Calories per meal?

[large_lump]

Hi all. So this is day 4 of calorie counting for me and wondered if you could help me! I'm struggling with how to allocate my calories each day. Obviously it won't be the same every day but wondered how many cals roughly you use at each meal?

 

[Wrinkly]

Hi Large Lump, I plan my day ahead so that I can work out my calories. I'm allowed 1200 so today for instance, it's Breakfast 260, Lunch 280, Dinner 356 & late snack (banana) 90. Now that leaves me 214 calories to have - or not have - if I need them. Other days I need & eat them all.
To me, planning ahead, is a must.

 

[large_lump]

Thanks for your response planning isn't my strong point, something I must work on! I just wasn't sure if people broke up their calories the way lots of people break up their ww points for example. Guess it's all just trial and error! Hoping it will all just fall into place!

 

[Morrigan]

I usually decide what I want in the evening - which can be anything between 300 and 600 calories (sometimes more if I'm exercising) and then just adjust the rest of my calories in relation to that. For instance, today my dinner comes to about 570 cals so I'll probably just have a couple of crumpets at lunch time to balance it out

 

[large_lump]

Why didnt I think of that! Makes sense to plan dinner then I can fumble through the rest of the day. Planning just dinner wouldn't make me feel too restricted either. Amazing! Thank you! X

 

[iwillsoonbeslim]

I don't plan much at all, but have noticed I seem to have strolled into a routine of around 200-400-600. BUt it all feels very natural, and as long as I pay attention to calories when shopping, it really isn't too difficult to adapt each day as I feel like it

 

[Rissole76]

I plan dinner too.. Im on 1600 so I try to stick to
Breakfast 350
Lunch 500
Dinner 600
Snack 150

If I go lower to say 1400 then it becomes
Breakfast 350
Lunch 400
Dinner 500
Snack 150

 

[Squeezyweezy]

I'm in the none planning group. Wish I could be that organised.

 

[tranquility]

Well I like to leave it flexible. Work days breakfast and lunch are around 200-300 each with a fruit snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Dinner is what it is but around 600 max. I usually have cals left over, if I'm not hungry I forget about them.

Eat when you're hungry. If you prefer 2 meals a day have them.

 

[leighleigh]

I completely fail at planning ahead so I've found a good way to get round that is to make sure certain things are in the house. For example, I'm a veggie so I tend to keep lots of frozen veggie items in the house like burgers, falafels and whatnot. I also keep a lot of canned soups on hand, in case I do get really hungry and caught short. I tend to keep a lot of bread products in the house, I'm not really sure why as I rarely go through the whole packet, but what can I say? I love bread! It also means I can quickly fix my carb allowance for the meal, without having to prep. After that, the only things I buy weekly really are fruit and veg (and more bread if I need/want it) and then I just plan my meal around them. So as an example I'll use what I had last night. I had 484 calories left of my allowance by the time I got in from work, and I was pretty ravenous so I had 1/2 pack of Quorn fajita strips (69cal) and a corn tortilla (119cal), red pepper and some onion. Definitely not enough to fill me up so I also had a frozen corn on the cob (104cal) and a few mexican wedges (169cal). This actually took me about 3 calories over my daily allowance but whats 3 calories between friends, huh, mfp? Anyway, it might be slightly different for lunch though as I have to factor in dinner. So at lunch, I might leave 400-500 cals for dinner and then scoot about to see what I can have for however many cals I've left myself at lunch. Wow, I'm really not explaining this very well am I? The long and the short of it is, I tend to only keep things between 100-200 cals in the house so I can plan carbs and veg around them and still not go over my allowance.

 

[thatlittlebit]

Am I totally a non-planner. The problem is I tend to worry about calories during the day and don't really eat 'set' meals. I tend to just graze about the whole day so I never really eat anything that's more than 100-200 cals. Ocasionaly if i have a lot I'll make a big dinner but I'll also leave some over for a bedtime snack!

 

[RachBlue]

I have the same breakfast (500cals, milky coffee & yoghurt) and the same supper (300cals, milky tea and bran flakes) every day, mind you these are things I'd have anyway even if I wasn't dieting, then have 700cals left for lunch, so I either have them all as one meal (veggie-based stew usually) or hold some back for crackers and cheese. I usually don't snack or eat anything between meals and the only cals I have between meals are for a sugar in a cup of decaff coffee or something. Having the same stuff twice a day makes it all easier and means I only have one chunk of calories to plan for each day.

In between meals I fill up on water and herbal teas.

 

[ApplySomePressure]

I don't really plan at all except that I might have to plan for food at work since I don't want to buy food. Saying that so far my days have been pretty similar- fruit & yoghurt for breakfast, ww soup & dry crackers for lunch and my teas vary.

 

[surfinbernard]

I'm not a planner but I do believe in being prepared. I have low calorie indulgences to hand should the need arise, otherwise the kids' biscuits would be too tempting. For example a skinny cow icecream (93cals) kept in the freezer could be all I need to stave off a craving that might lead to a binge if I had biscuits which are my weakness. I also keep quorn burgers in the freezer and microchips, all measured out for you! I also keep salad in and low fat cheese, I have a couple of different quorn meals ready for the next few days in the fridge. I'm still getting used to buying less food, I still do over-buy.

I tend to try to stick to 1000 cals so I say to myself stay within 500 for breakfast and lunch and any snacks up until teatime, saving 500 for my dinner and any snack I may have after that if I have calories spare. If I splurge earlier on I will just have less for my tea but it's preferable to have a hearty tea if possible as it gets harder to be strict as the evening wears on so it's best not to be hungry, in my experience anyway.

So, for example I may have a slice of toast and an egg for breakfast, a nimble bread sandwich for lunch and a sensible dinner. Fruit, low fat yoghurt or low fat icecream for a treat. Or on days like today when I didn't fancy breakfast, I had half a frozen pizza for lunch and a yoghurt because I had the calories spare.

You will soon get used to it, just start logging, watching what you eat, you will soon figure out more ways to make you calorie budget stretch as you learn through experience how to 'budget', and there are loads of ideas on this forum, everything from whole menus and meal plans to just little tips of low calorie treats or low calorie dinner ingredients. Good luck!!

 

[nettleboo]

hello i dont plan i just have a note pad and what i do is in the morning i have say a oat and banana smoothie which i work out then ill work out what it leaves me for the rest of the day then ill have lunch which i take from the total whats left is what is for tea so today ive had an oat smoothie for brekkie 293 cals lunch was salad sandwiches 384 cals so im left with roughly 621ish cals for tea and then a snack. if i cooked tea in the morning say a veggie curry or casserole to heat up later i do it the opposite way i work out the dinner cals and then im left with my cals for lunch and brekkie my note pad is my saviour oh and my digital kitchen scales