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:

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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.)

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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.!

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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