I try to front load my calories but my husband and I like to eat dinner together (it's the ONLY meal we eat together) and it can be a larger one sometimes. I guess breakfast and dinner are my biggest meals…the rest of the day is portioned out into smaller increments.

I rear load as well… I never really got why you'd front load because your body goes the longest without nourishment after dinner, not after breakfast, generally speaking… When I know I'm snacky I do the same thing, allow more room in my day with slightly smaller meals.

I eat pretty much the same at every meal, but I probably eat the most at night. I run first thing in the AM so it works out fine.

I just read compelling evidence to front-load calories, but since I'm SO BAD at listening to hunger signals, I'm not sure that it would prevent me from front and back loading all my calories. Oh well, I shall give it a try.

I find that I pretty much eat the same amount each time through out the day!

love to see your training schedule. i decided to create a spreadsheet too! thanks for the motivation 🙂 i tend to REAR load my food for a strange reason. i find that when i eat a lot for lunch at work i get groggy and tired when i get back to my desk. so instead i eat a lot in the later part of the day. i also workout at 7-8pm so i like to have a carby/filling dinner after and then pass out 😉

I tend to front load in the morning/lunch and then I am generally just not as hungry at night for dinner. I'll for sure have some snacks between lunch and dinner, but I don't like going to bed with a full stomach so I try not to overeat at night. Also, my workouts are at night so I can't have too much food in my stomach for them!

I try to balance out but dinner is usual the bigger meal when I eat with my family

I feel like my meals are pretty balanced in terms of calories. I don't snack that much (usually just an apple or grapes in the afternoon), so everything hits around the same amount.

lauren i would love a vacation!!! i dream about a vacation!! i am going to visit my mother in tennessee in three weeks, i cannot wait. the husband isnt coming but thats ok, it will be nice to just not work and spend time with mommy.:)

I'd say sometimes I have a heavier breakfast and a lighter dinner, but generally, an even amount of both.

Way to budget the cals!

I always always "rear load" (haha, that sounds funny to me for some reason tonight) my calories, simply because I'm never hungry in the mornings. It takes me until 10 or 11am to work up an appetite usually.

ALWAYS rear load. about 3/4 of my calories are at dinner and maybe a midnight snack(i usually get to sleep around 2 or 3 am, get up around 7 am). i LOVE so many healthy foods and the way they taste, but HATE the way they feel inside me after i eat them. they tend to just sit in my stomach and make me extremely bloated(like, 3 month pregnant bloat) and i take forever to digest. i was diagnosed with IBS a while back, so this probably has a lot to do with it, but mostly i just like to feel sort of light and "empty" during the day while i work/run/work out/socialize, etc. so i eat most of my calories a few hours before bed, so they can do their thing while i sleep

i rear load bc i like to snack and it makes sure i do not over eat.

LOVE this topic because i've been thinking about it a lot lately! i'm a definite front-loader. i'm always STARVIN MARVIN when i wake up. i wake up at 6:00 in order to shower and get ready for work, and end up eating around 7. by the time i get to work, check e-mails and do a few things, it's already 10 and my stomach is growling. then, i usually eat "small meals" every 2-3 hours – kind of like you! i always feel weird because NO ONE ELSE eats, but then i realize that they eat huge lunches and probably go home starving to huge dinners. i'd rather eat throughout the day and have a light dinner at night.

wow, i'm rambling… but the point is – comparing is bad! do what works for you 🙂

I usually eat a huge breakfast because I'm so hungry in the morning! My eats until suppertime are more small and frequent, and then I like a decent sized dinner and a hefty snack before bed (so I don't wake up starving in the middle of the night). You would think the nighttime snack would stave off my morning hunger, but I'm pretty convinced my stomach doesn't sleep while the rest of me does 😛

I used to insanely rear end my calories when I was losing weight counting points (through Weight Watchers). I would end up with so many leftover points, I would go crazy snacking at night even if I was hungry!

So I started to eat a larger breakfast and was surprised that a decent sized breakfast can hold me over for 3-5 hours vs. my old breakfast I would be hungry after 2!

I front load, as I work out in the mornings, and I am SO hungry for breakfast and my morning snack! I barely need an afternoon snack so long as I have a good lunch (I often have fruit, because I like eating, but I ALWAYS need some real carbs at morning tea time). My dinners are probably not "pauper" enough as I often eat too late- need to work on that!

I rear load calories. I love eating dinner with my friends at night so it's more of a social thing and I end up eating more calories. Plus, I grew up eating small breakfasts so my body is used to it that way!

Hi Caitlin, I was wondering if you are worried taht it will be harder to ge thte miles in once you are on vacation?

I try to front load calories when I am by myself, but when with the hubby, I end up being dinner-laden because that is our main meal together. I love it, but it's also a bit inconvenient at the same time!

I would say I eat more calories in the afternoon b/c that is when I tend to snack more. The morning and early afternoon, I don't have enough time to snack and usually am not as hungry until after 3 or 4.

I bookend my day! More at breakfast/dinner, less at lunch. Ideally though, I'd front load my eats.

I tend to rear load but snack constantly throughout the day. It's every two hours like clockwork.

Just curious, why did you decide not to use the training schedule that TNT provides?

jess – based on the TNT programs i've seen, they require more days of running than i can do. honestly, im not sure how often i'll be running with TNT anyway because my schedule is so crazy. i bet i end up joining them for like two long runs.

It depends on my day…usually breakfast and lunch are the same amount of calories every day, but on nights I have school my dinners are much smaller…I can't be going to sleep during class from a big dinner! Usually the morning after classes I'll have a little something extra mid-morning to make up the difference.

meg – yes will do!

I used to be more of a rear-loader but when I was trying to lose weight, my nutritionist had me front load and it really paid off. I do a lot better if I never have a chance to feel hungry during the day.
On the other hand, sometimes if my breakfast is too big, it really throws me off my schedule. Yesterday my breakfast was bigger than normal and I didn't want lunch until 2:30!

I'm a total rear-loader, and I'm trying to change that. It's what I do, but i don't think it is what works best for me. My sleeping patterns have been completely erratic and I think it is on account of my late night noshing. I believe that earlier eating is better, but I have yet to know it for sure!

I used to rear load cals b/c I found that I snacked more in the evenings since I was home bymyself. then I realized my snacking was WAY out of control and have begun to front load my cals and I LOVE it. I serously eat breakfast like a king (on most days) a smaller lunch and even smaller dinner. If I swim then I might have a few extra cals before my workout or with dinner. i love front loading the cals now.

plus i've realized, with a few off track ddays that eating a bunch of crap at 8pm and going to bed 2 hours later doesn't farewell for whatever is plaguing me – acid reflux perhaps? gross!

When I'm at my apartment, I front load my calories because I have more time to prepare big breakfasts. When I'm working and staying at my parent's house, I eat more snacks during the day so my meals are pretty equal.