First off... Welcome to the group!!!! I am so sorry I didn't see this until today. My monday was so super busy!!! I took a quick gander at your meal plan for yesterday (Wed 5/23).

Here are the observations I saw off the bat:

1) If you are going to follow Chris's plan, you will want to work towards 5 smaller meals, eaten every 3 hours. On LC days, shoot for a minimum of 1200 calories on LC days, and a minimum of 1500 calories on HC days).

2) I can't tell, based on your diary, if you were trying to do a LC or a HC day yesterday.

3) It looks like you probably exercise a lot, if you have 2 breakfasts listed for before and after exercising. This isn't a bad thing, just something we need to work around.


My suggestions:

1) Have your 5 meals of the day start with your 2nd breakfast. Therefore, you will be eating 6 times over the course of the day. have the meals not including your pre-workout breakfast stick within the HC/LC guidelines listed within the book, and be at least 1200 calories (240/meal) on a LC day, and 1500 calories (~300/meal) on a high carb day.

2) Consider changing your 6 meals to: preworkout breakfast, post workout breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack 1, snack 2... and add your vitamins in to the meal that you actually take them with. Also, consider putting your goal for the day in your "notes section."

Mine looks like this:
LC 1200-1500 cal
HC 1500-1800 cal, or
Funday up to 2400 (more if earned w/ exercise).

3) Breakfast is ALWAYS a HC meal. This means that there are no "healthy fats" involved. Make sure you get in your protein and a healthy carb... and veggies if you can.

4) if you are exercising a lot (and it looks like you might be), a pre-work out breakfast is not a bad idea. I don't see any reason why you should change what you are doing here... unless you find that you are not getting any results with the other changes you make.

5) Low carb day meals NEVER have a "healthy carb" added to it. Always 1 palm of protein, 1 thumb of fat, and 2 fists of veggies. Yes, I know veggies are actually "carbs," :laugh: but they don't count as a "carb" as Chris describes them.

6) High carb day meals NEVER have a "healthy fat" added to them. So, no cheese, nuts, fat filled salad dressing, etc. Bummer huh?

7) If you have not already, please read my length suggestions on how to start this crazy diet here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813951-so-you-want-to-start-choose-to-lose

and, my theory on the "diet prison" here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/845132-question-on-shakes


And.. if you have any questions just yell!! send me a pm if you need me to look at something too! I'm willing to help....

If you are working out, and need the extra calories, I don't see any reason to change your Pre-workout breakfast.

Technically, the carbs/fat grams you ate was good. However, if you want to follow Chris's eating plan, you need to understand what he calls a Veggie, and what he calls a carb. You will not be able to make the distinction on mfp in the "carb gram" count... so you will just need to learn what is okay on a low carb day, and what isn't.

Now... if you want to follow the plan as written (with the exception of adding a pre-workout breakfast), you will need to eat 5 meals, every 3 hours. They should all be roughly the same size in calorie count. So on a 1500 calorie day, each meal should be around 300 calories. If you eat your pre-workout and post-workout breakfast closer together than 3 hours, I don't see a problem with that.

Yesterday (thursday) was a Low Carb day for you... here are the issues I see.

Lunch: Crispbread is a "carb"... therefore you can't eat it after breakfast on a Low Carb day. Hummus can be considered a flavoring... IF you eat 2 tbsp of it or less with a meal (according to CTL, p 169)... eating more than that, and it would be a carb as well. You only ate 1 cup of veggies (more would be better), and no "healthy fat"

Dinner: looks good.. but missing a healthy fat

Snack: Peanut-flour brownies and a beefstick.... ummm... sounds delish! Without knowing what is in the recipe... I will assume they do not contain any "carbs" as Chris would list them. lots of healthy fat there.... but no veggies.

---

Now.. take what I said with a grain of salt.. because I have not been "on the bandwagon" complely since December. When I was on CTL, and eating like Chris recommended, I lost ~40 pounds in 5 months. Granted, I'm at the beginning of my journey, and you are nearing the end. All I'm trying to say is that I am going back to his phylosophies, because it worked for me... Read the book... either Choose to Lose, or nis new one... they are both really good. take notes, and pay special attention to what he says about how to put together a meal. Once you get the pattern down, it will get much easier... I promise!

-sarah

I'm so sorry I wasn't clear... my kids were talking to me while I was typing. Sorry! :blushing:

Breakfast is always High Carb.

On Low Carb days, the 4 meals after breakfast on low carb days are Low Carb meals.

On High Carb days, all 5 meals are High Carb.


It will take some getting use to. But you will get it!!!


Edited to add. Fruit is a carb. So, for your High Carb meals you can choose a fruit, or a starchy vegetable, or grain as your "fist of carb"... or any combination that you want. Just try to limit your quantity to one fist size serving in total.

Yes, you can have fruit with breakfast... I do every morning.. and usually with my snacks on high carb days too. With my "lunch and dinner" meals, I tend to choose a starchy vegetable or grain over fruit.

Oatmeal is a great breakfast carb! Depending on how much you eat, you could have oatmeal & fruit. I love oatmeal & raisins or fresh strawberries. It's awesome. LOL

If you do eat oatmeal, you will want to figure out how to add some sort of a protein, either to it, or along side. Some people add a scoop or two of their protein shake powder to their oatmeal... with quite good results. You could also eat some greek yogurt along side the oatmeal, or an egg.. these are all great protein options.

The key is a serving of protein at every meal.. this does include breakfast (you'll want to be at around 20g). I'm really really bad at this... I forget to eat protein... and veggies, and fruit, and well, anything that isn't a starchy carb. LOL. That's why this meal plan works so well for me, because it is enough of a structure to remind me what I need to do every day... and enough variety to keep it fun.

You've done great so far! Just keep adjusting things, until you have the correct balance between what chris wants us to do... and what will actually work for us.