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Does anyone skip dinner?

I have found that I use up most of my calories between breakfast, lunch and snacking throughout the day. Does anyone skip dinner to save calories or just have a low cal snack like popcorn or watermelon?

Fri. Aug 11, 10:14am

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I always save calories for dinner.

My mom used to use popcorn for dinner as a dieting trick whenever my dad was out of town. She'd eat microwave popcorn while watching a movie and call it dinner. She always lost weight that way.

(Though I can't really say that it worked - she's always been at least somewhat overweight)

Friday, August 11, 2006, 10:24 AM

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If I'm not hungry, I don't eat a big dinner. If I am hungry but I have already eaten a lot of calories that day, I center the meal around veggies with a lean protein. You can eat a pretty big stir-fry for around 350 calories - I use cooking oil spray, as many veggies as I want and maybe two servings of light tofu.

Breakfast should be your biggest meal, and it's better to have eaten when you are hungry throughout the day rather than try and "save up" for dinner because you may end up really hungry and overeat or even binge.

Friday, August 11, 2006, 10:25 AM

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Eating Dinner

I find that I lose more weight when I snack here and there for dinner rather than preparing a big meal that I have to save my points for during the day.

Friday, August 11, 2006, 10:32 AM

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10:24 poster here - I don't "save up" by starving myself. I eat what keeps me full, and I'm not afraid to get a little bit hungry here and there to stretch out the time between meals and/or snacks. I allow myself 300 calories for breakfast (typically either 1 light bagel w/ 2 slices light laughing cow cheese and 2 slices turkey bacon, or 2 slices toast w/ 2 eggs fried in PAM, or a bowl of cereal w/ skim and 2 slices turkey bacon, plus a cup of coffee w/ coffee mate and splenda - a good sized breakfast), and then 500 calories during the time that I'm at work (soup and some fruit for lunch, plus a 100-cal snack in the afternoon, or, a turkey sandwich w/ lots of veggies and mustard on it w/ fruit salad on the side, or a big salad with dressing on the side and some sort of protein and fat - i.e. cheese or egg or walnuts or turkey breast, etc.), and then 500 calories for dinner plus any late-night snacking (usually don't snack).

If I use a portion of my "reserved" calories earlier in the day for some sort of treat, or just b/c I"m hungry, then I take them out of what I have left over for dinner/snacks. At the same time, that's helpful b/c I know if I have a cookie or piece of cake or something, something that's good but not filling, that I will regret it later when I'm hungry! It makes it so much easier to pass up the treats!

Friday, August 11, 2006, 10:35 AM

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No, I never skip dinner. That's my biggest meal of the day. I'm pretty sure it's not a great idea to skip meals. Although, that's not saying you need to have a huge meal at dinner time. Breaking up your meals into 6 small meals throughout the day will keep your blood sugar regulated, and give you more energy.

Friday, August 11, 2006, 10:37 AM

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No, I really don't skip dinner. I think that hunger is one of the worst enemies to a dieter. If I am hungry, my willpower breaks down and I am more likely to eat unwisely.
That said, if I find that I have used up all my calories for the day, some of my strategies for dinner are:
-- eat a green salad with chicken breast for dinner (about 200 calories if no salad dressing)
-- go to the gym and work off about 300 calories so I can eat 300 calories for dinner.
-- keep track of an informal "calorie bank" (if I under-ate on a previous day, I get to put the un-eaten calories in my calorie bank; if I over-eat on a day, I subtract the calories over-eaten from my calorie bank).

Friday, August 11, 2006, 11:09 AM

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NEVER!!! skip meals -- you gain MORE weight!

It is NEVER appropriate to skip meals. Your body thinks you are starving and holds onto every calorie and stores it as fat!

BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD, idea!!!!

Friday, August 11, 2006, 11:52 AM

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I don't think preaching is appropriate here. The OP asked a question, and is entitled to thoughtful responses regarding the experiences of others.

Friday, August 11, 2006, 11:59 AM

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here's a link to a site that might help you control your portions/choices a little more throughout the day...

Link

Friday, August 11, 2006, 12:28 PM

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I don't eat if I'm not hungry. So, if I'm not hungry at dinner time, I don't make myself eat dinner.

Friday, August 11, 2006, 12:32 PM

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Skipping 1 meal is not going to make your body go into starvation mode.

I may not skip dinner but if I've eaten a decent amount during the day I might make it pretty light like a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, Kaishi or Special K with skim milk (I tend to go for the ones fortified with vitamins). Maybe a salad with lots of chopped veggies and light dressing or a 4 oz serving of (cooked) pasta tossed with lots of stir fried veggies and a light sauce. As a previous poster said you can eat a heaping lot of veggies and do little damage calorie-wise so long as you prepare them healthfully.

Friday, August 11, 2006, 12:43 PM

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I have to say just because you don't feel hungry doesn't mean you shouldn't eat. I used to not eat because I wasn't hungry. I really truly wasn't hungry. I had energy and I wasn't tired, I would eat maybe 1or 2 times a day and very small portions. It wasn't because my body wasn't hungry but my head wasn't getting the signal... it is true, just like sometimes we don't think we are thirsty, I couldn't tell I was hungry. However I will say that is no longer a problem, I get hungry now!

Friday, August 11, 2006, 1:59 PM

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My theory - stolen shamelessly from Elle way back when when she was in my beta group, and supported by subsequent readings - is that food is fuel. I fairly often do not get home until 9 or even later, and my bed time is 11 or 11:30. I therefore need fuel for two hours, tops, from my dinner. That's maybe 100 calories (I'm just puttering in that time...watching TV, doing laundry, easy, low-energy stuff), maybe 200 if I'm just coming back from the gym.

However, I do need fuel to get through whatever my evening activity is. I try to spread out my calories like this:

breakfast (8:30 or 9 am at the office): 500 calories
midmorning snack (~11 or 11:30am): 200 calories
lunch (as late as possible before I'm starving ~1 or 2 pm): 500 calories
afternoon snack (~5 or 6, depending on how organized I am): 200 calories
dinner (9 or 9:30pm): 200 calories

I'm a grazer - I definitely prefer eating small meals spread out through the day than three big meals. And eating such a small dinner took a LOT of practice. It was ingrained in my american-raised brain that dinner is the biggest meal of the day, and I often slip back into that when I eat outside of my kitchen for dinner. But as I started to pay more attention to my body, I realized that I was going to bed overly full, and that I was physically uncomfortable. (I'd turn down sex because my stomach didn't want to have his weight on me....sorry if that's TMI...but it was a big part of my making the connection between eating too much for dinner and going to bed uncomfortably full.)

So I personally think that the traditional 3-squares-a-day is just that - tradition that we follow blindly because we've never taken the time to think if it's what's best for us. Try mixing it up! If you're getting enough calories through the day, and not waking up so famished that you over eat or eat whatever crap is nearest, then skipping dinner is not a big deal.

Friday, August 11, 2006, 4:10 PM

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I don't even know what breakfast, lunch, and dinner are anymore. I eat soy burgers for "breakfast", toast and eggs for "lunch", and fruit and yogurt for "dinner" (with plenty of other stuff in between). I eat "breakfast" at 3 in the afternoon, and "dinner" at 4 in the morning. Basically, I know what I can eat throughout the day and I just dole it out as to what sounds good at the moment I decide I'm finally hungry. If you're hungry, please eat some "dinner", but if you're not, don't worry so much about it.

Saturday, August 12, 2006, 1:11 AM

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I watched a show the other night called xxxxtreme weight lost. There was one lady on there who ate her dinner for breakfast, then a smaller lunch and then had her breakfast for dinner and lost over 150 pounds by doing this. Think back to all the farmers who had a big breakfast to fuel their bodies for the day. Then they had a big lunch and small dinner but burned off alot in the fields. I use to skip meals all the time but since I've joined PT I force myself to eat my cereal every morning even if it's noon hour. I agree with everyone one here you should never skip meals. In the past I always did that's probably why I could never lose weight. Proud to say I'm down 30 pounds by eating 3 meals a day.

Saturday, August 12, 2006, 10:33 AM

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I never skip dinner - never! But then I don't eat huge meals and prefer to eat 5 or six small meals a day. Keeps my blood sugar more balanced.

Sunday, August 13, 2006, 3:40 AM

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i also eat non-traditional meals...if i wake up wanting peas & carrots w/ cous-cous, i'll make that. if i want a bowl of kashi-lean at dinner-time, i'll have that. i often eat some crudite and a yogurt for breakfast and it gets me through til lunch w/ no hunger pangs/cravings. i totally listen to what my body is "asking" for.

Monday, August 14, 2006, 2:56 PM

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