Meal planning matters - all you need to know (with free meal plans)

Ever wondered how much following a meal plan or calorie tracking would affect your physique and overall strength performance?

Just to put it in one picture:

Quite a bit. In the right picture I was following a regular diet without calculating anything and I was “eating big to get big” you know. Bulking was fairly easy since I was just eating a lot without paying attention to what I actually ate. But the fat gain was fast and muscle gain was minimal. And when I was dieting for fat loss I usually ended up only in a slight deficit which made progress too slow or I was losing weight too fast which led to strength and muscle loss in the process. So after dieting down I had pretty much lost some muscle and not enough fat.

But in the left picture I had a structured approach using meal planning and flexible dieting as combined. This is what gets you the results but it's not much talked about. Most gurus and companies out there just want to sell you their shortcuts and supplements but our bodies just don’t work that way. You just can’t out supplement a bad diet. I don’t think you can get lean efficiently without actually paying attention to your body's needs. Just to put it simple:

When planning and preparing your meals you get to choose which direction your physique goes. And it takes the guesswork out of the equation.

In order to be successful with your meal planning and diet in general you should do the following:

• Calculate estimation of your TDEE
• Calculate Macros (protein, fat and carbs)
• Create a meal plan
• Follow the meal plan
• Track your progress and adjust the meal plan according to your goals

That's pretty much all you need to do.

Calculate TDEE

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the amount of calories your body burns during the day. There are many ways to estimate your TDEE. But at best they are always an initial guess. The fact is that no matter how accurate the estimation is, people with the same body composition and activity level will have different calorie requirements. So in real life you don’t know your true TDEE and it is a moving target. But we can use different ways to estimate that target and adjust our calorie intake according to our progress. Let's take a look how we could estimate our caloric needs. 

At the end of this article you will get links to my example meal plans that will do the job for you so you don’t have to count anything. But it’s good to know the basics on how things work in order to avoid confusion in the future. So please read on.

Use a multiplier 

One of the simplest ways would be to use a multiplier based on your bodyweight. Just multiply your weight by 14-16kcal/lbs if you are moderately active. For 70kg (154lbs) individual this would be:

TDEE = 154lbs*14= 2156kcal

You get maintenance level for most individuals by using a multiplier 14-16kcal/lbs to maintain current weight with moderate activity. Use a multiplier 10-12kcal/lbs to lose weight and 16-18kcal/lbs to gain weight. 

Use the Katch-McArdle formula

This method requires more calculations and estimation of body fat percentage. In order to use Katch-McArdle we first need to calculate our resting metabolic rate BMR and then estimate our TDEE using an activity multiplier.

The Katch-McArdle formula for calculating BMR is:

BMR = 370 +(21.6*l)

l = m(1-f/100)

l = fat free mass

l = weight

 f= body fat %

First we need to calculate your BMR which is Basal Metabolic Rate. This is the amount of calories your body burns at full rest. So for example 70kg (154lbs) individual with 15% body fat BMR would be 

BMR (70kg @ bf15%) = 370 +(21.6*70(1-15/100)) = 1655kcal

Now in order to find TDEE we must multiply the BMR with the activity multiplier:

1.2 = light activity (light exercise/sports 1 to 3 days per week)

1.4 = moderate activity (moderate exercise/sports 3 to 5 days per week)

1.5 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6 to 7 days per week)

Let's assume moderate activity like in the example above

TDEE  (70kg @ bf15%) = 1655*1.4 = 2317kcal

Just for the record the standard activity multipliers are:

1.2 = sedentary (little or no exercise)

1.375 = light activity (light exercise/sports 1 to 3 days per week)

1.55 = moderate activity (moderate exercise/sports 3 to 5 days per week)

1.725 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6 to 7 days per week)

These seem to be way too high for our modern sedentary lifestyle. So I recommend you use the adjusted multipliers. This is what the most online calculators get wrong and you get too high numbers for your maintenance level. Which leads to too high numbers also when calculating calories for cutting.

Both methods presented above give an estimation within 150kcal. This is accurate enough for meal planning. Now that we know our initial TDEE target we can proceed to the next section. Which is calculating proper macronutrients for your meal plan.

There is also a third way to estimate your calorie intake but it's directly linked to macros. So we will discuss it at the end of the next section.

Proper macronutrients

I’m not going to go into scientific details why you should eat the following amount of protein, fats and carbs. But my general recommendation is:

0.8-1.2g/lbs of protein (1.8-2.6g/kg) 

0.35-0.45g/lbs of fat (0.8-1.0g/kg) 

1-3g/lbs of carbs (2.2-6.7g/kg) depending on calorie requirements and targets

This is in line with what most of the exercise & nutrition scientists suggest. For calorie deficit usually the approach would be minimum 1g/lbs protein and minimum 0.35g/lbs fat. When being in a calorie surplus you can decrease your protein intake a bit if needed to about 0.8g/lbs and increase the fat intake if your carb intake gets too high (above 3g/lbs) to reach sufficient calories.

So for our 70kg (154lbs) individual we would set our protein and fat intake to:

Protein 1g/lbs = 154g

Fats 0.35g/lbs = 54g

Carbs need to be calculated from the TDEE target we estimated above. So we subtract the calories we get from protein and fats and use the remaining calories for carbohydrates. For calculating the macros we must know that:

1g of protein has 4kcal

1g of carbohydrates has 4kcal

1g of fat has 9kcal

So in order to calculate how much carbohydrates to include:

Calories left for carbs = TDEE - protein (grams) * 4 - fats (grams) * 9

Macros to maintain

For our 70kg (154lbs) example

Calories left for carbs = 2156kcal - 154g * 4kcal/g - 54* 9kcal/g = 1054kcal

Then we just calculate how many grams of carbohydrates 1054kcal would be by dividing this number by 4.

Carbs (grams) = 1054kcal / 4kcal/g =263g

So our macro targets for maintenance would be 154g protein, 54g of fat, 263g of carbohydrates.

Macros for losing fat

Above we calculated estimation for maintenance calories. Now in order to lose fat or gain muscle we need to make adjustments to the carbohydrate intake. In order to lose fat reduce calories by 20% by reducing carbohydrates.

In our example we had a maintenance level of 2156kcal. Our initial calorie target for fat loss would be 2156kcal * 0.8 = 1725kcal

If we keep our protein and fats the same we will have 

1725kcal - 154g * 4kcal/g - 54* 9kcal/g = 623kcal left for carbs. This equals:

Carbs (grams) =  623kcal / 4kcal/g =156g

So our macro targets for losing fat would be 154g protein, 54g of fat, 156g of carbohydrates.

Macros for muscle gain

In order to gain muscle and some fat at the same time increase calories by 10%. Our initial target for muscle gain in our example would be 

2156kcal * 1.1 = 2372kcal

If we keep our protein and fats the same we will have 

2372kcal - 154g * 4kcal/g - 54* 9kcal/g = 1270kcal left for carbs. This equals:

Carbs (grams) =  1270kcal / 4kcal/g = 318g

So our macro targets for gaining muscle would be 154g protein, 54g of fat, 318g of carbohydrates.

Third way to estimate your TDEE based on macros

You can see a pattern in the above calculations and make a rough estimation that if we keep our protein at 1g/lbs and fat 0.35g/lbs intake at the same level we can assume that:

~1g/lbs of carbohydrates to lose fat

~1.7g/lbs of carbohydrates to maintain

~2.0g/lbs of carbohydrates to gain muscle

So essentially we just adjust the carbohydrate intake as needed and keep our protein and fats the same. Then we just multiply and sum the calories from different macros to get total calories:

Calories from protein = Weight * 1g/lbs * 4 

Calories from fat = Weight * 0.35g/lbs * 9 

Calories from carbs = Weight * 1..2.0g/lbs * 4  depending on your goal

Use the following formulas to calculate total calories for this approach:

Weight *(1.0*4+1.0*4+0.35*9) = Weight * 11kcal/lbs = kcal to lose fat

Weight *(1.7*4+1.0*4+0.35*9) = Weight * 14kcal/lbs = kcal to maintain

Weight *(2.0*4+1.0*4+0.35*9) = Weight * 15kcal/lbs = kcal to gain muscle

For our example 70kg (154lbs) person total calories would be:

Carbs + Protein + Fats = total calories

154 *(1.0*4+1.0*4+0.35*9) = 1717kcal to lose fat (154g carbs, 154g protein, 54g fat)

154*(1.7*4+1.0*4+0.35*9) = 2150kcal to maintain (262gcarbs, 154g protein, 54g fat)

154*(2.0*4+1.0*4+0.35*9) = 2333kcal to gain muscle (308g carbs, 154g protein, 54g fat)

As you can see the numbers for kcal/lbs are pretty much the same as introduced in the first section where I introduced the multiplier: 

-10-12kcal/lbs to lose weight

-14-16kcal/lbs to maintain weight

-16-18kcal/lbs to gain weight

Just to sum up the previous section use a following macro split:

1..2.0g/lbs of carbohydrates depending on your goal

1g/lbs of protein kept as constant

0.35g/lbs of fat kept as constant

Calculating your macros is not fun so I added the macro calculator directly to my meal planner so you can do everything within the same sheet. We will check that out next.

Create a meal plan based on the numbers

I suggest you find your maintenance calories first by creating a meal plan for those numbers. You can start with cutting or bulking of course but I strongly recommend you find your maintenance first and then start to add or reduce the amount of calories in your diet. The reason is that your true maintenance might be on the high or low end of the range and the calories counted for fat loss might be too low or too high for your body's needs. For this purpose I created a meal planning tool that allows you to  make a meal prep for weeks requirements. 

Here is a link to instructions on how to use the meal planner:

https://twoworkouts.blogspot.com/2020/08/cutting-lean-bulk-meal-prep-planner.html

Follow the meal plan

This is where things get serious and also where many will fail. Now you just have to prepare your meals for the week and eat what you planned. This would be the preferred way for beginners to start with. Trying to improvise as you go and log everything to an app is hard for beginners. When you are experienced you can prepare the meals you like and follow a flexible diet approach. 

Track your progress and adjust the meal plan according to your goals

Calculating your calories and following a meal plan is always a trial and error. In order to find out which direction you are moving you’ll have to weigh yourself regularly. I don’t recommend micromanaging your weight and going to the scale every day. Our body weight fluctuates day to day depending on water intake, food, stress, sleep and other factors.

Instead I suggest you weigh yourself once or twice a week. Same weekdays, in the morning, after going to the bathroom and before breakfast. Note there are fluctuations in your bodyweight lets say within 0.5-1kg (1-2bls) between days. So if you have a high number on one day it doesn’t automatically mean you are going in the wrong direction.

• If you are dieting to maintain your weight it is expected to stay within 0.5-1kg (1-2lbs) range.
• When dieting for fat loss you should be losing something in between 0.5-1kg (1-2lbs) a week
• When dieting for muscle gain expect to gain something in between 0.2-0.5kg (0.5-1lbs) a week. 

If you lose or gain more or less than expected adjust the calories up or down by changing the amount of carbohydrates. Make adjustments with 100-200kcal steps by increasing or decreasing carbohydrates in your meal plan by 25-50g. In the following meal plan examples just adjust the amount of rice and spaghetti on your lunch and dinner to get your maintenance level right.

Free meal plan examples

Here are examples of maintenance diets for various weights. I used 1g/lbs of protein, 0.35g/lbs of fat and 14kcal/lbs for TDEE. Make a copy to your own drive to enable editing.

60kg - 130lbs

View:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AbAg_gO0ZHkW1lTcTepf8Dls7Q5WltIxHN5vNYM7moM/edit?usp=sharing

Copy:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AbAg_gO0ZHkW1lTcTepf8Dls7Q5WltIxHN5vNYM7moM/copy?usp=sharing

65kg - 140lbs

View:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_3XAZ8v6XwWEHAJQAZZOa6KEJwe8hT9MpNyRvMM0vkY/edit?usp=sharing

Copy:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_3XAZ8v6XwWEHAJQAZZOa6KEJwe8hT9MpNyRvMM0vkY/copy?usp=sharing

70kg - 150lbs

View:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MxA7hKShbLLKqogchToYwRnhqbCL8OlSXEPicIYcyZM/edit?usp=sharing

Copy:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MxA7hKShbLLKqogchToYwRnhqbCL8OlSXEPicIYcyZM/copy?usp=sharing

75kg - 165lbs

View:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NEMQ__28Chgtn0T-_VG1EoVP5UYVnSoMXIzc70tXI4Q/edit?usp=sharing

Copy:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NEMQ__28Chgtn0T-_VG1EoVP5UYVnSoMXIzc70tXI4Q/copy?usp=sharing

80kg - 175lbs

View:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NoEgaUmnl-ShJtsMRYw7SX0yvtnA_6THSgTR7pu4Z8k/edit?usp=sharing

Copy:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NoEgaUmnl-ShJtsMRYw7SX0yvtnA_6THSgTR7pu4Z8k/copy?usp=sharing

85kg - 190lbs

View:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wDBHIGzW8MsM3iRxsvEebXxU3Su3Vz-BXHWTeEWcPgc/edit?usp=sharing

Copy:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wDBHIGzW8MsM3iRxsvEebXxU3Su3Vz-BXHWTeEWcPgc/copy?usp=sharing

90kg - 200lbs

View:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yon_jj9NPjtPBWeNbkN6X4yEHJqKvglBzAJtSxWfgyc/edit?usp=sharing

Copy:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yon_jj9NPjtPBWeNbkN6X4yEHJqKvglBzAJtSxWfgyc/copy?usp=sharing

What do you think about this approach? 

Write comments below or email twoworkoutsonly@gmail.com

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I did my best to gather all the information between these covers so that you can make the best progress possible. It is a textbook with some math. But you can skip the math part and read the best parts. I don't mind!