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high_jinx, there are a variety of programs out there to find out your caloric intake, but even if you are consuming 1000 calories via eating Taco Bell, you're only consuming about 1600 calories a day, meaning the majority of your calorie intake for the day is coming from calorie-dense, high fat food, and that isn't good for you.
When I first started changing my ways nutritionally, I gave myself Saturdays off, and sometimes still do.
Ideally, only one of your meals should be a meal replacement like a smoothie or protein bar.
Breakfast:
whole grain
fruit
dairy
(or meal replacement)
Lunch:
whole grain
vegetable (2 or more servings)
protein
(or meal replacement)
Snack:
Whole grain
and/or
fruit/vegetable
Dinner:
Protein
Vegetables (2x)
My "ideal" day--something I still struggle to hit, though usually these days it's because I'm too busy to eat:
Breakfast:
3/4 cup Optimum Slim cereal OR English muffin with peanut butter OR whole wheat toast OR 1 serving Nature's Path Optimum Power oatmeal
1/2 cup milk
orange juice or 1 piece of fruit
coffee
Lunch:
Loaded with veggies turkey sandwich on whole wheat with mustard AND/OR vegetable soup AND/OR salad loaded with extra veggies AND/OR a slice of pizza (wheat with veggies). These options are all available from local eateries, as well.
Snack:
either a Clif Bar or a Jamba Juice Protein Workout smoothie if I'm on the run, otherwise whole-wheat crackers and a banana or berries, sometimes a yogurt
Dinner:
Anything from the lunch list OR a Lean Cuisine OR whatever vegetarian dish my SO has come up with (usually whole-grains-vegetable oriented)
Another point: By only eating protein in the morning you're not doing your system any good. Your blood sugar is low in the morning, which means that there is no glucose for your cells to use to fuel themselves, and they have to start using their reserve: glycogen from the liver. You do need to eat some kind of carbohydrate.
I should write a diet book...the title would be "Eat More Fiber and Move Your Ass"...really, that's all it takes.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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