Meal Plan For Weight loss: Step-by-Step guide

Have you ever wanted to meet with a nutritionist and figure out a customized meal plan for weight loss? If so, here are 8 steps you can take to start building your customized meal plan for weight loss on your own.  By incorporating your weight loss goal, BMR, activity level, and macronutrient breakdown you will have the foundation of creating your meal plan in no time. Take out your calculator and lets get started.



1. Set a weight loss goal, and figure out how many weeks it will take you to lose that weight: Realize, that you can safely lose only 1% body fat per week in order to preserve muscle mass.

• Current weight  x 0.01 = How much weight you can safely lose per week. 
• (How many pounds you want to lose / How much weight you can safely lose per week) = How many weeks it will take you to lose weight

2. Measure your basal metabolic rate (BMR): Which is the minimum amount of calories your body needs to function at rest based on your age, height, weight and gender.

• http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/  

3. Determine how much calories you need in a day based on your activity level: This will help you find out how much your body needs to keep up with your exercise routine.

• Consider the following activity factors based on your activity level.
  

  Sedentary	Exercise  1-3x/wk	Exercise  3-5x/wk	Exercise  6-7x/wk	Athlete/Physically demanding job
  1.2	1.375	1.55	1.725	1.9

• BMR x Activity Factor = Total Calories per Day 

4. Determine your caloric deficit: It is estimated that 1lb of fat is 3500 calories. If we divide that by seven days, that will mean there needs to be at least a 500 calorie deficit per day to evoke the body to use stored fat as an energy source.

• Total Calories per Day - 500cal = Total calories per day to evoke a caloric deficit. 

5. Determine your macronutrient breakdown: Macronutrients are energy providing consumed substances like protein, fat, and carbohydrates.

• Consider the following minimum requirement of grams of protein per lb of body weight a day
  

  Sedentary	Average Healthy Adult	Females: Drop fat, and get toned.	Males: Drop fat and maintain muscle.
  0.50-0.70	0.8-1.0	1.0-1.2	1.0-1.5

• (Your current weight x Grams of protein per lb of body weight ) = Total grams of protein needed per day

• Consider the following minimum requirement of grams of fat per lb of body weight a day

  Minimum Requirement	More Reasonable	More Sustainable
  0.25-0.30	0.30-0.40	0.40-0.45

  
  
• (Your current weight x Grams of fat per lb of body weight ) = Total grams of fat needed per day

• Total grams of protein needed per day x 4 = Total calories of protein a day
• Total grams of fat needed per day x 9 = Total calories of fat a day
• Total calories per day to evoke a caloric deficit - (Total calories of protein a day + Total calories of fat a day) = Total calories of carbs a day
• Total calories of carbs a day / 4 = Total grams of carb needed per day

6. Decide how many times a day you want to eat, and find out how many grams of each macro you should eat per meal: It is recommended to eat at least 5 times a day

• Total grams of protein needed per day / 5 Meals = How many grams of protein per meal
• Total grams of fat needed per day / 5 Meals = How many grams of fat per meal 
• Total grams of carb needed per day / 5 Meals = How many grams of carbs per meal 

7.  Translate grams into mainstream metrics (oz, tsp, cups):

• Consider the following general rule of thumb in Part A in mind, figure out Part B.

  Part A:
  Protein	Fat	Carbs
  4 oz of lean chicken breast = 25g of protein	1tsp of olive oil = 4 g of fat	1/2cup of cooked white rice = 25gm of carbs
  Part B:
  (Grams of Protein per meal a day/ 25g ) x 4 = How many oz of protein per meal	(Grams of Fat per meal a day/ 4g) = How many tsp of fat per meal	(Grams of Carbs per meal a day/ 25g ) x 0.5 = How many cups of carb per meal

8.  Plan your meals: For each meal write what you will have for each macronutrient (Protein, Fat, Carbs), and the amount (oz, tsp, cups), according to what you determined on step 7 of Part B.

• 	7- Breakfast	10- Snack	1- Lunch	4- Snack	7- Dinner
  	Meal #1	Meal #2	Meal #3	Meal #4	Meal #5
  Monday
  Tuesday
  Wednesday
  Thursday
  Friday
  Saturday
  Sunday

What are some of your go to meal plans for weight loss?

Photo source: VeryWellFit

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