Here’s how to “dial in” your nutrition and finally get the results you work hard for.
Step 1.
Set Your Nutritional Goals.
You should first and foremost have a daily calorie goal. Then to take things even further you can decide what type of calories you’ll have by choosing your macronutrient goals.
Most average size adults require at least 2000 calories per day (rough estimate based on general activity level) and often even more for athletes, but to figure out YOUR unique calorie needs you can calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), then adjust for your activity level.
Step 2.
Break your calories down to Meal Goals based on how many meals/snacks you like to have per day.
For myself and most of my clients I plan based on 5 meals per day. 3 main meals, 1 smoothie/post workout snack and one snack or dessert.
Divide your total daily calorie goal by the number of meals you wish to have to determine your per meal goals.
For example:
If your daily calorie goal is 2000 and you wish to have 5 meals per day then each meal can be 400 calories, or you can have 3 meals of 500 each, with snacks that are each 250 calories.
However you want to split it up is fine so long as you make sure that the total of all meals and snacks for the day fits within your daily goal.
Step 3.
Plug food into a software that can help you determine the nutritional values.
We have a simple software of our own that works as an excel spreadsheet. https://www.liveleantv.com/meal-planner-software/
Using this software you can determine what “fits” within your goals, and choose foods based on category to fulfill your macronutrient requirements.
Step 4.
Educate yourself on Portion Sizing.
I want you to invest in your health and long-term ability to navigate your nutrition. One of the best things you can do for yourself is enroll in your “phD of Nutrition” and educate yourself on what your portion sizes should look like to match your requirements and goals. Once you’ve gone through the learning experience you can successfully move onto “eye-balling” your portions, but unfortunately many people really screw up their nutrition simply because they aren’t aware of what a portion size looks like of certain foods. A lot of people consistently over-serve themselves, not because they are truly that hungry, but just out of habit. This is a habit that can and should be altered if you want to get and stay lean for life.
One exercise I recommend for you and for all clients is to prepare an entire day’s worth of food and set it all out on your countertop and look at it. Truly see, feel and experience what a day’s worth of well planned nutrition is like. This will likely enlighten you to the fact that eating healthy and on-point is much more food that you might have thought! Many people misunderstand healthy nutrition and think that to lose weight you need to eat very small unsatisfying meals. Eating the live-lean way will NOT leave you hungry. As long as you include plenty of vegetables, proteins, fruits, and healthy fats in your diet you’ll be eating in abundance and loving the process.
That’s it for today. Next week I’ll be talking more in depth about how to figure out your calorie and macronutrient needs. Stay tuned for that.
If you need more help or want to start cooking with our delicious live lean approved recipes that can easily fit into your meal plan become a member at TeamLiveLean.com and get access to weekly meal plans and more! See you inside.
Thanks for reading, and KEEP living lean!
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