How to Create your Personalized Nutrition Plan
In this article, I'll teach you how to create a personalized nutrition plan that aligns with your lifestyle and health and fitness goals.
Why a custom nutrition plan is necessary?
The amount of calories and macronutrients you should consume on a daily basis is dependent on a variety of factors. These include your height, weight, age, and gender, as well as your average activity level and current health and fitness goals.
For example, I hope it makes sense that a 200 lb. male would need to consume more calories than a 100 lb. female to maintain their weight.
This is why there is no diet or nutrition plan available that offers a one-size-fits-all solution. So, how do you go about determining the amount of calories and specific macronutrients that are right for your needs?
Step 1: Determine your current health and fitness goals
The first step in creating your personalized nutrition plan is determining what you are trying to achieve. In terms of body composition, there are only three things that are possible:
Weight maintenance
Gain weight
Lose weight
If you are happy with where you are at, and simply looking to maintain your weight, then there will be no need to adjust your calorie and macronutrient intake accordingly. However, if you are trying to lose weight or gain weight, a general rule of thumb is to adjust your diet by either +500 (gain weight) or -500 (lose weight) calories per day.
The idea behind this rule is that a pound of body weight is roughly equivalent to 3,500 calories. Therefore, if you consume 3,500 calories more than your body needs, you would theoretically gain a pound of body weight, and conversely, if you burn 3,500 calories more than you consume, you would lose a pound.
While this concept provides a basic framework for understanding weight gain or weight loss, it doesn't account for the fact that the body's metabolism is dynamic and can adapt to changes in caloric intake. This is why it's important to remember that your calculated daily caloric intake is ultimately an estimation, and in the end, the scale will need to be your guide.
Step 2: Determine your calorie and macronutrient intake
While I could explain the calculations behind determining your calorie and macronutrient intake, there are plenty of other websites on the internet that will do that for you.
My personal favorite is www.yillex.com and I suggest you give this website a try.
For reference, here are the metrics you will need to plug into the Yillex calculator - weight, height, age, gender, activity level, and goal.
Awesome, you now have your estimated calories, protein, carbs, and fat intake to achieve your goals. The problem is that this is where most people stop. They have their numbers which they plug into a calorie counting app such as MyFitnessPal and do their best to hit their numbers each day.
While this may work for a handful of people, there are some fundamental issues with calorie and macro-tracking.
You can hit your macros and still eat like crap
Calorie and macronutrient tracking is annoying and time-consuming
Rigorous tracking can lead to disordered eating habits.
So, what should we do instead?
Step 3: Putting it all together
Let's use my calculation from Yillex as an example, I am a 33-year-old, 6'1 male who weighs 200 pounds. I also plugged in that I am moderately active and opted for mild weight loss of 0.5 lbs. per week.
Based on that input, Yillex advises:
2704 calories
203 grams of protein
105 grams of fat
237 grams of carbs
Now that we have our values, let's figure out how we should actually divvy up these calories.
Instead of simply dividing your calories and macronutrients by 3, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I've found that my clients have the most success when they manipulate their carbohydrate intake.
"Breakfast like a king, Lunch like a queen, Dinner like a pauper"
What this saying means is that breakfast should be your largest meal of the day while dinner should be your smallest. That said, most individuals eat the complete opposite, in favor of a small breakfast, if any, a moderate lunch, and then a massive dinner right before bed.
From a logical standpoint, doesn't it make sense to consume the majority of calories earlier in the day for when you need energy, instead of at dinner and right before you are about to go to sleep? This change will not only give you more energy throughout the day, but it will also help improve the quality of your sleep.
So, here is my advice. Divide your protein and fat intake evenly between your main meals, this will help ensure you are ingesting enough protein to encourage muscle protein synthesis and preserve or build lean muscle mass after each meal. However, manipulate your carbohydrate intake to eat fewer calories as the day goes on.
40% of my daily carbs will come during breakfast, 30% for lunch, 20% for dinner, and 10% for a snack during the day.
Breakfast: 50 grams Protein, 25 grams Fat, 100 grams Carbs
Lunch: 50 grams Protein, 25 grams Fat, 70 grams Carbs
Snack: 50 grams Protein, 25 grams Fat, 25 grams Carbs
Dinner: 50 grams Protein, 25 grams Fat, 50 grams Carbs
While you don't need to follow this plan exactly, this is an excellent guideline to help you succeed.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me directly at Nastasi.Nutrition@gmail.com.
FAQs
How many calories should I be eating?
The amount of calories you should consume each day depends on various factors, including age, weight, height, activity level, and overall health goals. I suggest using www.yillex.com as a great place to start when determining your daily caloric needs.
What should my macronutrient breakdown look like?
The ideal macronutrient breakdown can vary based on your specific goals, however, the general guidelines are that 45-65% of your total daily calories should come from carbohydrates, 10-35% from protein, and the final 20-35% from fat.
How do I adjust my calories and macronutrients for weight loss?
In most cases, reducing your caloric intake by around 500 calories per day will result in losing approximately 1 lb. of weight per week. That said, it's important to remember that weight loss is a dynamic process and as you continue to lose weight, you will need to further reduce your daily caloric intake.
How do I adjust my calories and macronutrients for building muscle?
Gaining weight would require you to increase your caloric intake by around 500 calories per day. This will result in gaining approximately 1 lb. of weight per week. That said, it's important to remember that weight gain, similar to weight loss, is also a dynamic process and as you continue to gain weight, you will need to further increase your daily caloric intake.
