So you want a starter diet?
Hi,
You just arrived and want help to plan a diet for your specific goal. As you start getting lost in all the stickies and have no clue what anything means there is an easier way. As I am sure most people will say, including myself, that you should do this manually once to know what the heck you're doing there is something to be said about using newer tools.
NOTE: If you have your bodyfat percentage all this will be much more accurate but it is not essential to just get started.
TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure
This is the total cals you burn in a day based on your activities. If you are trying to lose weight you need to eat less calories than this number. Go to the TDEE Calculator to have your TDEE calculated and write that down.
MEAL PLAN
You have your TDEE but no clue what to eat, do not despair! While the stickies here are amazing you can simply go to The automatic meal planner - Eat This Much and it will generate a food plan for you and all you need to do is go to the grocery store. There are a number of options for generating your menu, Atkins/Keto, Paleo, Mediterranean, Zone, Vegetarian, Vegan, and Custom. What you select is really besides the point as long as you stick to it.
HOW MUCH AM I EATING
Keeping track of what you are eating can be major PITA but luckily there are a number of tools to help us out. If you can afford to get a body tracker like the Fitbit get one Yesterday and use it. To simply make sure you are eating enough or not too much use Myfitnesspal which is a website and also an app for all major Smartphone's. You can find it here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
NICE TO HAVE
Food scale, it will make your life a lot easier.
CRITIQUE
As you get more experienced or you want some more feedback post your diet here and you are guaranteed to get some very valuable feedback.
Have fun!
~T
