Creating a Meal Plan

In order to create a meal plan, you must first ask yourself what your health goals are in general. Are you looking to gain weight and put on muscle? Are you looking to simply lose weight and get toned? Maybe you are looking to do a little bit of both. Whichever of these goals you have chosen for yourself will greatly impact the type of meal plan that works for you.

If you are looking to lose weight then the name of the game is simply taking in less calories than you exert each day while trying to avoid saturated fats and simple carbs as much as possible. If you read the first section on calorie input and output then you may have gotten the chance to use the calorie calculator we had linked. My best advice for losing weight is to choose an amount of calories that you can sustain for an extended period of time while also giving your body enough energy to function properly. I know it may be tempting to jump into hardcore water fasts or 1,000 calorie diets to shred weight, but from my experience it is very hard to keep that type of weight off and you have not created a diet that you can maintain for the long run. Also, you will find yourself losing focus and lacking the energy that you need every day. Below we have added an example of a meal plan that may help you lose weight depending on what your daily calorie output is. I tend to stick to around a 1,500-1,800-calorie diet when trying to lose weight as a 5’9, 190 lb. male. I have found that this amount of calories along with exercise allows me to drop weight rather quickly while also maintaining decent energy levels throughout the day

Weight loss plan 1

Breakfast- double serving of plain oats and single serving of peanut butter (380 calories)

This breakfast provides slow release carbs that can give you energy for the day as well as protein and fiber to help with digestion.

Lunch- Turkey Sandwich on whole wheat bread with cheese lettuce tomato and mustard (340 calories)

The whole wheat bread provides more energy in the form of healthy complex carbs while also providing protein in your turkey and cheese.

Afternoon snack- Banana and apple (200 calories)

Eating some fruit in the afternoon is a low calorie way to suppress appetite while also providing healthy carbs and nutrients to your body

Dinner- 1 Chicken breast air fried with a serving of rice and broccoli served with a low calorie sauce and seasonings switched up daily for flavor. (600 calories)

This meal plan clocks in at only 1,520 calories when measured precisely while allowing you to eat 4 different times throughout the day. Another thing I love about this diet is the energy provided throughout the day by the healthy carbs in my morning oats. The other great thing about this meal plan for me is that with the addition of my protein shake with fat free milk and isolate protein it can be an amazing way to lose weight and gain muscle when timed well with weight training. With the addition of a protein shake this gives us about 120 grams of protein with only about 1,800 calories of food intake.

If you are looking to do some body recomposition by losing fat and gaining muscle it can be a bit difficult but I have been able to achieve this pretty successfully. The key to losing weight while gaining muscle is all about the timing of your diet and exercise. When your body is in a caloric deficit it is eating away at both fat and muscle in order to give itself the calories it needs to perform your everyday tasks. Because of this we end up losing weight but it makes it harder to put on muscle in the process. In order to accomplish both of these things we must understand how our body uses the nutrients we give it under different circumstances. If we eat most of our protein before lifting weights and exercising it will simply use it for needed energy while we are in a caloric deficit. However, if we eat our protein between 45 and 90 minutes after our workouts in a higher calorie meal, our body will be more likely to use that protein towards building and repairing our muscle tissues we just tore in our workout. It will then hopefully use more fats to burn for energy while it repairs this muscle tissue. For this reason you can use the same meal plan example above with the added protein shake with your after workout dinner in order to lose weight and put on muscle simultaneously.

The last weight goal we will go over is gaining weight and adding muscle. To put on weight, we must be in a caloric surplus everyday meaning that we are taking in more calories than we are using each day. If your body type and lifestyle allows you to burn 2,500 calories a day for example a good goal to start gaining muscle weight is to eat 3,300 calories with a high protein diet. Remember that for every excess of 3,000 calories taken in you should gain about one pound so use that as a rule of thumb when planning your weight gaining goal. Below we have added a meal plan example that is great for gaining muscle mass and putting on weight in general.

Breakfast- 4 eggs, 1 serving of turkey bacon, 2 protein pancakes (800 calories)

I chose these foods because they are all great sources of protein and also add a lot of calories to your daily diet while being something you can enjoy and most likely finish every day. In just these items you are adding about 65 grams of protein to your diet.

Lunch- High Protein Chicken salad with spinach, full chicken breast, a sweet potato, sauteed brussel sprouts, blue cheese and any dressing you would like. (around 600 calories and 48 grams of protein)

Afternoon snack- Banana, apple, protein bar (400 calories 21 grams of protein)

Dinner- 1.5 air fried chicken breasts, full packet of cheddar broccoli rice, protein shake to drink (1,370 calories and 80 grams of protein)

With this exact diet you will be taking in 3,170 calories along with 214 grams of protein as well as some complex carbs that will provide you with energy to get you through the day. The awesome thing about gaining weight and adding muscle mass is that you don’t have to be as disciplined with what you eat and you have a lot more flexibility when it comes to switching up your diet. Just remember to keep some complex carbs for energy and focus and stay high in protein in order to keep building that muscle mass. This meal plan may be on the more extreme side when it comes to protein intake but it all depends on your body weight.

So now you hopefully have a great idea of what kind of foods and calories you should be taking in to meet your physical goals. Remember to be very precise with your measurements and be sure to read the serving sizes and calories on each of your foods when dieting. It is very easy to over do it especially with food like chicken where one chicken breast may only be 250 calories and one may be 500 calories. Get a food scale if you must and stick with your plan. Another thing I have yet to mention is that it is okay to have a nice meal here and there that you just enjoy even if it is not the healthiest. Treat yourself once in a while for your hard work and you can still stay within your daily calories even with a cheat meal as long as you sacrifice somewhere else. I also recommend getting a cheap scale that has a body fat reader built in. You can get these on amazon for as low as $20 and it can help you understand exactly what is happening to your body every day. Remember that weight goals are not accomplished overnight but rather by creating a diet and exercise plan that you can look forward to, be persistent you got this!