Remarkably, your numbers are almost exactly what I aim for at each meal! (400 cals in 55/30/15 - slightly lower fat for me, for my tum)
With what you have, you're aiming for around 30-35g protein/meal and 8-9g fat - plan your meals around that, starting with the protein and adding on from there (remember that most grains have some protein and some veggies do too!)
When I started eating healthy and paying attention to my diet and such a while back, a nutritionist friend of mine told me about a method that makes planning meals really easy - it simplifies it just enough. So I'll share
Basically, it breaks up all the foods into categories, just like any food guide (and note that the numbers ARE oversimplified and approximated!):
Quote:
1 starch = 80 calories, 15g carbs, 3g protein, 1g fat 1 slice bread, 1/2 cup pasta, 1/3 cup rice, 1/2 bagel, 1/2 (6") pita, 1 6" tortilla, 1/2 cup cooked cereal (like oatmeal), 1 small potato, 1/2 cup sweet potato, 3/4 cup dry cereal (*unsweeteened - sweetened 1 serving is about 1/2 cup), 3 tbsp dry flour or grain, 4-6 fat free crackers
1 veg = 25 calories, 5g carbs, 3g protein 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked, 1/2 veg juice
1 fruit = 60 calories, 15g carbs 1 small whole fruit, 1/2 cup applesauce, 1/2 juice, 1/4 cup dried fruit
1 protein = 35 calories, 7g protein, 0g fat (*for fatty fish and other fatty proteins like soy milk, peanut butter etc. add fat servings, see below) 1 oz poultry or fish, 2 egg whites, 1 cup soy milk
1 fat = anything with 5g fat (i.e. 1 tsp oil, 2 oz. salmon <-- you'd count that as 2 proteins + 1 fat, 1 cup soy milk <-- 1 protein and 1 fat etc.)
Obviously those numbers aren't completely precise because not all foods have these exact numbers to them. But I've found it very helpful to figure out just what a meal with those percentages in calories looks like. Once you've got something planned, you can punch it all into your PDA and adjust the amounts to get it all right. I did basic the math for you because it required so little tweaking from my own guidelines. So here's a basic meal for you (with a few options):
3 starches and 1 veggie OR 2 starches, 1 veggie and 1 fruit OR 2.5 starches and 1 fruit 3.5 protein 1.5 fat
This will get you roughly between 400 and 450 calories with the percentages you wrote. Some example meals:
1 cup pasta 1 slice bread 3.5 oz chicken breast 1.5 tsp oil 1/2 cup cooked veggies
1 large baked potato 3.5 oz salmon 1/2 cup cooked veggies 1 pear for dessert
1.25 cups oatmeal 1/2 cup applesauce 9 almonds chopped up and thrown in the oatmeal 7 scrambled egg whites (this is basically what I have for breakfast every morning)
some fat-free crackers (1 starch) chicken vegetable & bean soup (everything else)
etc. etc. etc.! ![](/messageboards/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif)
I know, it seems pretty anal with all those numbers. But you're counting everything anyway right? And after a while you get used to intuiting what constitutes a proper meal and you don't necessarily have to count everything (unless you want to! ) I do fitday pretty much every day still, but I don't really have to do any of this stuff any more because I know what a good meal for me looks like now.
Phew, hope that helps (and wasn't too confusing!)
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