Daily Calorie, Protein, Fat, Carb Intake & Sources. Whether you want to lose weight, build muscle or improve any aspect of your body or health, setting up your entire diet plan correctly is an absolute requirement for reaching any of these types of goals. The problem is, between your daily calorie, protein, fat and carb intake and the food sources you’re getting these nutrients from, diet and nutrition tends to be the area people screw up the most. In fact, our diet plan is often the area we barely even care about in the first place. ![]() Looking for boosted energy, mental sharpness, workout efficiency and/or weight control? Adding healthy carbs to your diet (in moderation) could help you. It Doesn't Matter How Many Carbs, Proteins & Fats You Eat. ALL that matters is how many calories you eat. See how many calories you need to eat to lose weight. I hear it all the time. People tell me all about their workout routines and what exercises and muscle groups they train on what days and how much weight they lift for how many sets and reps and blah blah blah, but when I ask them about their diet plan, the answer is usually “it’s okay” or “I think it’s pretty good.”In reality however it’s often terrible, and it’s the #1 reason you’re not losing fat or building muscle or getting the results you want. The truth is, if your diet plan isn’t set up the way it needs to be for your goal to be reached, then your goal WILL NOT be reached. Simple as that. So, how should you eat to support your goal? ![]()
How do you figure out what your daily calorie, protein, fat and carb intake needs to be and what food sources those nutrients should and should not come from? How do you set up your ideal diet plan? Here now is a free guide that contains all of those answers. As you will see, protein, fat and carbs definitely matter as well, but nothing influences your ability to lose weight, gain weight, build muscle or do anything similar as much as calories do. This is because everything we eat and drink (besides obvious calorie- free items like water) contains calories, and everything we do (exercise, getting dressed, breathing, digesting food, etc.) burns calories. The difference between how many calories we consume and how many calories we burn is the most important factor in every diet plan. There is a certain number of calories that your body requires every day in order for it to maintain your current weight. But, technically this is the wrong question. The correct question is probably closer to, “What is the impact of the calories I consume on my body. 10 Step Bodybuilding Diet Action Plan. I'll go over each step in detail, but here are all ten steps at a glance: Need-to-Know Basics. Find out how many grams of carbs you should eat per day to lose weight or build muscle, and see a list of the best carb food sources for your daily diet. We call this your “daily calorie maintenance level.” It’s the amount of calories your body requires each day in order to do EVERYTHING it needs to do. Now, if your diet plan is made up of more, less or the same amount of calories as your maintenance level, 1 of 3 things will always happen. This is a requirement for building muscle. If you eat LESS calories than your maintenance level, you will lose weight. This is a requirement for losing fat. If you eat the SAME amount of calories as your maintenance level, your weight will stay the same. This is a requirement for maintaining your current weight. ![]() And these are really the most important things you need to know about your daily calorie intake and just creating a proper diet plan in general. These 3 simple facts are what most of the population fail to learn, understand, or just pay attention to, and it’s the #1 reason why their body isn’t doing what they want it to do. How do you estimate your maintenance level? The first step in figuring out what your daily calorie intake needs to be is estimating what your maintenance level is. There are quite a few ways to do this, but the easiest is to multiply your current body weight in pounds by 1. Somewhere between those 2 amounts will usually be your maintenance level. Women, people who are less active, or people who think they have a slower metabolism should use the lower end of their range. Men, people who are more active, or people who think they have a faster metabolism should use the higher end of their range. People who are unsure should just pick a number in the middle. Another way to estimate your daily calorie maintenance level is with the calculator below. Just fill it in and click “Calculate!”Calorie Maintenance Calculator. How do you adjust your daily calorie intake for your goal? Now that you have a good estimate of what your maintenance level is, it’s time to adjust it for your specific goal. Just eat your maintenance level amount each day. To ensure your daily calorie intake is indeed what it should be, all you need to do is weigh yourself about once per week first thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything, and monitor if your weight is moving in the right direction at the ideal rate. For losing weight, 1- 2lbs lost per week is usually perfect. For gaining weight or building muscle, 0. So, if that’s happening, you’re perfect. Continue eating this daily calorie intake from that point on. But if it’s not, then you just need to adjust up or down in small 2. Yup, just that simple. ![]() Now that your daily calorie intake is set up, it’s time to set up the protein, fat and carbs that will supply these calories. Daily Protein Intake. The next most important part of your diet plan is your daily protein intake. Because as I explain in my article about the high protein diet, protein is the building block of muscle, it plays a huge role in controlling your hunger and keeping you satisfied, and, if weight loss is your goal, it’s the dietary key to ensuring that the weight you lose is fat and not muscle. These benefits are the reason why protein supplements are so damn popular and you’ll never hear anyone recommend a low protein diet. The question is, what does your daily protein intake need to be to get all of these benefits? ![]() ![]() ![]() What is your ideal daily protein intake? My article about finding your ideal amount of protein per day answers this question in detail, but the quick and simple answer is that most people looking to improve their body should usually be eating between 0. ![]() Most people should use their current body weight when doing this calculation (so a 1. What are the best sources of protein? Some common high quality sources of protein include. There are primarily 4 different types of fat (trans, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated), and each has a significantly different effect on the human body. My article about Good Fats vs Bad Fats explains this in detail. The short version is that trans fat should be avoided completely, saturated fat should typically be limited to no more than 1/3 of your total daily fat intake, and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats should comprise the majority of it. A definite extra emphasis should be placed on getting enough of a specific polyunsaturated fatty acid. My article about Omega- 3 Fish Oil Supplements explains why it’s so important. What is your ideal daily fat intake? In most cases, somewhere between 2. So, just figure out what 2. I’ll show you a full example of how to do this in a minute. What are the best sources of fat? Some common high quality sources of fat include. The reason we left carbs for last is because out of the 3 macronutrients that supply our daily calories (protein, fat and carbs), carbs are the least important. As my article about how many grams of carbs you should eat per day explains, carbs are extremely useful and a sufficient amount should definitely be eaten. However, protein and fat are the only macronutrients that are truly essential to the human body and MUST be present in our diet plan in order to live and function. Carbs aren’t, although we definitely live and function much better when we eat them. Here’s why this is important. That might sound confusing, but it’s not. Remember the daily calorie intake you calculated before? Subtract calories from protein and calories from fat from that amount. Whatever amount of calories are still left over, those calories will come from carbs. Here’s a step- by- step example. Since 1 gram of protein contains 4 calories, that means 6. Next, since 2. 5% of your calories should come from fat, this example person can calculate that 5. To figure out how many grams of fat that would be, they’d just divide 5. So that’s 6. 00 calories from protein plus 5. Now they’d just subtract 1. Since 1 gram of carbs contains 4 calories, this example person can see that they should eat 2. You’d just repeat this same process using your actual daily calorie, protein, fat and carb intake instead of the example amounts I just used. What are the best sources of carbs? Some common high quality sources of carbs include? Well, I can explain all of those answers in just 3 simple words: it doesn’t matter. Everything you’ve heard about a certain type of diet organization being beneficial for losing weight or building muscle is either a lie, a myth, or complete crap. My articles about why eating 5- 6 small meals per day is BS and why eating after 7 pm at night is fine explain why. So, the real answer to every question you have about how to best put your diet plan together is this. Whatever is most likely to cause you to consistently get the important stuff right. The articles I’ve linked to throughout this guide will help provide a few extra details as well. Now, it’s possible you may still have questions about creating your ideal diet (or workout) or just need help putting it all together in the way that is going to be PERFECT for you and your exact goal. Well, after 1. 0 years of people asking me for it, I’ve finally created the solution. It’s called The Ultimate Fat Loss & Muscle Building Guide, and in it I provide every additional answer, detail and fact you will ever need to get the best results as fast as possible. It contains the proven sample diet plans (and workouts) that I’ve used to help countless men and women completely transform their bodies. Ready to do the same? Then go here to learn all about it: The Ultimate Fat Loss & Muscle Building Guide. Simple vs Complex, High vs Low Glycemic, Good vs Bad. Aside from misinformed and/or dumb people spreading myths about your daily carb intake, I think the main reason carbs confuse people so much is because there are so many different ways to describe and categorize them. For example. Not to mention, that large spike in blood sugar will result in a crash soon after, and that crash signals hunger and food cravings. So, as you can clearly see here for many obvious reasons: Simple carbs should typically be greatly limited/avoided. Complex carbs should comprise the majority of your daily carb intake. HOWEVER. The classification of “simple” and “complex” doesn’t tell the whole story. It turns out that certain foods that technically fit the “complex carb” label can actually end up causing a rapid spike in blood sugar levels. Similarly, there are some foods fitting the “simple carb” label that really don’t have much of an effect on blood sugar at all. Confusing, right? Well, to un- confuse this whole carb situation, a little something called the Glycemic Index was created. The Glycemic Index: High GI vs Low GIThe glycemic index classifies carbs based on how quickly and how high they raise blood sugar levels when compared to pure glucose (sugar), although white bread is now used as the reference food in its place. And despite the fact that the glycemic index was originally created for diabetics as a way of figuring out which foods would be best for them, it quickly became used by bodybuilders, athletes, and regular people who just want to look good and be healthy. Why? Because the glycemic index allows us to maintain steady blood glucose levels throughout the day by choosing the right types of high carb foods. This of course is useful for many reasons, the most important of which are controlling hunger, maintaining energy levels, improving the way our bodies look/perform and preventing a variety of health/medical issues associated with frequent and sustained spikes in blood sugar levels (like type 2 diabetes and heart disease). How exactly? Quite simply: A carbohydrate with a high glycemic index (high GI) breaks down quickly during digestion and therefore releases glucose into the bloodstream rapidly. Some common foods with a high GI rating include white bread, white rice, corn flakes, crackers and most sugary and/or highly processed snack foods. A carbohydrate with a low glycemic index (low GI) breaks down more slowly therefore causing a much slower and more gradual release of glucose into the bloodstream. Some common foods with a low GI rating include most fruits, vegetables, and beans. What this all loosely translates into in plain English is: High glycemic foods typically = bad for a variety of reasons. Low glycemic foods typically = good for a variety of reasons. HOWEVER. For this reason, a measure called Glycemic Load was created to account for the amount of carbs present in a serving of a food and help counter this flaw. Even still, another big issue the glycemic index has is that it only measures foods when eaten in isolation. You know, like if you sat down for a meal that contained nothing but white bread or nothing but corn flakes. The problem here is that people just aren’t always eating these high carb foods in isolation, and that changes things dramatically. For example, there’s usually something on that bread (turkey, cheese, chicken, etc.), and milk with those corn flakes. As it turns out, protein, fat and various other nutrients contained in the other foods being eaten at the same time can greatly affect the true glycemic index of a high carb food and the overall digestion/absorption of the meal that food is a part of. Still, despite not being perfect, the glycemic index is a useful tool for helping us to figure out which high carb foods, in general, are best (and healthiest) for us. For most of the people, most of the time, low (or possibly moderate) glycemic foods should be your carb of choice. High glycemic foods should be limited to some degree. Also worth noting now is that if there is one true exception to the above recommendation, it’s your post workout meal (the meal immediately following your workout). While complex/low glycemic foods should comprise the majority of your carb intake, your post workout meal is the one time of the day when simple/high glycemic foods may actually be the better choice. The first is “nope, not really“ and the second is “yes it does.”Let me explain. Both of you worked out the same way and ate the same number of calories each day as well as the same amount of protein and fat (all from identical sources, too). Now let’s say the only difference between the 2 diets was that one of you ate mostly low glycemic foods, and the other ate mostly high glycemic foods. A lot of carb- obsessed people like to think that the version of you who ate the so called “bad carbs” would end up gaining more fat and/or building less muscle than the version of you who ate mostly “good carbs.”Truth is, research shows that with all else being equal, there is little to no DIRECT significant difference in terms of fat gained/lost or muscle gained/lost. Now, this is definitely NOT me saying that “bad” carbs are good and should be eaten all the time. I’m NOT saying that at all and do NOT recommend that you do. What I am saying though is that, in terms of body composition with all else being equal, there is no need to kill yourself with guilt or obsess like a crazy person if you enjoy eating white potatoes or white bread or some other similar food not typically considered a “good” carb every once in a while. Hell, I eat a white potato on an almost daily basis. Truth is, as long as the rest of your diet is what it’s supposed to be (most importantly your total daily calorie intake), the type of carbs you eat won’t magically cause you to gain fat. Nor will it cause you to magically lose muscle or just build less of it. Speaking strictly in terms of the direct effect different types of carbs will have on your body’s ability to lose and gain fat, or gain and lose muscle. High glycemic or low glycemic. It just doesn’t matter. HOWEVER. They cause you to eat more, and eating more is what will cause your body to change in ways you do not want it to. Plus, body composition aside. Diets high in “bad” carbs have been shown to cause a variety of health/medical issues, while diets high in “good” carbs have been shown to help prevent those very same issues. Putting All Of This Carb Stuff Together. So, here’s what it all comes down to. Simple carbs vs complex carbs and high glycemic foods vs low glycemic foods doesn’t appear to make any real direct significant difference in terms of fat gain, fat loss, building muscle, etc. Check out the entire guide here: The Best Diet Plan).
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