How to make a diet adapted to your goals

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

Do you want to gain muscle mass?

Read this guide.

Do you want to lose fat?

Read this guide.

We've summarized as much as possible all the information you need to be successful in dieting, and we've left only the essentials.

Calories

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

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

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

According to 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 will you reach them?

Let's start with proteins.

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

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

Then we move on to fats.

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

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

What about carbohydrates?

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

All the calories that are left to reach your daily calorie value, after you have calculated the 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 lower calories when your goal is to lose weight, carbohydrates suffer the most from the cut, while, for example, proteins are hardly affected.

When you try to gain muscle mass, you significantly increase your carbohydrates, and consequently your 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
• Lean Fresh Cheese

• Carbohydrates
• Sweet potato
• Oat
• Brown Rice / Rice
• Integral Mass / Mass
• Whole grain bread

• Fats
• Oil
• Peanut butter
• Dry fruits

Are these the only foods you should eat? 

Do not.

But they must be the ones that are most present in your food.

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

*These are also valid sources of fat, hence the number of foods in the fat 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 and when should I eat my meals?

Do you need to eat every two hours?

Do not.

There are two really important moments to feed you, they are pre- and post-workout.

Apart from these two moments, the ideal would be to share the meals in the way that is most convenient for you, whether they are 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 the daily caloric values.

Supplements?

Supplements, supplements, supplements.

They are more and more in fashion.

Do you need them?

Do not.

But you can use them.

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

• Complete Whey Protein Guide
• Complete Guide to Creatine

More questions?

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

Another very interesting tool to build your diet is the myfitnesspal.

If you still have any doubts, use the comments area and post your question.