Matt Fitzgerald in his book Racing Weight has some good general recommendations for how to balance calories eaten during the day…the timing of exercise moves this around a bit.
Many authors that focus on endurance athlete’s, really focus their timing recommendations based on the timing of exercise throughout the day…and therefore, their recommendations are more purely focused on Before-During-Immediately After exercise, and then the rest of the day fit around that….Matt also addresses these adjustments, so I’ve extrapolated his chart to create a basic baseline that I think is still instructive…or more properly, a good reminder for myself.
I’ve added my notations based on my 2,000 (no exercise) and a 3,000 (with 1,000 calories of exercise) calorie diet budget…I added a 1,500 calorie column for the tinier folks in the same range as my Daughter.
Many authors…particularly authors of ‘diet books’ note that too often the tendency is to eat too lightly during the day…especially breakfast…and then hit it too hard at dinner, and end up feeling miserable, and even perhaps overshooting the goal for the day…balance and consistency produces a much more even energy day.
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| Percentage of Daily Calories | 1,500 Calorie Budget | 2,000 Calorie Budget | 3,000 Calorie Budget | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast: | 20-25% | 300-375 | 400-500 | 600-750 |
| Morning snack: | 10% | 150 | 200 | 300 |
| Lunch: | 20-25% | 300-375 | 400-500 | 600-750 |
| Afternoon snack: | 10% | 150 | 200 | 300 |
| Dinner: | 20-25% | 300-375 | 400-500 | 600-750 |
| Optional evening snack: | 5% | 75 | 100 | 150 |
You can read more from Matt Fitzgerald at http://competitor.com …type in Matt in the Search box…or buy one of his 17 books including this one