Create a Diet Plan: That’s What Matters!

You want to control your diet? We will show you how you can easily create a nutrition plan that you feel comfortable with.

Create a diet plan: The 7 steps!

1. Calorie consumption

Foods contain calories and the implementation of your diet ultimately determines your figure and your well-being! Before you start thinking about which recipes you cook, it is important to calculate at least approximately your calorie consumption.

Only when you know how many calories you burn per day can you create a diet plan that adapts to it. On the Internet you will find many simple tools to calculate your calorie consumption (total turnover). This is made up of 2 variables.

• Basal Metabolic Rate: The energy your body uses to maintain basic functions. These include breathing and digestion. Your basal metabolic rate depends on your sex, age, stature and, of course, your health.
• Performance Conversion: The amount of energy your body requires to perform work activities beyond the Basal Metabolic Rate. It basically consists of all the movements you perform during the day. In particular, your job and your sports activities have a strong influence on your metabolic rate.

2. Your goal

If you know how many calories are consumed per day, you have the basis for your diet. You may also consume this amount of calories to maintain your figure. However, since you want to make a specific diet plan, you probably have a specific goal that requires you to adjust the calories.

• Lose weight: save 200 – 500 calories
• Definition: Saving 300 calories
• Muscle gain: 300 – 500 calories over total turnover
• Increase: 500 – 800 calories over total turnover

3. Distribution of macronutrients

Macronutrients are the main building blocks of food:

• Carbohydrates/KH (4 kcal/g)
• Fats (9 kcal/g)
• Proteins (4 kcal/g)

No matter whether you are losing weight or gaining weight, the first priority is the calories consumed. But the next step is also about implementing a healthy, sustainable diet.

This gives your body strength, supplies you with all vitamins and nutrients, and also clears your mind mentally. To do this, you need an appropriate ratio of the three macronutrients.

Depending on the diet plan and goal (muscle building, weight loss, etc.) you need more or less of certain macronutrients.

• Slimming with low carb: 30 % KH, 40 % protein, 30 % fat
• Increase: 60 % KH, 25 % protein, 15 % fat
• Definition: 40 % KH, 30 % protein, 30 % fat

The data are approximate values which serve as a rough orientation. Ultimately, you can see in your diet plan how the calories of the food are divided up exactly.

4. Choice of food

The choice of food is at least as important as the correct distribution of macronutrients. With fast food and sweets you will not only have problems getting full, you will also feel flabby.

To give you a good overview of the choice of healthy food, we list many good proteins, proteins and carbohydrates here.

Carbohydrates:

• Potatoes
• Rice
• Noodles
• Oatmeal
• Wholemeal bread
• Peas
• Beans

Protein:

• Milk products (curd cheese, cheese, yoghurt …)
• Lean meat (turkey, chicken)
• Pseudocereals (quinoa, amaranth)
• Lenses
• Beans (Kidney)
• Prawns

Fat:

• Fish
• Nuts
• Oils: Olives, nut, coconut
• Sesame

5. Getting a feeling for food

Especially in the beginning it helps you if you can fall back on proven and healthy recipes. You can put together four or five dishes from the food you have prepared once a week. You write down the nutritional values and macronutrients once and then you know immediately how many calories you still have open. Also make sure you eat a diet rich in fibre!

You can also keep your breakfast and dinner very simple and use one or two standard variations. It is important that you do not feel that a dietary plan is too much effort. At the same time, it should taste good and satisfy you.

At the beginning it makes sense to weigh the food carefully and track what you eat all day long, for example via an app. With time, you will get a good feeling for your diet and can decide many things intuitively.

6. Meals – timing

You’re wondering, does it matter when I eat? The timing of your meals is definitely at the back of your mind when you want to make a diet plan.

Keeping to the basics – calories, macronutrients and good food – is much more important. You can influence the last percent of an optimal diet through timing. Basically, it can help not to eat heavy meals just before you go to sleep, as your metabolism is in resting mode overnight and there is a risk of fat accumulation.

• Lose weight: If you want to lose weight, intermittent fasting can be very helpful for you. You don’t eat for a long time, and you don’t eat your first meal until around noon. In this way, you keep your blood sugar level constantly low and drive the fat burning process. But it is also important to find a way that suits you – depending on your working hours and biorhythm.
• Muscle building: Especially bodybuilders swear by a regular protein intake every three to four hours. This keeps the protein synthesis going, which promotes muscle building. In addition, the energy stores are replenished with carbohydrates after exercise.

7. Do I need supplements?

Basically, a dietary supplement (supplement) is a supplement. This means that it is not the basis of your diet. Like meal timing, supplements are an advanced area that you only optimise once you have the basics of your diet under control.

Of course it can make sense to supplement isolated vitamins or minerals. However, this cannot be judged from the outside in a generalised way. It depends entirely on your diet and your physical health. You can have special blood tests and vitamin checks done by doctors to detect potential deficiencies.

As a fitness athlete with a training plan, it can make sense to supplement with proteins (e.g. protein shakes) if you cannot cover them with your normal diet. But remember: natural, unprocessed foods are always preferable to supplements!