How to make a diet adapted to your goals

We've gathered the really essential information to build a diet from scratch, for you and your goals.

Do you want to gain muscle mass?

Read this guide.

Do you want to lose fat?

Read this guide.

We have summarized as much as possible all the information you need to be successful in creating a diet, and we have left only the essentials.

Calories

First of all, let's calculate how many calories we need in our diet.

To do this, we will use the Harris-Benedict equation, which is a simple formula to calculate the approximate number of calories you need.

Enter the data below to find out how many calories you need for your diet.

Depending on your goal, the number of calories you need is different.

If you want to gain muscle mass, you need more calories than if you want to lose weight.

Macronutrients

Now that you know how many calories you need, it's time to move on to the second part, which is, where do these calories come from? How are you going to achieve them?

Let's start with proteins.

Use between 2g and 2.5g maximum of protein per kilo of body weight.

In other words, if you weigh 80kg, you use 160g of protein in the case of 2g per kilo of body weight.

Next, we move on to fats.

Fats should make up around 20 to 25% of your daily calories.

Therefore, in a 3000kcal diet, 20% corresponds to 600kcal, that is, 66g of fat.

What about carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are responsible for filling the remaining calories in your eating plan.

All the calories that are left to reach your daily caloric value, after calculating proteins and fats, must be filled with carbohydrates.

As you can see, it is very simple to know the amounts you need of each macronutrient, whether your goal is to gain muscle mass or lose fat.

As you reduce calories when your goal is to lose weight, carbohydrates suffer the most reduction, while, for example, proteins are little affected.

When you are looking to gain muscle mass, you significantly increase carbohydrates, and consequently calories.

Foods

Now that you know how many calories you need, and how to use macronutrients to fill them, let's move on to the best foods you can use in your diet.

• Protein
• Eggs*
• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• Red meat*
• Salmon*
• Tuna Cans
• Low-fat Fresh Cheese

• Carbohydrates
• Sweet potato
• Oat
• Brown Rice / Rice
• Wholemeal Pasta / Pasta
• Whole grain bread

• Fats
• Oil
• Peanut butter
• Dry fruits

Are these the only foods you should consume? 

No.

But they should be the ones that are most present in your diet.

Don't forget to also include vegetables such as broccoli, as although they are weak in terms of macronutrients, they are excellent sources of micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals.

*These are also valid sources of fats, hence the number of foods in fats is reduced.

When to eat

You already know the calories, the amount of macronutrients and the foods to use.

Your next question should be something like…so, when should I eat my meals?

Do you need to eat every two hours?

No.

There are two really important times to eat, pre- and post-workout.

Apart from these two moments, the ideal would be to divide your meals in the way that is most convenient for you, be it 3, 4, 5 or 6 meals a day.

The important thing will always be to reach the number of calories you need, as well as the amount of macronutrients you calculated to reach those same calories.

The ideal, in order of importance, will be something like:

• After training
• Pre workout
• Before bedtime
• Breakfast

The rest of the meals will only serve to reach your daily caloric values.

Supplements?

Supplements, supplements, supplements.

They are increasingly fashionable.

Do you need them?

No.

But you can use them.

The two best supplements are whey protein and creatine, and you can check out our guide to each of them here:

• Complete guide on Whey Protein
• Complete guide to Creatine

More questions?

You can use it is nutritional table to know the calories and macronutrients of foods.

Another very interesting tool for building your diet is the myfitnesspal.

If you still have any questions, use the comments area and ask your question.