I've been looking at significantly changing my diet, but I'm finding it really hard to create meals that fit the 40:40:20 rule and have the proper amount of calories. Are there any sites with pre planned meals out there? I figure if I could get a start with 5-10 plans for each of breakfast/lunch/dinner + 5-10 snack plans I could mix and match them until I feel more comfortable making my own. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

What's hard? Just use combinations of veal/chicken breast and rice/potato/pasta. You can hit even something harder, like 50/35/15.

See my shrimp post I just put up - "I got one word for ya" :tu:

Shrimp - 310 Cals for 8 oz 59 Grams protein 5 grams fat

1 Ear of Corn - about 59 Cals - 14 grams carbs 2 grams protein.

Guranteed to fill you up and leave you satisfied.

Seriously, this isn't difficult. If I can do it...

It really helps to use a spreadsheet. Seriously. Massively. Impossible without it (IMO).

1) Go through your pantry/fridge and find all the stuff you like to eat that's mildly healthy for you.

2) Enter the nutritional data into your spread sheet. This part is tedious but it's a bit of a proving ground. If you can do this, you can lose the weight / gain the muscle (depending on your goals)! It sucks. I know. Just do it. Do it a little at a time if you can't take it.

3) Make a table with summations in it. Then make a row that figures out percentages. Keep in mind 1 g fat = 9 calories, 1 g of carbohydrate/protein = 4 calories.

After that, add your stuff and have fun. Because it's a spreadsheet the percentages should update automagically.

This is exactly the procedure I followed. Maybe it's not the most effecient, but I've been eating 40/40/20 (or close) all week and it's been pretty easy. I think part of the key is to use food you already eat. Just realize that you'll have to limit it. Also, document everything. If you cheat, make it glow on your spreadsheet, so you always see it.

If you need help with Excel, just say so. There are several spreadsheet threads and I can help if you want.

:gl: :eat:

Go through your stuff and plug the nutrient data into any number of the spreadsheets on this board.

Then plug in what you usually eat or ate pre-diet and see the result. You're probably horrifed how bad you were eating about now. If not you're already on the right track.

Now just fiddle with the spreadsheet and start coming up with meal plans that work for you. You can also look through a lowfat cookbook [or any cookbook] and plug in recipes and see what they add up to. If it's nutritionally good you can try to make it one time and see if you like it. If you do put it into your regular plan

You can find the values for ingredients here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl

You can also sign up at www.fitday.com [free] and log your meals. Not 100% accurate but it's pretty good and web based which means you can update it from anywhere you have an internet connection. For example - I update it when I come back to the office after lunch and I use it to program in what I'm having for dinner before I call the wife. [Kudos to wife for putting up with this] I can see my totals right there. :tucool:

Hunk, thanks for the link to fitday.com. I just signed up and learned that today I've only eaten 927 calories. Crap!! But by the same token I didn't have a chance to work out, so I haven't done much to require calories....