Do you eat 3 meals a day?

[3squaremeals]

I have NC’d for this as I don’t want it linked to my other posts.
I use to eat 3 meals a day. 3 full meals and all I did was put on weight. Now I eat 2 meals and a snack.
In work today and a colleague asked was I not starving.
today I had for brunch (my first meals is at 10ish) - 2 boiled eggs, 2 rice cakes with chocolate spread and peanut butter. And a coffee.
for a snack at 1ish I had a cup of tea and a banana
dinner at 5:45 was a chicken salad with, lettuce, cucumber, olives, onion, tomato’s dressing and Parmesan cheese. Then I had a cup of tea and 4squares of chocolate.

Comment was made by my colleague at lunch time. I’m never really hungry for lunch tbh. I would have a few snacks but today I just wanted the banana. My calorie intake for today was lower than usual at 1390cals. Usually I aim for 1500.

so what do you do? Do you eat three full meals? I find a lot of people have no breakfast at all.

congratulations

I think you’re saving calories to have chocolate. It would be better for you to have more food at lunch with protein and fiber than the chocolate

God no I don’t save calories to have chocolate, I had the chocolate because I fancied it. I don’t have chocolate every day…never have.

Yes, but I generally am not hungry.

If I am hungry, it tends to be because I've eaten 'junk' that's messed up by blood sugar levels.

I could eat a carefully measured bowl of cereal and semi-skimmed milk for breakfast, eat a salad and sandwich for lunch, and a pasta or rice based meal in the evening plus some fruit but I'd be hungry most of the day and miserable.

Instead I eat one large meal mid-day, and it will be what I want to eat. If peckish, which I'm normally not, I'll nibble on oatcakes or dried fruit. If I am 'emotionally hungry' (stressed, annoyed...), I'll have boiled sweets.

When I get older, I suspect I'll probably be eating smaller meals not one big meal but I'll deal with that then.

It's not a diet, it's what suits me. I don't think I lose or gain weight.

I prefer two meals ideally - 2 eggs poached, scrambled or as an omelette, maybe with baked beans as well, at about 10:30 or 11.

Cup of coffee and an apple or a biscuit mid afternoon.

Full dinner.

But if I need to be out early, it's 100ml of greek yogurt, and then I have a lunch.

One proper meal a day in the evening and a slice of toast for breakfast. Don’t normally snack.

Ideally I could do with losing a bit of weight.

I have one meal a day and snacks. It's not competitive undereating or anything, I have a reasonable amount of calories, I just hate eating in the morning and get too sleepy if I have a large lunch so that works best for me.

I eat one proper meal normally lunch, I may have a yogurt for breakfast then I graze, a piece of fruit, nuts, crisps... Whatever takes my fancy. I go to the gym after work then have a protein shake. I'm on the lower end of the BMI scale

I eat at some point between 11 and 1ish, then have dinner at about 8pm. I have full meals and eat much more than you, though.

For example, brunch/lunch today will be penne puttanesca and a side salad, dinner will be jerk chicken, rice and peas, and a spinach and pumpkin sauce/stew. I will also probably have a glass of wine. Don’t really snack.

I have no idea how many calories I get a day. I’m 5’8” and a size 12, so neither overweight nor particularly slim.

I tend to eat a piece of toast about 11, a snack, like yoghurt and berries, veg soup or fruit and nut butter at 2pm then a proper meal at 6ish. If I do this I maintain my weight. If I add in any evening snacks the weight creeps up. I also try for at least 10k steps at brisk pace. Such is life at 57 with a sedentary job and a daily basic calorie requirement of 1450.

In what way is that not a healthy day??

I wasn't meaning to sound all "I survive on a carrot and slither of cucumber" about it.

It was a healthy day of course, what I meant was there wasn't much home cooking / prep going on. Packet rice, packet fajita mix, shop brought falafel and hummus etc. It is pretty representative of a usual day for me (single parent, 3 DC, work - I am pretty busy) but I realise a lot of people eat much cleaner and prepare all their own food.

I do occasionally make my own hummus but life is too short 😁

2 meals a day, plus snacks when I want them. But each of my meals is much more calorific (and often unhealthier!) than yours. I’m 5 3, office job, and I exercise sometimes (once or twice a week), but often go months without doing any. I’m a little bigger than I was in my youth, but only a size 10 from having been a size 8. If my trousers feel a bit tight, maybe every couple of years, I do the 5:2 diet for about 6 weeks and it sorts it out. I come from a fairly naturally slim family though, so suspect much of this is down to genetics.

I eat when I'm hungry. Usually it's one larger meal in the day and other smaller bits and bobs.

Things like home made cake, cookies, toast, soft cheese or salmon pate on a bit of baguette. Main meal would nearly always feature potatoes and a veg like cabbage, broccoli or kale. And chicken, pork or fish.

I always have 3 meals but I try to stick to 1200 calories a day during the week so I can drink eat what I like at weekends. My weight is healthy and stable but I’m short and menopausal with a sedentary work from home job so not much slack!

Todays food:

Kefir with berries and pomegranate seeds
Ham and sauerkraut salad
Chicken casserole.

I do a weights or hiit class 3 times a week and will often have a snack like an apple or something before I go.

I think you need to ask people to put their age on their post. The people tucking into three meals without putting on weight will not be menopause age women. I 60 and eat three small meals a day. While that was ok in the past Im now putting on weight slowly but surely. I do need to drop to two meals, at least some of the days.

Yeah I’m 41

I would just pile on the weight if I eat 3 meals a day and snacks. I tend to eat about 1pm my first meal then dinner about 6/7.

My metabolism is super slow.

40, 2 meals a day. Sometimes one proper meal and a smaller snack type meal. Rarely snack on top of that but will occasionally

Why are you even bothered if it works for you??

One meal a day. Im 52 and healthy/low weight.
In 20s I ate like a horse constantly and was a skinny minnie naturally. Now I barely eat and I put on weight. Its so annoying.

Three meals a day but breakfast and lunch are small. Snacks in the evening.
Breakfast - all bran and prunes ( purely to keep things moving)
Lunch - chicken salad. Fruit and Greek yoghurt
Dinner - stir fry chicken and rice. Ice cream
Snacks - tea and cake ( or a beer and salty snack)
BMI 20.5. I weigh the same as I did 40 years ago.

I have 2 meals a day on average occasionally 3 sometimes just 1. It mainly depends on my work hours

Same i could eat what I wanted until 30 then its like someone flicked a switch now I eat half of what I've ever eaten and still gain weight

Around 2000-2500. I eat fatty meat. I eat a lot as I’m lifting weights just now so need it. I’m never hungry until dinner time