Im having a problem getting the 50/30/20 ratio. My EA comes out to 2950 to maintain and Im trying to lose weight. Its very hard for me to eat more than 2000 calories a day so Im doing the portions in between phase 1 & 2 like this Protein:5-7, Dairy:2, Fruit:1, Veggies:2-4, Fat:1, Condiment:1, Snacks:1single, Recovery drink:1protein shake or single, Bar:1protein bar. Ive been logging everything into thedailyplate.com and I keep coming up with not enough protein and too many carbs. Most of my carbs are coming from veggies. Im only drinking water.

Heres a Sample day:

Preworkout: Protein Shake--made with water, 1 scoop whey protein, and 1small banana (1protein, 1fruit)

Breakfast: 2egg whites, 1 whole egg scrambled together with 1/8c reduced fat cheddar, and 2 slices turkey bacon (1.5protein, 1 dairy)

AM Snack: Protein Bar (1 bar, 1protein)

Lunch: Sandwich(1 slice whole wheat bread) 3oz each turkey and ham, 1 slice tomato, a few slices avacodo, and some black olives with a cup of nonfat yogurt (.5carb, 2protein, 1veg, 1fat, 1dairy)

PM Snack: Mini rice cakes (1single)

Dinner: 1/2c whole grain pasta, 1 1/2c steamed broccili and cauliflower, 1/2c cherry tomatoes, 3oz grilled chicken, and 1Tbs fat free Italian dressing (.5carb, 2veg, 1protein, 1condiment)

Totals: 6.5Protein, 2Dairy, 1Fruit, 3veg, 1Fat, 1Carb, 1Condiment, 1Single, 1Bar, 1Shake

Am I doing this right? Do I need to change something? This whole day came out to be around 1900 calories.

Just my opinion.

Mine was doing the same thing yours was doing when I entered my food in. I just said the hell with it and put all of my faith in the Nutrition plan. It has paid off big time. Don't worry about entering all that stuff in somewhere else just follow the plan. As far as eating to much drop it down a phase and see how that goes. ( go into the lower caloric zone). Thats what I had to do, some others on here as well.

just follow the portions and you should be fine. the portion plan is a less exact plan anyways. what i started doing (especially with thedailyplate, aka livestrong.com) is not logging my vegetables. it just didnt seem to add up. my thought is that veggies provide very little, in terms of calories and P/F/C. so i just stopped logging them, and the percentages would come out a lot better.

if you have to, take an extra protein shake if needed to up the protein amount. and keep in mind, the estimated daily calorie requirement from the nutrition guide is for maintenance. if you're trying to lose weight, i'd subtract 500 from that number, which is just around 2000- what you said you're eating anyways....so you should be good.

one last thing, i dont see a recovery drink there, are you taking one?

Thanks for the info guys. Ben that makes sense about not logging the veggies. I am not taking a recovery drink. I workout first thing in the morning and usually have a protein shake with some fruit or just a piece of fruit before and then eat breakfast right after. I havent really had much soreness since the first week. I have been sick for the past week so Ill be starting back up again tommorrow so I may be sore again after that haha.

A recovery drink isn't just for helping with soreness. It's to replenish the energy and your glucose/glycogen stores after exhausting them during a workout. When you burn energy during a workout, you are depleting your glycogen stores. After a workout is when your body is most efficient, so it's the perfect time to give it a nice dose of simple carbs along with some complex carbs and protein. The simple carbs will provide you quick energy to bounce back after a workout.

Wouldnt eating something with protein and carbs do the same thing? If not is there something I can use instead of the p90x recovery drink? I cant afford theirs. I know some people said they use chocolate milk but I cant seem to stomach milk.