- When I think about how to think about a proper diet, I like to remember the fact that not too long ago (just 12000 years at maximum), humans were primarily eating fruit, vegetables, and meat that we hunted or gathered ourselves. Thus, I believe that the vast majority of what you eat should be, or at least be based primarily on, whole foods. I don’t know anything about paleo, keto, or whatever other diets out there, and don’t believe in just subscribing to a templated diet; it’s more important to figure out what works for you. Just always remember that all of these foods with sugar added, or this or that dietary supplement, were invented just in the last 100 years and should be avoided like the plague
- Next, similar to your routine, your diet (i.e., the food you eat, not just the calorie goal) should be the same every day, and you should have a plan of what you are going to eat and when you are going to eat it. This just makes everything related to your diet and overall health A LOT easier to manage and allows you to have an extremely precise view of how much of each macro you’re taking in each day. This needs to be done because when you start doing a consistent exercise regimen, you will have to calibrate your diet over time to match the calorie deficit or surplus you are trying to achieve
- A lot of people ask, “How do you not get bored eating the same thing all the time?”
- Simple: I like what I eat! I’m not eating crappy, cardboard food that I hate swallowing; I’m eating fresh fruits and vegetables, delicious plant-based nutrition bars, shredded chicken sandwiches with pesto, etc. If I were going to make a list of stuff to eat every day for the rest of my life, everything I eat now would be on that list. Also, since I eat so little of each thing each day (more on that later), I don’t get sick of it
- A lot of people also ask, “What if you’re out with friends, or traveling, or whatever, do you still stick to your diet?”
- Of course not! I’m only human, and I’d much rather enjoy my time with friends and while traveling than trying to count every calorie. However, here is why doing so really doesn’t affect me:
- ~90% of the time, I’m strictly on my diet. Trust me, this is about enough time you need to see great results. And it’s also nice, because you really get to savor that other 10% since you eat it so irregularly. Anything more or less, you fall into the trap of not really being on a consistent diet or being way too strict and increasing the likelihood of breaking the diet, respectively
- Also, I purposely plan my travels and time with friends to be pretty active, like doing hiking trips rather than vegetating on the beach. So even if I eat a lot the night before, I am balancing out by burning a bunch of calories by climbing a mountain the next day. So everything evens out in the end!
- Of course not! I’m only human, and I’d much rather enjoy my time with friends and while traveling than trying to count every calorie. However, here is why doing so really doesn’t affect me:
- A lot of people also ask, “Don’t you ever take a cheat meal when you’re in your routine?”
- I think cheat meals are very important, because they help you remember that life isn’t just about the 20 foods you eat every day. However, I highly suggest planning when you will take your cheat meal/s, rather than just taking one whenever it feels right, because otherwise you will find yourself cheating far more often than is ideal. For example, I tell myself that every Saturday night, I am allowed to replace my last 2-3 meals with any cheat meal I want. Sure, my calorie budget for the day might be slightly more than usual, but that’s okay because it’s just one day! And even better is that on Sunday mornings, I do my hardest workout and will likely burn all of that off anyway, so it ends up working out in the end
- I would suggest not taking more than 2 cheat meals a week, and make them your lunch or dinners, rather than a middle meal, so you have the chance to enjoy them with friends if possible
- A lot of people ask, “How do you not get bored eating the same thing all the time?”
- Ok, so now let’s talk about the fun part: How should I actually make my diet? I’ll just list my steps for a good diet below, and you can adjust them for your specific situation as you need to. I’ll also link to my diet’s spreadsheet, and you can mix-and-match from my list, change what you need, or do anything else to make the best diet you can (note that I am lactose intolerant, so none of my foods have dairy)
- 1. You need to set a caloric goal
- While macros are very important, the main factor you are trying to meet is your caloric goal. This will range extremely widely for whatever you are trying to achieve, but basically it’s dependent on a few things:
- Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which is how many calories you lose per day just being alive. There are plenty of calculators online that can estimate this for you with some degree of accuracy
- Calories lost to exercise (CLTE), which can be estimated and tracked through time with many smartwatches
- Desired calorie deficit or surplus (CDOS), which will range from -500–500 calories depending on what you are trying to achieve
- As might be expected, your caloric goal (CG) for what you are going to consume is simply the equation: CG = TDEE + CLTE + CDOS. So if TDEE is 2000, CLTE is 500, and you are going for a surplus CDOS of 200, then your CG is simply 2700 calories. Very simple!
- You probably won’t get the right numbers at the start, and that’s okay! You are just making estimates at the beginning, but as you move forward and see how your body reacts, you can adjust accordingly
- Note that if you follow a strict exercise regimen (which will be talked about in another article), then you will be able to estimate your CLTE much more accurately over time
- While macros are very important, the main factor you are trying to meet is your caloric goal. This will range extremely widely for whatever you are trying to achieve, but basically it’s dependent on a few things:
- 2. Break down your caloric goal into 300-500 calorie increments
- This is probably the main reason why sticking to good diets can be pretty tough; instead of eating 3 big meals a day, instead we are going to eat several small meals/snacks a day, with most being around 300-350 calories, and a few reaching upwards of 500 calories (for example, what you’d normally consider breakfast, lunch, and dinner would fall under this category)
- So if you’re goal is 3000 calories, then likely I’d split it up into 8-10 meals like this:
- 1. 450
- 2. 300
- 3. 350
- 4. 500
- 5. 300
- 6. 350
- 7. 450
- 8. 300
- This is just an example, but it shows you that splitting it up into smaller chunks doesn’t mean that every meal will be the same calorie amount. They probably will fluctuate throughout the day, and it’s something you can play with as you figure out what you like to eat and when you like to eat it
- For comparison, I consume 3700 calories a day, and I have 11 separate meals a day. It sounds like a lot, but when you get used to it, it really doesn’t feel like a lot
- 3. Based on how you broke it down in step 2, split it up so that the time between each meal is roughly the same. Exclude breakfast and anything you may consume while working out. You’re starting point should be as soon as you’re done working out in the morning, to about an hour before you work out in the evening
- This will help your body digest slowly throughout the day rather than trying to cram as much as possible in at one time
- Likely, your increments will be from 1.5-2.5 hours
- You still want to consume stuff while working out, but not in the same way as the rest of the day
- I recommend only something like water and protein powder while working out in the morning, and maybe pre-workout if you need caffeine
- For the evening, I would eat 200 calories for every hour of cardio (rounding down; so 2.5 hours of cardio would be 400 calories), through something with a high percentage of the calories coming from simple carbs
- I don’t recommend eating anything at least an hour before bed. You’ll have a harder time sleeping
- 4. This is the most fun, but also hardest, part: Finding foods that will fit each of these meal segments you set for yourself. While I have general guidelines, this will range quite drastically for what your goals are, what you like, dietary restrictions, etc.
- I would make every meal consist of 2-3 types of food that are different, but complementary, “classes of food.” For example, hard + soft; fruity + nutty; salty + sweet. That way, you can have a variety of things to eat and no one meal feels like you’re eating too much of they same type of food. If you go this way, I would put the food you enjoy more second, so that if you don’t really like the first food as much, you just have to get through it to get to the second one. An example of this for me is eating salted almonds first and then a cup of unsweetened apple sauce second; I like both, but consuming sweet, soft apple sauce is more enjoyable for me than salty, crunchy almonds
- I would think about how I can buy as many things in bulk as possible. While I do highly recommend incorporating fresh fruits, vegetables, meats (if you eat meat), breads, etc., into your diet, it’s MUCH easier to keep it sustainable when most of the things you buy have a long shelf life and can be bought in bulk. That way, you can just buy several weeks worth of food up front, versus with fresh foods, you would need to buy more of it every week and sometimes things are out of stock, which could mess up your entire diet
- As a side benefit, you also have a better idea of how much your diet costs over time since the price of bulk items tend not to change that much
- I would start with thinking about foods that you really enjoy and would eat every day for the rest of your life, if you could. For example, I love apples, so I eat a full apple every day. As long as they are reasonably healthy, those types of foods can be a good starting point
- Feel free to use my food plan as a guide. It’s formatted by chronological order, with each small meal segment in its own color. I have calories, macros, vitamins, and other information (probably far more than you need for the moment) listed for each food, along with their totals at the bottom. I even have prices laid out so you can see exactly how much it costs me per day and per year:
- 1. You need to set a caloric goal
