Help a newbie plan his meals?

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Triplesget
Triplesget Posts: 66
in Health and Weight Loss
So, I'm currently running a plan of 40/40/20 with 2400 calories and I hopeless at planning meals around it. I'm very new to this and could use all of the help I can get. :) So if anyone has tips that can help me fill my goals then that will be perfect.

I did post earlier about a problem with finding calories, but now I've realized that I'm completely out of my element. Any kind of help is appreciated!

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  • sheedy17
    sheedy17 Posts: 128
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    I try to eat 2-3 fruit servings a day
    I try to eat alot of protein, Milk2Go with Protein its new and I drink 2 a day, it works great
    Chicken wraps with peppers tazekee sauce,, lettuce, hot peppers. terrible speller
    Whole Wheat sandwiches with mustard and lean turkey , sometimes throw some cucumber on it

    Usually I will eat a high protein cereal in the morning, try to have a milk or protein shake as a snack with a banana, lunch I have been having high protein servings lately, chicken and buffalo dip, and I try to have yogurt and another fruit or nuts as a snack and usually for supper ill have homemade chicken wraps, with whole wheat pita and the stuff listed aside

    Usually mix in veggies and a protein for supper once and awhile, I try not to eat anything frozen besides vegetables,

    I find Cereal, protein and side or salad and then chicken wrap for supper with whey protein shakes for snacks with fruit or milk and nuts, and then a sandwich or wrap for dinner


    I find eating the same things over and over really helps me, I try to eat 1 bread only a day but lately I have been eating 2.
  • wamydia
    wamydia Posts: 259 Member
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    When I first started, I used an excel spreadsheet to plan out my meals for the week. I was only tracking calories and not macros, so I would think of meal ideas for the week and then look up each item in the meal/ recipe in the database for calories amounts. Then I would enter them in a section of the spreadhseet "like Monday breakfast" with the amount I was going to eat and how many calories it would be. Then at the bottom of the calories column, I would have a formula for the total number of calories for that day. After I had entered my idea about food for the day, it would usually be over goal so then I would sit and tweak it and make changes until I felt like I was getting enough food for the calories I wanted to use that day. I would have an entire spreadsheet for all of my meals and snacks for the week so that I could plan ahead. That way I knew as long as I stuck to my plan, I would hit my calorie goal. It would be easy to add a few extra columns for your macros totals and just do the same thing. For each food item you are thinking of eating, look it up in the database and enter the grams of fat, protein, etc and then get a total at the bottom for each day. You could also have excel do a calcluation of the percent of your daily calories would be going to each macro. If you aren't familiar with excel it may be a little hard to do this, but maybe you know someone who is good with the program who could help you set it up. Alternately, you can do the same thing on paper and just do the calculations by hand. It would just take longer.
  • Triplesget
    Triplesget Posts: 66
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    Well, I've got the recording and planning part down fine, I just don't know what to eat to reach my goals.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I always try to figure my protein out first, since that's what I have the hardest time hitting. Your goal would have you at what? 240 grams of protein, right? That seems like a lot to me, but I'm sure you know why you picked your goals.

    To get that much protein you're going to need a lot of lean sources of protein. Chicken, fish and seafood, eggs and egg whites, beef, Greek yogurt, protein shakes, cheese, etc. Personally, I would start by planning out your protein sources and then fill in your other macros from there.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
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    My philosophy is that the only macro that really matters is protein. after i get to work, i log what i had for breakfast, what i brought for lunch, and what i plan on having for dinner... all typically major protein sources.

    if i still have to eat more protein i'll make sure i add those in, usually a powder of beef jerky.

    After that, i eat whatever i want and just make sure i don't exceed my calories.

    protein is the only macro you body can use for something other then energy... so for that reason i want to get enough. carbs are only really energy (or stored energy as fat). since i'm usually in a defecit anyway, i don't really care what percentage of either i'm eating, and it will often work out that they are pretty closely split between the two.

    i used to very carefully and plod through the tedium of making sure i din't go over in carbs and fat and made sure i had enough of each. drove me ****in nuts

    rather then picking a food that fits the numbers, i eat what i like and i'm still eating fairly healthy. just much easier and sustainable IMO
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
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    240 g of protein sounds like a lot.

    you want to shoot for 1 g of protien per lbs of lean body mass.

    eating significantly more protein then your body needs, over a long period, can be bad for your kidneys
  • Triplesget
    Triplesget Posts: 66
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    Bumping for more help.

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