How do you spread out your daily calories?

Im just curious how everyone else does this.

I eat between 1400-1600 calories a day.  I generally eat very light all day and save all my calories for night time.  I work 10 hour days and I stay very busy so it's hard for me to sit and eat.  I'm always in a rush. 

I have about a 300 calorie breakfast.  Then eat about every 4 hours depending on how hungry I am.  I always take a sandwich with me but it's never more than 200 cal.  Then 100 calorie snacks when I need them.  So by the time dinner rolls around I generally have 800-900 calories to spend.  Which is alot for one meal I think but I like to look forward to a bigger dinner with dessert.

It's easier for me to cut in the day than at night.  Anyone else do it this way??

I'm similar to you  depending whether I'm at work, or college, or at home, will change how many snacks I have, but I generally have the same amount of calories before tea - usually about 600-800ish.

I have more control over what I eat during the day, as I live at home and the evening meal is cooked for me... So I allow a fairly large amount of calories for dinner, and if I end up having salad then I'm compensate with say, a yoghurt and some toast

Mine are fairly spread out I think. I wake up too late to eat breakfast. Lunch is usually about 350 cals. I have a yogurt for a snack around 6 and dinner around 830p... usually 400-450 cals and then maybe another snack later.

Breakfast - 350/400 cals.

Lunch - 400/500 cals.

Dinner - 400/450 cals.

Only snacking I do is green tea & water throughout the day, which has 0 cals. On weekends, however, I'm free to eat whatever/whenever. This balance allows me to maintain a low weight.

I'm working my way up to maintaining (not quite there yet) and I'm eating 1700-ish a day right now. So I usually have...

Breakfast: 400 cal

Snack: 100 cal

Lunch: 500 cal

Snack: 100 cal

Dinner: 600 cal

It works pretty well for me - I like having a lot of cals to play with at meals. But I might go back to 5/6 mini-meals depending on how high my maintainence is.

I eat 2400-3000 calories each day...spread out as follows. I can do 3 meals a day, but I get hungry, grumpy and tired if I do. Not to mention I feel overly stuffed after meals. Snacking throughout the day makes me happiest. =)

Breakfast: 400-500

Snack: 400-500

Lunch: 600

Snack: 400-500

Dinner: 400-600

Snack: 200-300

I pay no mind to the whole "breakfast needs to be your biggest meal each day" thing. I enjoy having lunch as my largest meal much more. I'm oftentimes stuffed by the evenings, however.

Its interesting how people eat different amounts of food throughout the day. For me... I calculated the number of calories I ate before lunch and I ate over 600 calories! This caught me off guard... I tried cutting back in the morning and I felt really hungry. For me, I need to eat a lot in the morning and then spread out my calories throughout the day to feel good... so usually I brake down my calories like this:

Breakfast: about 600 calories

Lunch: about 500 calories

Snack: around 300 calories

Dinner: lastly.. I'll finish the day with about 500 calories with dinner and a small dessert

I stay between 1200-1250 calories on the weekdays, usually as follows...

7:30AM Breakfast: 170 calories (a peanut butter granola bar!)

9:30AM Snack: 150-175 calories (baked chips)

11:30AM Lunch: 150-250 calories (a Smart Ones meal)

5:00PM Snack: 200 calories (usually some pretzels or vegetables or fruit)

7:00PM Dinner: 400-500 calories (whatever my mom cooks! Usually some kind of grilled chicken or sausage and a side dish - a vegetable or something)

 

I try to have at least half of my calories before 5, so that I have more time to digest and burn them off =) I'm at a desk job all day,  so during the week, I'm fairly regimented. On the weekends, I'll usually allow myself around 1400-1500. :D

2 meals a day for me - one around 12-2pm and the other around 6-8pm 

12-2pm = 12-14 ounces of ground free ranged beef, ostrich, elk, bison or venison

6-8pm = 12-14 ounces lean protein [from above or fish of some type] with about 3 pounds of vegetables or MORE!! 

biggest is breakfast at 400-450 calories.

the rest of my meals or snacks or whatever are usually small. dinner can go up to 200 calories though depending on what i ate earlier.

I eat between 1200 and 1300 cals a day.

Breakfast is usually around 200.

I have between two and three snacks during the day, usually around 100 cals each.

The total of lunch and dinner combined is usually around 800, but I divide it by hunger. Sometimes I know I'm going be hungrier at lunch, or I have lunch late (around 2 or 3 pm) so I'll have a bigger lunch and light dinner.

I'm glad to see that most people spread out their calories like me.  I try to eat half of my daily calories at breakfast and lunch and save half for dinner.

Breakfast-250-300

Snack-100

lunch-250-300

snack-100

late lunch-250-300

snack-100

dinner-250-300

dessert-100-150

calories between 1450 and 1650. I start at 8:30 am and eat every two hours or so. I like to eat a lot so breaking it up into 8 meals instaed of 6 helps me. I usually stay up until about 1 AM.

I'm eating similar to the rest of you.  I have a daily calorie range of 1250 - 1600.  This builds in a sort of natural zig zag and allows me flexibility.

For breakfast I have either Kashi Go Lean with Soy Milk and a piece of fruit; Thomas Lite English Muffin with 1 TBSP of PB and 1 tsp of sugar-free jelly and a piece of fruit; or the same muffin with light olive oil spread and a smoothy of 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/2 cup soy milk and a cup of frozen fruit.  They all work out to around 300 calories.

Mid-morning snack of one of the following: low-fat yogurt; 5 saltines with a wedge of laughing cow cheese; 1 oz mixed nuts; energy bar, etc.

I usually pack a mix of raw veggies for lunch such as snow peas, carrots, celery, sliced bell pepper - whatever I have and 1 Tbsp of low-fat ranch for dipping.  I keep a week's worth of Lean Cuisines or Amy's frozen meals and pick one of those.  They range from 260 - 400 calories plus veg and dip.  If I don't have a frozen meal, I bring a sandwich or chopped salad for lunch.

Afternoon snack is same is mid-morning choices.

In the evening I grill chicken, turkey, pork chop, or salmon and add a chopped salad and a starch like bread, couscous, rice, crackers, etc.

This is probably way more info than anyone wanted and there are a ton of variations but I stick mainly to this regemine.  If I have calories left in the evening I have a glass of red wine or a 100 calorie pack snack or a cup of sugar free pudding with a blob of sugar free Cool Whip.

After being back on CC for a couple of months I find I get hungry if I don't eat a little something every 3 - 4 hours, but I never feel hungry or deprived.

i dont really have a set amount of calories for each meal, i decide what i want to eat the night before, especially lunch and dinner (my hardest meals) then i see what i have left for breakfast and snacks. And i tend to be short, so i dont feel bad if i decide i want more after dinner, or to add a little chocolate at lunch, i feel structured but free at the same time since i know i have the room to relax a little with my meals/snacks. (I try to eat between 1500-1800 calories)

Original Post by bzb90031:

Breakfast-250-300

Snack-100

lunch-250-300

snack-100

late lunch-250-300

snack-100

dinner-250-300

dessert-100-150

calories between 1450 and 1650. I start at 8:30 am and eat every two hours or so. I like to eat a lot so breaking it up into 8 meals instaed of 6 helps me. I usually stay up until about 1 AM.

 I tried something like this today.  It just seems like I dont have enough energy in the day time.  So I followed your plan only some minor tweaks.  I tried 6 meals, something every 3 hours.  This seemed to work well for me today.  I'm going to try again tomorrow.  This is what I did:

8:00am- 350 breakfast

11:00am- 100 snack

2:00pm- 300 lunch

5:00pm- 100 snack

8:00pm- 400 dinner

8:30/9:00pm- 200 dessert

Daily total- 1450, this leaves me an extra 150 just in case.

Thanks so much for the advice, I really think this is going to work better for me as far as having more energy and not feeling so fatigued.

 

I used to stick to a more consistent calorie count per meal (about 400 per meal) but recently I just focused on a general daily total. Still and all, my pattern seems to be something like-

400-500 for breakfast (anything from cereal and soymilk to avocado on toast)

250 or so for a morning snack (usually a fruit smoothie)

400-500 for lunch (typically sandwich, leftovers, yogurt, or soup with fruit and veggies)

250 for another snack (fruit, veggies, crackers, and/or Luna bar)

400-450 for supper (something home-made)

100 for a late snack if I burn extra that day (like today! I had a dark chocolate bar)

Altogether, my goal is to eat what I burn and keep the balance going. My range is 1750-1950. I used to eat small meals throughout the day to achieve my calorie count, but I stopped because of the impracticality it turned out to be. xP

i like to keep a lot of calories in reserve for my evening meal so during the day i eat 700-800 which seems to suit me fine. i make up little pots of fruit salad for my snacks - today: peach and apricot for the morning and strawberry and red grape for the afternoon. um um. i think i should probably load my breakfast with more cals (currently about 200) and deduct those from the evening but i get so snacky at night time...