Increasing calories during the day can help to prevent overeating at night. Focus on fueling your body both before and after training. Metabolism tends to be slower at night, so a large meal may not be digested as well as if it was eaten earlier in the day. While the overall caloric intake might be lower for the entire day, we’re fueling up our bodies just when it’s time to wind down and go to sleep. Often, food restriction during the day can lead to overeating at night. Eat more when you’re most active, and eat less when you’re sedentary. Give each adjustment a week before tweaking it!įuel your body when you’re most active. Progress pics, along with a food log or journal will help you figure out adjustments. When training, the body needs a lot of protein for muscle growth and maintenance, carbs for fuel and recovery, and fats for fuel and hormone production. In talking in terms of calories, I mean calories from whole foods. If your goal is to gain muscle, you may add 500-1000 calories on top of this amount! If your goal is to gain muscle and lose fat, you may add an additional 500 calories (BMR+1000), and add those calories to your pre- and post-workout meals. If your goal is to maintain, you might be good at this amount or add slightly more. If you’re active every day, you’ll burn 600-1000 calories just by moving around. I suggest adding 500 calories to your BMR, right off the bat. To avoid this from happening, eat more!Īdjust calories on the meal plan accordingly. A diet that’s chronically low in calories will cause the body to think it’s starving, and it will hold onto fat. You may even gain weight, as the body is amazingly adaptive. It’s okay to have a low calorie day here and there, but persisting with a low calorie diet will cause your progress to stall. The metabolism is an elastic thing, so the goal is to be able to eat more food and stay lean. Here’s a quick calculator to determine BMR: Ī meal plan that’s at or below your BMR will offer you no energy or nourishment. So, if your meal plan is at or below this number, adjust the calories up. You’d burn this amount by sitting in bed all day. The BMR, or basal metabolic rate, is the amount of calories you burn just by being alive. Let’s take a look at the three steps and how to implement them.Ĭalculate BMR. If you’re gaining mass in the wrong areas, the meal plan should be adjusted. It’s a good idea to keep track of what you eat for the first few weeks of a new plan, as you can track your food with your progress. The art comes in when figuring out your specific metabolic rate – which could be faster or slower, depending on age, body type, genetics, activity level, and amount of muscle you carry. The science dictates that we need a minimum amount of calories just to survive, and we also need macro and micronutrients to thrive. Meal planning tends to be a blend of science and art. But, in three easy steps, you can modify any meal plan to fit your goals and caloric needs. A standard meal plan will come as a “one size fits most.” It’s rare to be able to enjoy a standard plan without having to make adjustments.
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