Help me settle this debate...

[whattaguy]

So...my girlfriend and I typically get into an argument of healthy eating habits/weight loss.

Her view:

Eat a big breakfast
Eat a big lunch
Eat a tiny dinner

She says that her parents follow this rule and have been successful in being healthy. I don't deny that, and I'm glad that it works for them. However, I cannot follow that schedule because I crash after big meals...at work especially. Also I like to go out, occasionally at night with friends, so I want to "save" my calories for later. Breakfast and lunch on workdays are the 2 most boring and monotonous meals of the day, so I'll eat the boring foods at that time. I'll eat my calories at home.

My view:

Calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). Take off no more than 500 calories/day to not shut down your metabolism, and eat whenever you want. I can eat fatty stuff, but I'll have to eat a lot less to maintain the calories. So I'll eat more of the healthy stuff. My schedule that lost me about 25lbs in 3 months was.

Eat about 200 calories for breakfast
Eat about 200-300 calories for lunch
Eat about 1000 calories for dinner


I like the fact that she is concerned about me, but she flat out says that I'm wrong. I've even told her that I've taken a nutrition class in college taught by an Olympic nutritionist (where I got my weight loss plan), and I've spoken to many doctor friends. The conclusion was that a calorie is a calorie and that it doesn't matter when you eat your calories.

My take is that it's all about preference, but she thinks I'm flat out wrong.

Your take?

 

[Crono]

I eat smaller meals, and snack on healthy foods in between. Some people follow the 5-6 small meals a day, but I wouldn't consider everything I eat 5 to 6 times a day a "meal".

Trying to do 1,800-2,200 calories a day, eating about every 2 to 3 hours. High glycemic index and carb foods, or eating too much at one time, makes me sleepy as well. I generally eat a light breakfast at around 10AM.

 

[Tiamat]

Nobody is flat out wrong unless you are severely over/underweight (not disease). Then, its time to consult a doctor, not anybody else's uneducated "opinion".

1. Everything in moderation (commonsense if you think about your personal situation and environment)
2. Eat many meals per day (4+) that are not massive 1200 Calorie ordeals.

I eat:
1. 430am: 200 calories
2. 630am: 600 calories
3. 1130am: 1000 calories
4. 330pm: 400 calories
5. 600pm: 200 calories
6. 800pm: 1200 calories

I barely maintain my weight, but that is my personal situation with my metabolism. Other people may scale back on their lunch and supper by quite a bit.

 

[daveshel]

I agree with her and I'm 30 pounds lighter than I used to be when I'd eat a heavy evening meal.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: daveshel
I agree with her and I'm 30 pounds lighter than I used to be when I'd eat a heavy evening meal.

Yep. I gained a ton of weight when I worked nights because I would eat so much later in the day. Now I usually skip dinner altogether.

 

[dullard]

A calorie is a calorie. More important than calories though is mass you can absorb is mass you can absorb. When you eat them is mostly irrelevant. That is, unless, the timing happens to affect how much you eat (and this varys from person to person).

There is little, if any, scientific evidence that a big breakfast helps in any way. In fact, most of the evidence was a small study by cereal companies that compared famished people in the morning to those who ate cereal. Yes, those who ate did SLIGHTLY better. But, they never compared those who weren't famished to those who ate cereal. But alas, the cereal advertizing campaign took over and now we have the common "knowledge" that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". I have to think that was one of the most effective ads ever.

 

[CRXican]

I think it depends on the individual a great deal. Also, compaing "old people" whose bodies have changed to a younger person is kind of silly. Naturally they will have different calorie needs.

I'm 24 with an insane metabolism. Last night, around 9:30pm I ate an In N Out double double, fries and a vanilla shake. While I can't say what damage it might have done intenally (clogged arteries and such lol) I can tell you I probably lost weight using the energy it took to digest it rather than gaining any.

Doesn't matter when I eat.

 

[BW86]

I agree with her

 

[MovingTarget]

She is right as a general rule of thumb, but that isn't to say that it will work for everyone.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: dullard
A calorie is a calorie. More important than calories though is mass you can absorb is mass you can absorb. When you eat them is mostly irrelevant. That is, unless, the timing happens to affect how much you eat (and this varys from person to person).

There is little, if any, scientific evidence that a big breakfast helps in any way. In fact, most of the evidence was a small study by cereal companies that compared famished people in the morning to those who ate cereal. Yes, those who ate did SLIGHTLY better. But, they never compared those who weren't famished to those who ate cereal. But alas, the cereal advertizing campaign took over and now we have the common "knowledge" that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". I have to think that was one of the most effective ads ever.

Its to bad the most popular cereal is probably that one where you pour some cookies in a bowl and then dump milk on them.

 

[torpid]

A calorie is a calorie for weight loss purposes, but not for overall health and satiation purposes. It really depends much more on what you eat than when you eat it.

 

[TallBill]

5-6 meals throughout the day. Add in some exercise, reap the rewards?

 

[Ns1]

You BOTH are wrong.

Originally posted by: TallBill
5-6 meals throughout the day. Add in some exercise, reap the rewards?

This is right.

 

[MrDudeMan]

When I used to eat a big breakfast I was in much better shape. I had more energy and was able to get more out of my workouts. I stopped doing that and didn't drastically change anything else, but I gained some weight.

Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day. I was reading some of the studies my sister had to write papers about when she got her degree (nutritionist) and not eating in the morning can do all sorts of things, especially to kids in school. Your attention span is shorter and you eat more than you usually would later. It makes sense to me considering I read this years after I had the same observations about myself. Even if every little detail isn't 100% correct, I think it's pretty obvious that overall it is true.

I've read tons of places, some very respectable and some slightly questionable, that the long duration of sleep slows your metabolism. Exercise and breakfast jump start it. When I was in high school and college, working out in the morning was one of my favorite times to do it. If I didn't eat breakfast I got next to nothing useful out of it and felt like crap all morning.

Eating smaller meals more often is the best way to go about it, but skipping breakfast is a horrible idea. There is no denying the fact that you burn more calories when your metabolism is working harder.

 

[waggy]

i have a bunch of small meals in the day. we do have one "large" meal and thats dinner about 5pm.

by large i mean around 900-1200 calaries.

 

[sactoking]

Well, after taking her nutrition course, I'd say that a calorie is NOT a calorie.

First off, there are lots of things that accompany calories. Take cholesterol. If you eat 1200 calories but it's all high-cholesterol and swimming in saturated fat, that's pretty not ok.

Then, there's your metabolism. Metabolism changes throughout the day. It's at its lowest point when you're asleep. Ingesting 1000 calories right before bed is not the same as ingesting 1000 calories when you wake up.

Dr. Applegate's basic premise is that counting calories is fine and a good start, but real nutrition goes well beyond that.

 

[nageov3t]

back when I was maintaining, before I started trying to lose weight again, I'd skip breakfast, eat a large lunch around 1-2 pm, and then eat a small dinner around 7 pm.

now that I'm losing again, I eat 3 small meals and 2-3 snacks throughout the day. my last food consumption of the day is dinner around 8-9 pm, about 5 hours before bed.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I have nothing but anecdotal observation, but I'm always tired in the evening. I'd guess that I burn fewer calories at night than I do during morning and mid-day. So eating a large dinner would be worse for caloric maintenance.

I rarely eat breakfast though...I usually get an upset stomach if I eat soon after waking up.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
I have nothing but anecdotal observation, but I'm always tired in the evening. I'd guess that I burn fewer calories at night than I do during morning and mid-day. So eating a large dinner would be worse for caloric maintenance.

I rarely eat breakfast though...I usually get an upset stomach if I eat soon after waking up.

Thats one of the reasons that I drink a shake in the morning. Also, I found that I have an upset stomach if I don't get enough sleep. If I have a good night's rest I can eat solid foods fine.

 

[jonks]

eat a big breakfast
eat a big snack
eat a big lunch
eat a big snack
eat a big dinner
eat a big dessert
get lipo

 

[KoolDrew]

It definitely does depend on the individual. If it works for you, then go for it. I'm actually the same way.

 

[cultgag]

Originally posted by: dullard
A calorie is a calorie. More important than calories though is mass you can absorb is mass you can absorb. When you eat them is mostly irrelevant. That is, unless, the timing happens to affect how much you eat (and this varys from person to person).

There is little, if any, scientific evidence that a big breakfast helps in any way. In fact, most of the evidence was a small study by cereal companies that compared famished people in the morning to those who ate cereal. Yes, those who ate did SLIGHTLY better. But, they never compared those who weren't famished to those who ate cereal. But alas, the cereal advertizing campaign took over and now we have the common "knowledge" that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". I have to think that was one of the most effective ads ever.

But the point here not calories but metabolism. Calorie is calorie but your metabolism slows down as the day goes on from what I understand.

 

[KoolDrew]

Calorie is calorie but your metabolism slows down as the day goes on from what I understand.

So? Even if you were to store more fat at that particular point in time, you would spend more time burning fat earlier in the day. In the end, if calories are the same, it's really not going to matter when they are eaten. One exception being nutrients around training.

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: cultgag

Originally posted by: dullard
A calorie is a calorie. More important than calories though is mass you can absorb is mass you can absorb. When you eat them is mostly irrelevant. That is, unless, the timing happens to affect how much you eat (and this varys from person to person).

There is little, if any, scientific evidence that a big breakfast helps in any way. In fact, most of the evidence was a small study by cereal companies that compared famished people in the morning to those who ate cereal. Yes, those who ate did SLIGHTLY better. But, they never compared those who weren't famished to those who ate cereal. But alas, the cereal advertizing campaign took over and now we have the common "knowledge" that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". I have to think that was one of the most effective ads ever.

But the point here not calories but metabolism. Calorie is calorie but your metabolism slows down as the day goes on from what I understand.

Right. And eating before going to sleep can result in reflux disease, which I learned the hard way. When I was in my twenties I would eat a big meal before bed and now I have Barret's esophagus.

 

[Andy22]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Nobody is flat out wrong unless you are severely over/underweight (not disease). Then, its time to consult a doctor, not anybody else's uneducated "opinion".

1. Everything in moderation (commonsense if you think about your personal situation and environment)
2. Eat many meals per day (4+) that are not massive 1200 Calorie ordeals.

I eat:
1. 430am: 200 calories
2. 630am: 600 calories
3. 1130am: 1000 calories
4. 330pm: 400 calories
5. 600pm: 200 calories
6. 800pm: 1200 calories

I barely maintain my weight, but that is my personal situation with my metabolism. Other people may scale back on their lunch and supper by quite a bit.

I can kind of understand why with you putting away 3600 calories a day!