We erected a maintenance template. We know fat loss is all about eating less than maintenance. There are various ways to eat less than maintenance. The typical way is what I refer to as a linear intervention.
During a linear intervention, you strive to hit the same calorie and macronutrient numbers every day of the week. (Or six days of the week if you’re having a “cheat” day. More on this later. For now, just assume daily adherence.) This doesn’t necessarily translate into eating the same foods daily, although it could. It just means you want to hit the same calorie and macronutrient numbers daily.
Linear interventions contrast more complicated (nonlinear) interventions, which involve changing calorie/macronutrient numbers throughout the week. There’s nothing wrong with nonlinear interventions, but you should be catching onto a theme here: Simple comes before complex.
Linear interventions are simpler.
However, you should know this:
You don’t need a DAILY deficit in order to lose fat.
As mentioned, a conservative deficit usually puts you in a -500 calorie deficit on a daily basis, which theoretically leads to a -3500 deficit across one week.
- S -500 / -500
- M -500 / -1000
- Tu -500 / -1500
- W -500 / -2000
- Th -500 / -2500
- F -500 / -3000
- S -500 / -3500
But if your maintenance metabolic rate is 2000 calories and, two days of the week, you only eat 500 calories, then you’re creating a 3000ish calorie deficit across the week.
- S 0 / 0
- M 0 / 0
- Tu -1500 / -1500
- W 0 / -1500
- Th -1500 / -3000
- F 0 / -3000
- S 0 / -3000
If you continued this week after week, you’d lose weight. I only mention this to prevent you from getting stuck in a certain box of thinking… and to foreshadow some “advanced” strategies you can entertain in the future.
Linear approaches are good for beginners because they’re simpler and more certain. You get results quicker, because you have a singular focus. Getting results quick is important for a beginner, because it’ll kick start a positive feedback loop. Wow, look! Progress! I can do this after all!
Onward…
Calculating your fat loss numbers is easy.
The calorie ceiling shifts, but protein stays the same. Meaning, the only difference between maintenance and a conservative deficit is the amount of starchy-sugary carbs and fats you should eat.
This is maintenance for me:
- 2800 calories per day
- 205g proteins (6 palms)
- 260g carbs (7ish cupped handfuls)
- 115g fats (7ish thumbs)
- ∞g non-starchy carbs
This is a conservative deficit for me:
CONSERVATIVE DEFICIT
- 2460 calories per day
- 205g proteins (6 palms)
- 205g carbs (5ish cupped handfuls)
- 90 g fats (6ish thumbs)
- ∞g non-starchy carbs
I’m not going to beat a dead horse and explain how I got these numbers. You can get your numbers with the spreadsheet I gave you last lesson.
Enter your weight (in pounds) into the very yellow highlighted box. Out will pop your recommended macro numbers. I suggest using a conservative deficit with a 50/50 split between fats and carbs, for starters. This is the second second block down from the top with the light peach background.
There are a few other templates. The green box is a low carb conservative deficit. The blue box is a low carb and higher protein conservative deficit. The aqua box is a high protein deficit with a 50/50 split between fats and carbs.
Use either the light peach box or the aqua box. The aqua box is better if you want to eat fewer carbs, but I don’t see a reason to do so, initially. So I’m going to continue on with the light peach box.
For variety’s sake, let’s assume you weigh 180 pounds. This is what you’re looking at, if you’re using a daily conservative deficit:
ENERGY
2160 CALORIES
PROTEINS 180 GRAMS
6 PALMS
N-S CARBS
5 FISTS MINIMUM
S-S CARBS 180 GRAMS
5 CUPPED HANDFULS
FATS 80 GRAMS
5 THUMBS
Now you have to turn your macros into foods you can see yourself eating on a regular basis.
I don’t know what you enjoy eating. I don’t know your financial situation. I don’t know what foods are readily available around you. I’m not gonna give you cookie-cutter templates with shopping lists and recipes.
Start by deciding how many meals you wanna eat and when you wanna eat said meals.
I recommend familiarity and convenience. Meal frequency (how many meals you eat), meal timing (when you eat meals), and peri-workout nutrition (eating different types of foods around training times) aren’t NEARLY as important as you think they are.
When I first started, I ate 6-8 meals every day. Now I only eat 1-2 meals every day. What matters most is your overall daily food intake.
Imagine putting everything you SHOULD eat/drink in one single day on a table. Then, take a picture. As long as you’re eating the contents of the picture (no more, no less), when you’re eating is MUCH LESS of a concern.
This is why, for starters, you should make your feeding framework convenient and familiar. Adjusting meal timing is a huge behavioral modification. If you are a devout breakfast eater (as I once was), then any kind of plan that eliminates breakfast will be met with considerable resistance. Not worth the hassle.
Usually, the most lifestyle friendly strategy is the one you’re already using. If you’re currently eating three meals, stick with three meals. If you’re eating six and you enjoy eating six, stick with six. If you’re still confused by this and hoping a third example will make things clearer, I don’t have high hopes for you.
Here some other things to think about…
First, try to center each feeding around protein. Protein has a high satiety index, meaning it’ll make you feel full(er), which will make you less prone to overeat. It also does wonders for your muscles.
Second, try to eat non-starchy carbs in most feedings. Non-starchy carbohydrates are chock full of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. They are low in energy for their volume. They will also keep you full.
Third, avoid snacking, which is to say: unplanned and impulsive feedings. You should know what and when you’re going to eat at the beginning of every day.
Fourth, pattern your meals according to your lifestyle. If you enjoy eating a bigger dinner, then eat smaller meals during the morning and afternoon, to save your calories for later. This is what I currently do. Not every meal has to contain the same number of calories.
If you’re confident in your ability to eat what you’re supposed to eat and you wanna experiment with peri-workout nutrition, consider this…
If you’re doing some type of supergravity training, then the general rule: your body is more receptive to protein and starchy-sugary carbs after you train. Not necessarily directly after you train, or within a fabled thirty minute window of opportunity. I’m talking about hours after training.
So, if you wanna do some experimentation, eat more protein and starchy-sugary carbs in your post-training meals. You still want to respect your numbers for the day. You aren’t eating MORE. You’re simply shuffling around what you’d normally eat.
In your pre-training meals, consume mostly proteins and non-starchy carbs. (Probably also useful to sprinkle some fruit in your pre-training meals.)
If you happen to train super late at night, this “rule” doesn’t apply. Just eat as you normally would.
You don’t really need to “fuel up” prior to training. The energy your muscles use (muscle glycogen) is trapped inside of your muscles and can’t be used for any other purpose. Meaning, if you eat any amount of starchy-sugary carbs sometime after your training session and before your next training session, your muscles have all the energy they need.
With these “rules” in mind, you can piece together a meal plan.
For starters, paint a perfect picture for ONE day. Don’t worry about sustainability.
Let’s assume you’re eating four meals. You have a large degree of freedom across these four meals, aside from centering each feeding around proteins and non-starchy carbs. Each meal should have at least one of the two.
Here’s an example…
Breakfast
-
- Three eggs
- One palm of protein
- One thumb of fat
- Bowl of oats
- Two cupped handfuls of carbs
- Banana on oats
- One cupped handful of carbs
- Plain unflavored whey mixed in with the oats
- One palm of protein
- Three eggs
Lunch
-
- Can of tuna
- One palm of protein
- Apple
- One cupped handful of carbs
- Raw carrots
- Can of tuna
Dinner
-
- Two plain hamburgers
- Two palms of protein
- Two thumbs of fat
- One slice of cheddar cheese
- One thumb of fat
- One slice of bread
- One cupped handfuls of carbs
- Massive bowl of spinach and assorted non-starchy carbs, topped with balsamic vinegar
- Two plain hamburgers
Late night meal
-
- Bowl of cottage cheese
- One palm of protein
- One thumb of fat
- Blueberries on cottage cheese
- One cupped handful of carbs
- Bowl of cottage cheese
There’s a lot of nuance within this “bland” meal plan above. You could use spices, herbs, and condiments to make these meals tastier.
BUT.
Don’t get screwed.
Spices and herbs have minimal calories. Same can be said for some condiments, like hot sauce and mustard. But some condiments are chock full of calories. Salad dressings, for instance, are usually full of fat and sugar.
You have to account for EVERYTHING you eat, which brings food preparation into play. Eating eggs in the morning? How are you cooking them? If you sauté them on the stove, are you using some kind of oil to grease the pan? If so, you need to budget for this. This fat “counts.”
This is one of the reasons eating restaurant food is “dangerous.” You can’t really tell the difference between potatoes fried in one tablespoon of oil versus ten tablespoons of oil. You never really know how a food is prepared, which means you never know its caloric yield.
Once you paint a perfect picture for ONE day, you have a few options.
First, if you’re the type of person that can eat the same things on a daily basis (like me), then go. Many successful dieters tend to eat the same thing on a daily basis. This creates a routine and fosters consistency. You know what to buy at the supermarket every week. You find out how to prepare and cook your meals in a time efficient matter. Everything becomes more habitual, and thus easier.
Eating the same thing every day also makes diagnostic work easier (more on this soon).
“It’s been two months and I haven’t lost weight. There must be something wrong with what I’m eating. Oh, would you look at that. I eat the same thing every day — I know what I need to look into.”
This is a lot easier to manage than the alternative.
“It’s been two months and I haven’t lost weight. Is there something wrong with my Monday meal plan? Or maybe its my Tuesday meal plan? Wait. Could be my Wednesday meal plan, too. Who’s idea was it to eat different things every day?”
At the very least, think about keeping most of your meals consistent. For instance, eat the same breakfast and lunch and snack, but vary your dinner.
This is what I do. I eat a different dinner every day, but they’re all similar. One dinner is burgers and (homemade) fries, one is chicken and rice and beans, one is salmon and baked potatoes…
Each meal is different, but also similar: a protein-rich food and starchy-sugary carbs. I keep my portions consistent between the burgers, chicken, and salmon, as well as the fries, rice/beans, and potatoes.
Since each grouping falls into a similar category, they are interchangeable enough, so long as the quantity is consistent. This helps me standardize my calorie intake despite eating different foods.
Of course, this is just a suggestion and by no means law. What matters most is hitting your calorie and macro numbers on a daily basis. How you do it matters less than doing it.
Using this “human” tracking system, variety isn’t terribly inconveniencing.
Your body will probably need variety, especially in the long run. Different foods contain different nutrients, which is one of the reasons why I recommend varying your non-starchy carb intake on a regular basis. This will help you get a robust nutrient intake, without having as many moving pieces.
Eat the rainbow. Different color non-starchy carbs tend to yield different nutrients, especially phytonutrients. Carrots? YES. ORANGE. Peppers? HOW ABOUT YELLOW ONES! Eggplant? IT’S PURPLE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Artichoke? MY FAVORITE SNACK AS A KID!
This is easy. Just replace one fist of whatever, with one fist of whatever. Maybe you’re currently eating one fist of broccoli at lunch. You can swap it with one fist of eggplant. Or peppers. Or asparagus….
Swapping other foods is just as easy, as long as you respect the category instead of the food.
- Eating an apple for lunch? Eat a banana instead, or an orange, or…
- Eating one palm of chicken breast? Eat one palm of ground turkey, or one palm of tuna, or…
- Eating one cupped handful of rice? Eat one cupped handful of beans, or one cupped handful of potatoes, or…
The beauty of this infrastructure is that categories supersede foods. You’re not constrained to a rigid diet. Speaking of which…