How to Create a Meal Plan

The primary goal of a workout and meal plan is to lose fat and build muscles. When creating a meal plan you need to ensure that your body will get all the necessary nutrients it needs. So, it’s important for you to include the right foods in your diet. On the other hand, you need to ensure that your calorie intake, protein intake, fat intake and carb intake is correct. Finally, you have to create your menu. In this blog, we’ll explain to you how to create a meal plan.

Food Variety

Most likely that you’ve heard that your meal plan has to be balanced. So, the question is – what is a balanced meal plan? A balanced meal plan gives your body minerals, vitamins and nutrients that it needs. Fruits and vegetables, fiber rich foods, carbs as well as proteins and fats have to be a part of your meal plan. Also, you should know how many calories and how much protein, fat and carb you need to consume daily.

Calorie Intake, Protein Intake, Fat Intake and Carb Intake

In fact, calorie intake depends a lot on your goals. Let’s assume that you want to lose fat. Normally, you should lose 0.5-2lbs per week. Do you lose weight slowly? If so, you need to reduce your calorie intake by 250 calories. Do you lose weight fast? If so, you need to increase your calorie intake by 250 calories. Now, let’s assume that you would like to gain weight and build muscles. Normally, you should gain 2lbs per month (for men) and 1lbs per month (for women). Do you gain weight slowly? If so, it makes sense for you to increase your calorie intake by 250 calories. However, you’ll need to decrease your calorie intake by 250 calories if you gain weight fast.

Protein intake largely depends on your weight. Make sure that you get 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight daily.

Fat needs to be approximately 25% of your daily calorie intake.

Remaining calories have to come from carbs. That means that your carb intake= calorie intake – protein intake – fat intake.

Workout and Meal Plan: The Best Solutions

An average daily calorie intake for men is 2500 calories per day. If you consume 2500 calories per day, then your daily protein intake = 175 grams, fat intake = 70 gram and carb intake = 295 grams. A meal plan for 2500 calories will consist of 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, 1 dinner and 3 snacks. You should eat 2 protein meals, 1 fruit and 1 grain on breakfast. Then, you can have 1 protein food on the 1-st snack. Afterwards, you should eat 2 protein meals as well as 1 grain, 2 vegetables, leafy greens and 1 fruit on lunch. It’s a great idea to eat 1 protein meal and 1 vegetable (or fruit) on the 2-nd snack. Next, eat 2 protein meals as well as 2 grains, 2 vegetables and leafy greens on dinner. Lastly, you should have 1 fruit on the 3-rd snack.