravings and I just need to work with them.

They say that having carbs just before bed helps you sleep - bananas have lots of potassium too, so that's a good snack. I sometimes have a small bowl of oatmeal before bedtime.

I thought about that too. I'm actually eating a lot healthier these days and try to stay in the "zone" of 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat at each meal. I always have some protein for breakfast, so I don't think that's the problem in my case. I've always preferred to have most of my calories at breakfast and lunch, but since I've been moving my calories later in the day I don't seem to be so ravenous and don't get so nervous about having "used up" all my calories.

I know what you mean! Sometimes when I feel like I'm getting out of control late in the day I decide to eat half of my dinner calories around 4pm or 5pm otherwise I'll be throwing in the towel and starting a binge. Of course, once I start doing that its "oh well, I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb" and eat everything in sight.