I keep hearing, "I eat healthy" and then people rattle off the foods that they eat. The question that is more important is, how much do you eat every day? I don't care if you only eat chicken, broccoli and oats for 9 meals a day, every single meal, if you are 150 lbs and you are eating 4000 calories you will get fat. If you are 250lbs and you are eating 1500 calories you will lose muscle.
Four step easy process.
1. How much do you want to eat every day?
2. How many meals are you going to eat?
3. What percent of protein, carbohydrates and fats do you want to eat?
4. What kind of foods am I gonna eat?
The first three are the most important and they are often overlooked. Here are the first 3 in easy steps! This is meant to be a stripped down, easy version for starting a plan.
1. How much do want to eat every day?
You need to calculate the most important number in your diet. It is the number of calories you need to eat every day to keep your weight the same or your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. How can you plan anything without this number? If you are cutting you want to eat 400 calories less than your TDEE. If you are bulking you want to eat 400 calories more than your TDEE. The goal is to gain/lose no more than 2lbs a week. Keep in mind that this number is a starting point that may need to be adjusted up or down 400 calories after testing it for 4 weeks.
Calculate your Basil Metabolic Rate and then use the activity multiplier to come up with your Total Daily Energy Expenditure.
BMR calculator.
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
Then take the number that it gives you and plug it into the activity multiplier.
http://www.bestdallaspersonaltrainer...alculator.html
Take that number and add or subtract 400 depending whether you are cutting or bulking. You now have a daily target for calories.
2. How many meals are you going to eat?
You need to eat about every 3 hours. This will accelerate your metabolism. 5-7 meals a day is fine. Divide your target calories for the day by the numbers of meals. Eat the same amount of food every meal. Now you have a target calorie goal for each meal.
3. What percent of protein carbohydrates and fats do you want to eat?
You will have to decide this for yourself. My recommendation is to start with 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates and 20% fat. These numbers have worked very well for many people. This makes my life easier because I just know that I need to eat the same amount of protein and carbohydrates every meal. Take the target calorie goal for each meal and multiply it by the percent for each macros. It is 4 calories per gram of protein and carbohydrate and 9 calories per gram of fat. Now you should have a target amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats for every meal.
4. What kind of foods am I gonna eat?
This is up to you. Take one lean protein, one low glycemic carbohydrate, a healthy fat (essential fatty acid/EFA) and a fibrous vegetable. Eat the correct amounts and you are good to go!
Any diet plan where you don't know your how much calories you want to eat, or a diet plan where the calories are lumped up and erratic is pretty much useless, even if you are only eating "healthy" foods. Two sites I recommend for looking up nutrition facts is fitday.com and calorieking.com. Happy dieting!
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Originally Posted by FallenWyvern
That being said, you should continue writing mate... Make this a series for dieters.
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