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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how many meals you eat each day?

138 replies

Jolleigh · 16/02/2014 22:40

I'm 25 and most of my friends are a similar age to me. I've found that I don't really know anyone who doesn't have children who eats 3 meals a day. I personally just eat when I'm hungry (though I'm 8 months pregnant with my first so that's more frequent nowadays). What does everyone else do?

OP posts:
FurryDogMother · 17/02/2014 17:57

2 here - a decent cooked breakfast, and then dinner in the evenings. I don't get hungry in the middle of the day. I'm (mostly) low carbing though, so probably not typical.

Pollywallywinkles · 17/02/2014 18:00

It depends on what a meal is and what I'm doing.

If I'm working locally, I tend to have 3 meals a day. If I'm in and out at meetings which tend to be at a lunchtime, I probably have 2 meals with a snack before I go off to a meeting and another one when I get back - is that 4 meals? If I have an evening meeting, will have a snack before that and a light snack when I get home.

On weekends if we are at home and get up at a reasonable time we probably have 3 meals, but if we get up late and are going out probably 2 meals.

StrawberryCheese · 17/02/2014 18:02

I was going to say three meals a day but in reality I probably skip breakfast most mornings before work as I don't have time and don't want to get up any earlier!

Lunch I probably have on 4 out of 5 working days (never have it at the weekend) and dinner I will have every day except when I'm working late, which happens 2 days a week.

So really I am in complete denial.

scantilymad · 17/02/2014 18:02

30 here.

Smoothie for breakfast.
Usually omelette or red bull for lunch.
Decent meal for supper but nothing after 7pm and rarely dessert.
I don't think the sedentary lifestyle of most people combined with the higher levels of refined sugars, bad fats and cholesterol in a lot of foods nowadays allows "three square meals".

NinjaCow · 17/02/2014 18:04

I usually skip breakfast (too tired and rushed) and lunch. So supper only, technically, but I have a proper snack (tuna on toast or something, not like crisps) when I get back, so more like 2, or 1.5.

FederationPresidentBarryFife · 17/02/2014 18:06

Kid's breakfast leftovers.
My breakfast.
Lunch
Kids leftover tea
My dinner.

And I wonder why IO have put weight on since becoming a SAHM!!!

Suzannewithaplan · 17/02/2014 18:11

I only eat when I'm hungry, but I'm pretty much always hungry at the times I habitually eat.
I suppose I do occasionally feel a passing desire for food outside of my regular mealtimes but I just ignore it and it goes away.

I'm wondering what the difference is between a snack and a meal?

boodles · 17/02/2014 18:13

Three good meals a day, one snack and sometimes supper. I walk a lot, workout a lot and need the calories. My bmi is 19 so I am deffo not over eating. Those who only eat once or twice a day, how do you do it? I get hangry if I don't eat as much as I do.

Bunbaker · 17/02/2014 18:24

I need to eat and drink regularly otherwise I get a migraine. Like Suzannewithaplan I find that I am hungry at mealtimes. That said, I only start cooking the evening meal when I feel the first vestiges of hunger. I find it very difficult to cook when I am not hungry.

Em1503 · 17/02/2014 18:34

3 meals plus snacking. I can't function in the morning without breakfast. Also I'm hungry and ready for lunch and dinner every day, no way I could miss a meal!

pussycatdoll · 17/02/2014 18:36

Where I work breaks are regulated

So I eat breakfast at 7am

Coffee break at work - 15 minutes sitting down in staff room so I have coffee & a satsuma & ignore the plethora of biscuits & cakes

Lunch break between 1-2pm - would be boringly dull if I didn't eat then ! I take a packed lunch with me, sometimes salad, sometimes sandwiches,

3.15pm - again tea break in staff room ( my job is on a public service counter so can only take breaks when told ) I have coffee & an apple

Home at 6pm

Dinner at 7pm

I'd say I'm average amongst my family & friends
No one I know only eats 1 meal a day

LettertoHermioneGranger · 17/02/2014 18:40

When I'm on a regular schedule, classes/work, three a day plus snacks. Big breakfast is essential - my whole day will be wrecked if I don't have enough breakfast. My lunch and dinner are lighter.

When I have time off, it's much more erratic. Maybe two late meals, sometimes one with snacking throughout.

ADishBestEatenCold · 17/02/2014 18:44

Too many!

Glitterfeet · 17/02/2014 18:55

3 meals and snacks if I'm hungry.

Breakfast - toast in the car.

Mid morning - fruit or a biscuit.

Lunch - usually soup.

Often a bowl of salad as dinner is cooking.

Dinner - normal stuff. Stew, stir fry, chicken breast, pasta. I try to make sure the carb portion is sensible.

Later, something like yogurt, or something sweet.

EatShitDerek · 17/02/2014 18:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bunbaker · 17/02/2014 19:04

I'm amazed at the number of posters who need to snack through the day.

I have the occasional snack - say if is someone's birthday at work and they bring in cakes, but generally I don't get hungry between meals.

EvenBetter · 17/02/2014 19:12

One meal in the evening, and between 12 and the evening I eat loads of crisps...

KingR0llo · 17/02/2014 19:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thegreylady · 17/02/2014 19:19

Breakfast usually an egg or porridge then toast
Lunch either homemade soup or a sandwich
Dinner a cooked meal, usually one course occasionally two
Drinks/snacks as in a cuppa and a biscuit twice a day

bakeroony · 17/02/2014 19:23

3 plus snacks/grazing, but my meals are quite small:

Breakfast: small bowl of cereal

Lunch: Soup, something like cheese & pate & crackers (if at home), a more substantial meal at work (salad, cooked meal with meat or fish)

Dinner: Slightly larger version of lunch

I am terrible for leaving a lot of food on my plate. I just don't like over-eating as it makes me feel bloated and ill. So I make up for it by eating as I work.

MoreBeta · 17/02/2014 19:41

HavantGuard - yes I have had it checked out by a doctor.

Alisvolatpropiis · 17/02/2014 19:42

One proper meal (evening) and a very light lunch.

vichill · 17/02/2014 19:46

I am always hungry and thinking about eating. I graze and eat a lot volume wise but minimize the damage by only having healthy stuff in.

massive pile of bran for breakfast with a banana
toast and marmite or a sandwich for lunch
yogurt
few portions of fruit a day
couple of biscuits
pasta, curry etc bulked out with veg or salad for tea

bmi used to be 35 but now 23. I will have to manage my portions and ditch the digestives when I stop bfing.
its a constant battle with the inner glutton but definitely worth it.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 17/02/2014 19:48

I'm a bit random in what and when i eat through the day, though I try to have something earlyish, sometime mid-morning.
Then I cook supper for us all in the evening.
So really, on average it's two, brunch and supper, with plenty of reasonably healthy snacks/grazing through the day too.
eg today I had a couple of tangerines and some dates

HavantGuard · 17/02/2014 19:51

OK. It must be a total arse.