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Are Meal Plans Effective?

Well, it depends on the person. Meal plans are a great way to ensure you're reaching your calorie and macro nutrient goal each day with planned meals. They are often not too successful for the average gym goer in the long-run. I'm looking for a long-term flexible approach that yields results. For those who can be consistent on eating similar macro-dense foods on a daily basis, go for meal plans. My thoughts on the subject are to ditch your meal plan and develop a diet that combines sound nutrition with the foods you enjoy. One should eat what you see fit in the portions that allow you to achieve your macro nutrient and caloric needs while providing sufficient micro nutrients, energy, and satiety. We shall dive into flexible dieting also known as if it fits your macros in my next post.



Posted: February 4th, 2018. 7:27pm.
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  1. UnknownFebruary 12, 2018 at 10:32 AM

    What is the difference between meal planning and just simply counting your macros? Is the difference in the strictness of diet for meal plans? I don't know much about counting macros so I am interested to figure out whether that pertains to flexible dieting.

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    1. GarrachaFebruary 13, 2018 at 10:55 AM

      Particular meal plans are generally given by some coach in a set meal plan or followed in a way that is mostly all clean foods with maybe one cheat day a week. It's usually a cookie cutter plan that lists the foods laid out in a certain order that you can only eat. Flexible dieting includes counting your macros and eating in a way that allows you to have foods you like while reaching your macro nutrient and caloric goals.

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First Step: Calorie Calculator

Since you have an overview of what the general principles of flexible dieting are, let's start with this link and setup your daily caloric intake. Calorie Calculator The idea here is to get a sense of where you will be on a day-to-day basis. We will have to look at how much energy your body uses in order to support it with the needed calories to reach your goal. Enter your age, gender, weight, height, exercise level, and press calculate. Your maintenance and fat loss calories will be calculated. If your goal is to gain weight and eventually muscle, add 250-500 calories and taper up calories depending on how your body responds in three to four weeks time. In the next post, we will be using the macro nutrient calculator to finally find the targets of what you are able to eat every day. Post: February 4th, 2018. 9:50pm.
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Fifth Step: High Protein Ideas

For many people, getting enough protein in the day is the toughest challenge. The following linked resource and pictures provide an idea of how to get this macro-nutrient in easier. The images provide a variety of foods that will help you reach your goal every day while tracking your calories and macro-nutrients. I find that if I have a list of foods that I enjoy eating and are macro-nutrient dense, I am able to hit my targets for the day and won't be stressed out thinking about what to eat. I tend to make many recipes that are high in protein and the images below are ways in which you can increase your protein intake. https://www.wellnessresources.com/health-topics Posted: March 17, 2:15pm.
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