How many meals do you eat a day? And what do you eat for them?

[roniather0bbersdaughter]

I was raised by my grandma and she was an aristocrat, but poor by the time I was born. Each meal was a grand affair. I’ve carried it on out of habit but it’s a half-hearted copy of what she did and it only just really came to me that I seem to eat many more meals than other people (which explains why I’m fat). It’s always been:

Breakfast: Usually a mug of cereal, or a piece of bread with butter. Eaten right when I wake up and washed down with a cup of tea (never any milk or sugar.

Elevenses: Usually some sort of sweet bun, or bread with honey. Again with tea.

Dinner: Always two courses. First being some soup with a bit of baguette, second being the proper dinner. We always drank buttermilk, but I rarely buy that now and generally have water.

Tea: As in, afternoon tea at about 4:00-4:30. Cakes and biscuits and that sort of thing, w/ a drink of tea of course.

Supper: Basically sandwiches, nothing hot unless there’s any soup leftover from dinner. Of course this also included drinking the final cup of tea of the day.

What do you all eat? If you eat only 3 meals a day do you snack? Do you usually eat your main hot meal in the evening?

I eat two or three meals a day around 12pm, 5pm and if I'm peckish 10pm. I also and drink gallons of tea and have the odd snack.

Today was:

1pm - Pinto bean stew and a pitta bread.

4pm - An orange and a couple of spoons of peanut butter.

6pm - Potato wedges, two fried eggs and some mixed veg, followed by some dried dates and greek yogurt.

10pm - Pitta bread with feta cheese, chillis, tomatoes and olive oil.

I might have another pitta and feta later if I get the drunken munchies.

HappyMealWithLegs I don't know, you sound like you're enjoying that dust a bit too much! Food is fuel and never to be enjoyed. Except for the salad of course because we all love salad and vegetables, much nicer than disgusting chocolate or cake ugh.

Breakfast. Usually muesli or granola, banana and large mug of strong coffee.

Lunch is anything from a small sandwich or salad to a light cooked meal. Might have a piece of cake if I've made one. I need to get back out of that habit.

Dinner is a proper meal. Today I had lamb dopiaza with rice and cauliflower.

And I've just had a small bowl of crisps. I sleep better after a small snack in the late evening.

Breakfast - weetabix a cappucino and glass of grapefruit juice
Break - yoghurt and fruit ryvita and a green tea
Lunch- whatever I've prepped on a Sunday. Usually hot food but between 300-400 cals
Mid afternoon a cappucino and a rice cake
Dinner varies but hot food under 600 cals.
Cup of tea around 8.30 and about 2.5litres water per day

That's Monday to Friday. Saturday I treat myself a bit more with higher cal meals and some wine and Sunday is roast day

3meals day. Cereal or banana for breakfast, sandwich & fruit for lunch. Dinner is stir fry or anything chicken based then yoghurt . I'd cut your bread at breakfast & the elevenses & afternoon tea. That's a heck of a lot of carbs

Twice a day. Light 1st meal. Dinner is heavier. Don't snack.

Three meals here.

Breakfast - currently about 8.30 as WFH, usually a lot earlier - Greek yoghurt with honey, or a crumpet or toast with peanut butter
Lunch - about 12.30 - something along the lines of soup, sandwich, scrambled eggs or beans on toast - at work it would be a sandwich and a bag of crisps, or something leftover from the night before if it can be eaten cold
Dinner - 7ish - along the lines of chilli and rice, veggie sausage tray bake, pasta, cottage pie and veg, sausages, mash, and peas - pudding only at the weekend.

At work I would usually have a cereal bar about 11, not bothering at home.

Weekends usually only two meals. Today was:

Brunch - sausage sandwich - 12ish
Dinner - roast chicken, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, rhubarb crumble and custard

I am snacking much less during lockdown, no biscuits knocking about “my office” (the kitchen) other than cat biscuits.

I definitely over eat. Yesterday I had: breakfast: 5% Greek Yogurt with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, banana, some granola sprinkled over the top and a splash of almond milk, 2 cups of tea. Elevens: Nak'd bar and a coffee. Lunch: Goat cheese and beetroot slaw baguette, pack of Crisps.
Afternoon Snack: large choc chip cookie
Dinner: Thai green curry with chapati (and seconds)
PM: KitKat - dark chocolate
Bit of a shock when it's all written down!

Common as much here.
Breakfast; porridge, with syrup, cup of hot water
Lunch; sandwich, crisps, apple, bit of something sweet.
Dinner: hot dinner, anything, have big repertoire, usually yogurt for pud unless it's the weekend and then it is special pud.

I naturally only need to eat 2 meals a day. Normally around 11.30/12 and then 5pm.

I eat really big portions at these times and will usually have a sweet treat after my last meal . For eg. a couple of biscuits or a magnum icecream.

I’ll have lots of cups of tea and water between the two meals.

3 meals no snacks here, I don't do breakfast though, but usually eat at the same times roughly each day (unless socialising- which isn't happening yet)!

11-12 brunch / lunch - salad & pitta, pasta, fruit, yogurt & musili

5-6pm family evening meal - anything from curry to cottage pie

8-9pm small meal / snack such as toast, bowl of soup, cheese & crackers

Tea / coffee / water during the day and most nights will have 1 alcoholic drink or a can of full sugar coke

I try to stick to 1400 calories or less. It’s the only way I’ve found to keep my weight off, I also weigh most things.

My day generally looks like this -

Breakfast - fruit and fibre with semi skimmed milk and coffee

Snack - fruits of some sort and cherry yogurt

Lunch - quinoa tabbouleh

Dinner - spicy salmon, wild rice, veggies

Snack - ice lolly/halo top

Usually I’ll just have water in the day but I do like a glass of wine at the weekend, I often move my snacks around too lately I’ve been having it in the mid afternoon as opposed to the morning.

Breakfast - one of the following : toast, cereal, porridge, egg on toast
With a cup of tea

Around 9am, a cup of coffee, maybe a biscuit

12noon - sandwich, salad or soup

6pm - proper meal

If I had more control over my day, I would have a giant lunch, and small breakfast/dinner.

One meal a day at teatime, I drink coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.

I probably don't get more than 1000 calories a day, sometimes less. Well unless painkillers have a tonne of calories

Lunch and dinner.
Salad or soup or an omlette for lunch
Meat or fish or chicken with veg for dinner.
Berries and plain yogurt for dessert. Or cheese.
Glass of wine, but I will have to give that up.
I am about 3 stone overweight, on longterm steroids, have poor mobility. It is a struggle just to stay at this weight. If I ate any more I would keep piling it on.

My eating habits are terrible right now.

Yesterday was homemade lentil and bacon soup with two part baked rolls around 2pm, dinner was around 10pm and was two tuna toasties and two apples.

I rarely eat breakfast, on the odd occasion I do it will be soft boiled egg on toast.

I snack too much but since I worked out I had put on half a stone since lockdown began I'm going to switch from beefy hula hoops and chocolate to fruit and veg.

I drink several cups of milky coffee everyday.

Usually

Breakfast: eggs with cheese or porridge or toast with honey, milky tea or coffee

Mid morning: salted crisps or a bar of granola or oat bake

Lunch: sandwich or filled baguette, or rice and pasta with some protein.

Dinner: more substantial meal like stirfry or curry or pasta.

Pudding: ice cream or chocolate

Lockdown has been normally do brunch around 11ish, which is a sandwich with crisps, snack on fruit or more crisps until tea, followed by a pudding

We actually are eating less, but more calorific foods - homemade pasta, cakes, scones etc., that we usually wouldn't have time to make

OP that sounds like a lot of food and very carb heavy! I work shifts so my meals are all over the place but today is probably reasonably typical. Fruit for breakfast if anything. Couple of squares dark chocolate, some almonds and some left over cake (small piece) spread through the day and then Dahl and rice for dinner. I tend to only have one big meal and then pick at stuff otherwise unless I am going out for breakfast in which case the evening meal might be a bit smaller.
The snacks vary- could be rice crackers, maybe some toast instead as more of a breakfast but usually only one decent size meal

That's a lot of food unless the portions are tiny and a lot of carby rubbish and I say that as being far from a typical Mumsnet carb fearer.

If you want to change, look at what you are eating and also the quantity. What time you eat and whether food is hot or not is immaterial although I do think there is some truth in the theory that it's easier to control weight if you eat your main meal in the middle of the day. That's how I prefer to eat and I just can't do the 'norm' of eating little or nothing all day in anticipation of a big dinner. That leads to snacking on rubbish in my experience while still eating full sized meals.

I'm working at home in a job that is fairly flexible so am taking advantage of being able to eat in the way that suits me and I've actually managed to lose a few pounds despite some of my food being less than healthy and drinking more alcohol than normal.

I'm trying to stick to 4 smallish meals of around 400 calories more or less and allow one of them a day to be rubbishy but try to make the other three more nutritious. Most of the food I eat is hot due to preference although not as much recently as weather has been quite summery but if it had been colder there would have been more soup in evidence.

I wait as long as I can for breakfast which is usually around 10 am when I might have omelette, muesli, fruit and full fat yogurt or a home made version of the McDonald's breakfast wrap with a potato waffle and two quorn Cocktail sausages.

I'm usually ready for something else early afternoon when I might have tuna and cheese salad with a pitta bread, leftover dinner or something similar to what I said for breakfast.

At about 4-5 pm I'd have something like a cereal bar or a G&T and some crisps or an ice cream in the garden when the weather has been nice.

Dinner might be something like home made curry, bolognese, fishcakes and salad, marinated chicken, rice and salad, anything really but a small portion as I'm not always that hungry.

I'm also trying to be reasonably active, with one online yoga class a week with my usual class (have never managed to do some more off YouTube as yet) and walk for about 1.5 hours on weekdays and 2-3 hours on weekends, am also fortunate to live on the edge of greenbelt with endless woods, fields and small hills from my doorstep.

The majority appear to have a similar diet, no roast dinner or bacon sarni ...

The majority appear to have a similar diet, no roast dinner or bacon sarni ...

I'd happily eat a bacon sarni if I was offered one, or for something quick and easy on holiday with a coffee for breakfast. If I'm cooking breakfast at home though then I may as well do the lot, with eggs, avocado, mushrooms, spinach and tomato as well. I love a roast but DS will only eat roast cauliflower, no other roast vegetables so it's just not worth it. We regularly do jerk chicken and cauliflower with rice and peas though.

I have 3 meals a day-on a good one. Im rarely a snacker though. Now working from home i have breakfast at 8, granola with yogurt and a coffee- stopped eating toast months ago. 12 noon i have a salad or sandwich with crisps and maybe a biscuit or something. Then tea at 5:30-6. Pasta, fish and chips, chilli, etc

Then nothing till the following morning.

Breakfast - toast with marmite or eggs or avocado on toast
Lunch - salad or soup or sandwich
Tea - hot main meal of the day - chicken with veg or chilli or roast dinner - that kind of thing

I have three meals plus a couple of snacks.

Cup of tea when I wake up.
Breakfast - cereal with milk, sometimes a yoghurt afterwards.
Snack at 11 - tea with a brioche, though now I’m wfh it’s usually tea and cake.
Lunch - something like scrambled eggs on toast, omelette, beans on toast, small bowl of soup since I’ve been WFH (pre-lockdown it would be sandwiches and a yoghurt)
Snack around 3 - tea with a brioche, or some biscuits, or a Welsh cake, or fruit.
Dinner around 6 - main meal, usually pasta dish, stir fry with rice, sausages and mash etc.

And probably another biscuit in the evening after DD is in bed, as a reward.