Typical Meal Plan

Here's the typical meal plan Kate requested. I try to do the five meals a day of about 300 calories each, but it seems I always go over a little and also use my homemade recovery drink, so I end up around 1,600 total calories. I am starting to wonder if that's too high, because unlike my first round, I'm now working a desk job full-time and am fairly sedentary outside Insanity. I am trying to vary my daily calories a little so my body doesn't get used to a certain amount, so some days I go a little lower and some days I eat more of a maintenance level (1,800+) and have a glass of red wine or some dark chocolate.

I'm on my final week of the first month, and the scale hasn't budged since week 2 although my pants are looser. I'm going to drop my calories down during the recovery week (but more on that later, as I have a pretty weird plan for month 2). Here are two example days; note that I usually do 400 calories for dinner (number four) and 200 for number five, and I adjust the ingredient amounts to equal the target calorie amount.

FIRST: Recovery drink, Ezekiel cereal with 1/2 cup skim milk and blueberries, coffee with milk. (7:30 am)

SECOND: Tuna salad with light cheese, lettuce, and tomato on a whole wheat sandwich thin, mandarin orange (10:30 am)

THIRD: Muscle Milk Light blended with a banana and a spoonful of wheat germ (2 pm)

FOURTH: Chipotle black bean, sweet potato, spinach, and sunflower seed burrito with light cheese and salsa on a whole wheat tortilla, small garden salad (5 pm)

FIFTH: Small bowl of oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter (sweetened with Truvia). (7:30 pm)

Another day:

FIRST: Muscle Milk Light blended with 1 cup of mixed frozen fruit, coffee with skim milk, recovery drink.

SECOND: Amy's frozen meal with cheese enchilada, black beans, and rice/vegetables.

THIRD: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich on light bread with low-sugar jam, baby carrots

FOURTH: One cup whole wheat pasta with homemade meat sauce and parmesan, cucumber slices

FIFTH: Almonds or scoop of almond butter, apple