Time and Calories

Has anyone ever mess with when you intake calories?  I heard it is better to have most of your calories in the morning.  Has anyone worked with this and found it to be true? 

No I haven't, but I haven't really thought about it, either. I can't eat before noon, and in the afternoons I always want a snack. Then there's dinner. Even though eating before noon makes me feel a little queasy, on the days that I do, I feel better than usual. That's interesting. Thanks for making me think about it, and I can't wait to see what others have to say.

I have found that the first thing my nutritionist told me holds true: eat four-five small meals, evenly spaced, throughout the day. And no eating 2 hours before bedtime, whenever that might be for you!

Not only do the small meals keep me from feeling deprived, but they level my blood sugar and my energy level, so I don't hit highs and lows during the day.

Hope this helps. :-)

I have heard about the small meals thing before.   I think I just need to figure out how that could work.

Here's how I normally make the small meals thing work:
200 cal wake-up snack (milk, half a small bagel) 6am, home
500 cal breakfast (oatmeal/cereal, milk, nuts) 8am, work
200 cal snack (fruit, yogurt/milk) 10am
400 cal lunch (bagel, nuts/cheese, lean meat, veggies (no dressing)) 12pm
300 cal before-workout snack (fruit, yogurt/milk, small bagel/slice of bread) 3pm
400 cal after-workout snack (fruit, protein powder, small bagel/slice of bread) 6pm
300 cal dinner (lean meat, veggies) 8-9pm, home

Adds up to 2300 cals, which is a good range for me whilst trimming.

i generally eat more calories before one than any other time of the day. this works well for me, as i am not hungry for a big dinner and have more of an opportunity to burn off the calories.

breakfast: cereal/oatmeal with milk, or toast and tea
snack: fruit, and something high protien, like soynuts or cottage cheese
lunch: salad with chick peas, or edamame, or soup and bread,
i think this adds up to something like 600-800 calories. also, if you dont eat before you go to bed, you wake up hungry. then you want a big breakfast, and a smaller dinner. it is definatley better for me!

I have a problem with eating all of my calories before noon! I always always do that. By the time it's noon, I've already eaten 1000 cals and I only have 200-300 left for the rest of the day.. I think it's because I'm bored and at home. Oh well, if it's good to eat most of it in the morning then I guess I'm doing good.

I like to save my calories for the afternoon/evening. My breakfast is always around 150-200 calories at the most, then about 250-350 for lunch. I'm a big snacker, too, so throughout the workday my snacks are about 150-200 calories. That totals 550-750. This way when I go home I have 450-650 calories for dinner. That is when I like to add a salad to my meal, or a snack while watching a movie! I stay between 1200-1350 calories, depending on how active I am that day.

Hey Jazz,

Re: small meals. I have a low-sugar, low-carb (but not no-carb) diet and I tend to eat 4 times a day, with pretty equal caloric intake:

Greek yogurt w/ berries OR a white omelet with cheese and veggies for breakfast; (8:30 am)

spinach or mixed green salad with protein and crunchy veggies and o/v for lunch; (12:30 pm)

hummus and veggies, bean salad, or some nuts/cheese an apple/soy nut butter for snack; (4:30)

lean protein and LOTS of green veggies for dinner (8:30).

It's worked pretty well...I am coming up to a year doing this as of March 20th, and I am down about 46lbs. :-)

I find that I seem to lose weight easier when I eat the bulk of my calories in the morning and taper off during the day.