Which is better? Is it depending on when you’re consuming the most energy?
Optimally, your body has a spike of growth hormone when you first sleep at night.
Glucose and fatty acids suppress this effect.
Not eating within 3 hours of your sleep is generally recommended!
Growth hormone contributes to lipolysis and protein synthesis in muscle.
Some research on it all:
Metabolic Effects of Late Dinner in Healthy Volunteers—A Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial
The Impact of Sleep and Circadian Disturbance on Hormones and Metabolism
I’d say between the two, a Big lunch is preferable.
Everyone is different, but I’d say that the problem with a big dinner is that it can sometimes keep you up at night, messing up with sleep. The upside for dinner is generally that it is the most social meal of the day, and the ability to eat more then can be beneficial.
The upside for a big lunch is that it’s better if you eat less meals in a day. Skip breakfast or eat breakfast for lunch, and then either eat dinner or don’t.
There’s no difference from a calorie/weight gain or loss perspective, technically speaking, though may have practical implications. If you can manage it, a bigger lunch might result in increased satiety over the ‘snacky hours’ of the day (i.e. afternoon and evening before dinner), thus reducing calories and weight gain. Though this may not apply to everyone!
I think it really depends on your schedule, so you may want to play around with it and see what makes you personally feel the best. I eat a small breakfast, large lunch, and mid-sized dinner because I work out immediately after work and need to still be energized from the lunch I ate 4 hours ago. Dinner for me is getting my protein in post workout
This is so personal that it’s hard to make a generalization.
Dinner is family time - we cook, sit around the table and talk about the day, then clean up - so dinner tends to be my biggest meal. Whether this is the most physically healthy, I don’t know, but having this time to reconnect each day is definitely the most healthy for my mental health and overall well being. I make sure to finish eating at least a few hours before bed time though and rarely eat a ton at dinner to avoid disrupting my sleep.
I’m also not much of a breakfast person and find that my body does better if I have little to no breakfast. So that’s what I do. If I work out in the morning, I’ll have something small with a lot of protein after my workout. Otherwise, just coffee.
Lunch is moderate. Usually a hearty salad or a smoothie, maybe some leftovers from dinner the night before.