Met with my nutritionist yesterday. She’s pleased with my long-term progress and thinks I should keep doing what I’m doing for the most part. We recalculated my BMR and protein requirements based on my new weight.

With a weight of 179, my BMR is 1517.

If I apply the Harris Benedict equation (I just love writing that – it sounds so scientific!) for a moderate activity level, I see that I need to eat 2351 calories a day to maintain my current weight.  That assumes I am working out 3-5 times a week at a moderate pace. (I do more than that, but I’ve gotten a little resistant to weight loss after 3 years of losing, so I use the lower formula to be sure I hit my goals.) So I should be losing 2 pounds a week if I keep my calories to under 1400 calories per day.

While that is not very different from what I have been eating, we are going to try changing the balance of carbs to protein to fat. Instead of doing 40% Protein and 35% Fat and 25% Carbs, I’m going to begin increasing my carbs and shift to a 40% Carbs, 30% Protein and 30% Fat ratio. I’ll do this by using more non-meat sources of protein, such as beans and quinoa. That should give me a lot more energy for the increased workouts that I’m doing and help me reduce some of the belly fat that I still have hanging around.

So I need to revisit my meal planning and come up with some sample meals that fit the new criteria. Livestrong.com/myplate is a great tool for that. I just go to an unused day and start adding different foods/amounts and looking at the resulting numbers for the day, including the percentages. Here is a one day menu plan that would work on my new plan:

Meals	Item Name	Calories	Sugars	Carbs	Fats	Protein	Sodium	Dietary Fiber
breakfast	Applesauce  (unsweetened)	6.5	1.4	1.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1
	Oatmeal	40.0	0.3	6.8	0.8	1.8	0.0	1.0
	Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter	52.5	0.3	1.5	4.0	2.0	30.0	0.5
	Whey Matrix Vanilla Protein Powder	65.0	1.5	3.0	1.0	11.0	30.0	0.0
lunch	Avocados	58.8	0.3	2.7	5.5	0.8	3.5	1.8
	Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast	60.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	13.0	20.0	0.0
	Ezekeil Whole Grain	80.0	0.0	15.0	0.5	4.0	75.0	3.0
	Peach, Small	31.0	6.6	7.5	0.2	0.7	0.0	1.2
afternoon snack	Fage 0% Yogurt	60.0	4.5	4.5	0.0	10.0	42.5	0.0
	Blueberries, Raw	42.0	7.5	10.5	0.0	0.5	0.5	2.0
	Honey	18.0	4.8	5.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	Smokehouse Almonds	85.0	0.5	2.5	8.0	3.0	75.0	1.5
dinner	Dove Dark Chocolate Hearts	37.0	3.0	4.0	2.0	0.5	0.0	0.5
	Goya Black Beans	90.0	1.0	19.0	0.5	7.0	460.0	6.0
	Organic Free Range Chicken Broth	2.5	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.3	142.5	0.0
	Quinoa Cooked	127.0	0.0	23.4	2.0	4.5	10.0	2.0
	Shredded Cheddar Cheese	57.0	0.0	0.2	4.7	3.5	88.0	0.0
post-workout	Banana – Small	19.8	4.8	5.0	0.1	0.4	0.4	1.0
	Ice	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	Natural Peanut Butter, Creamy	100.0	0.5	3.0	8.0	3.5	45.0	1.0
	Organic Cocoa Powder	10.0	0.0	0.6	0.5	1.0	0.0	1.0
	Peanut Butter Cookie Protein Powder	132.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	25.0	94.0	0.0
	Skim Milk	55.0	6.0	6.5	1.3	4.0	62.5	0.0
Totals:		1229.1	42.9	123.5	40.5	96.4	1178.9	22.7