The
Cheat Sheet
THE 5 PRINCIPLES OF
GREAT MEAL PLANS
Introduction
No matter what goal in life you want to accomplish you
will have to come up with a strategy, because without it a
goal is nothing more than a dream.
When in comes to meal planning and nutrition your goals
might be to lose weight, to gain muscle or to simply live a
healthy life. Whatever you goals are, this e-book is meant
to teach you what strategies and principles are proven to
work.
In order to give you a complete and concise introduction
into nutrition, we have to start with the most abstract
principles and work our way towards more practical advice
later. So over the next few pages I want to teach you the
most important dieting principles that govern your body
composition and will determine whether or not you will
reach your goals.
Together they will make up what we call a meal and diet
plan and you have to understand each aspect to execute
your plan correctly. All of these principles play an
important role in your diet but some are a lot more
important than others. Here they are:
NutritionAndFitness.net
The 5 Principles Of
Good Fitness Diets
1. Calorie Balance
2. Macronutrients
3. Food Sources
4. Meal Timing
5. Supplements
NutritionAndFitness.net
Part 1
Calorie Balance
• The right calorie balance is the single most
important variable in your diet
• When you eat food, you are consuming the
energy that is stored within the food
• Your body uses this energy to produce
movement and keep your organism alive. If not
all energy is used right away it can also be
stored for later use.
• Some energy will be in the muscles and liver as
glycogen, but these stores fill up quickly so your
body will then stored any additional calories in
the form of body fat.
NutritionAndFitness.net
Calorie Balance: The 3 States
Negative calorie balance
• When someone burns MORE calories than they consume.
• The body makes up the difference by burning stored energy,
meaining you will lose weight.
Neutral calorie balance
• When someone’s intake of calories is the same as his
expenditure
• Here, your weight will stay the same
Positive calorie balance
• When more energy is consumed thourgh food than is being
burned to produce body processes or movement.
• As I explained before, the extra calories are stored as either
glycogen in the muscle and liver or as body fat.
How do I calculate my ideal daily calorie intake?
Check out my Meal Planning Mastery Program
Or use This Online Calculator
NutritionAndFitness.net
Part 2
Macronutrients
• After your calorie balance the second most
important factor of your diet are your
macronutrients.
• Macronutrients are the three main nutrients
your body needs need to survive.
• Your body needs each macronutrient in
relatively large quantities to function properly.
• The three main macronutrients are Protein,
Carbohydrates and Dietary Fat.
NutritionAndFitness.net
Macronutrient Needs
Protein Daily Requirements
• Minimum amount for general health: 0.4 - 0.5 grams per
pound of bodyweight
• 0.8 - 1 grams per pound of bodyweight for optimal muscle
growth and weight loss
Fat Daily Requirements
• Minimum amount for general health: around 0.3 grams per
pound of fat-free
• This translates to roughly 15 to 20% of daily calories for most
people
Carbs Daily Requirements
• No minimum for general health
• Light Workouts: 1-1.25g per lb
• Moderate Workouts: 1.25-1.5g per lb
• Hard Workouts: 1.5-1.75g per lb
NutritionAndFitness.net
Part 4
Food Sources
• Refers to the individual foods you eat, and their
given nutritions
• When it comes to meal planning for fitness,
meaning your goals are to lose weight, gain
muscle or both, food sources is less important
than people think.
• But when it comes to being healthy and
consuming nutrient rich meals, eating quality
foods makes a difference!
NutritionAndFitness.net
Protein Sources
Protein Composition
• Protein composition or protein quality, can be measured in a
number of ways. Most popular are:
• 1. Bioavailability: what percentage of protein that you consume
is actually absorbed into the bloodstream
• 2. How much of the protein is composed of essential amino
acids
Ranking according to these factors (from highest to lowest):
• Whey Protein Isolate
• Whey Protein Concentrate
• Egg Sources (cooked, not raw)
• Meats (beef, pork)
• Poultry (chicken, turkey)
• Fish and Seafood rank somewhere in the middle
• Soy Protein and Quinoa
• Combined Plant Sources (e.g. beans with rice)
• Isolated Plant Sources (whole grain bread by itself, nuts by
themselves)
NutritionAndFitness.net
Carbohydrate Sources
Carbohydrate Composition
• Just like protein composition, carbohydrate composition can
refer to several concepts
• The most common concepts is the glycemic index
• The glycemic index is a measure of both how fast a food raises
blood glucose levels, and how much it elevates insulin levels.
• But the glycemic index is not very useful in the context of
fitness diets, because it only measures foods that are consumed
isolated and fasted state (unlike normal meals that are always a
combination of different foods).
Recommendations
1. Get the majority of your carb intake (80-90%) from high fiber,
minimally processed sources. This includes foods such as
oatmeal, rice (brown or white), potatoes, whole grain pasta,
fruits and vegetables.
2. consume your carbs as part of a complete meal with protein
and healthy fats.
NutritionAndFitness.net
Fat Sources
Fat Composition
• For mucle building or fat loss purposes fat composition is even
less important that carb and protein composition
• But consuming certain kinds of fats and staying away from
others will make a big difference in your overall health
• Fats can be split into saturated, unsaturated and trans fats
Recommendations:
• Focus on monounsaturated fats such as avocados, nuts and
olive oil.
• Vegetable oils are a good source of polyunsaturated fats, which
along with healthy saturated fats should make up most of your
daily fat intake.
• As for saturated fats its best to stick with the healthier
varieties, like lean cut steaks and coconut oils.
• Fats from cheeses, eggs, butters, etc are usually not a problem
for the average person when consumed in small to normal
amounts.
• Limit or avoid though trans fats, which can be found in highly
processed foods such as junk food.
NutritionAndFitness.net
Part 3
Nutrient Timing
• Refers to both meal frequency (how often you
eat) and meal timing (when you eat)
• Even though Meal timing has it’s place in a well
designed diet, its importance is most often
overestimated by beginners
• If you lead a busy life and don’t have a lot of
time to perfectly plan your meals you can still
see great results if you only focus on calorie
balance and macronutrients
NutritionAndFitness.net
Nutrient Timing
Protein Timing
• Because the body cannot store protein, it makes sense to
consume some form of it every few hours (don’t stress out
about this though!)
• Get a good amount of protein before and after your workouts
(at least 0.2 – 0.25 g/lbs of your target bodyweight)
Carb Timing
• Don’t worry about how often you eat carbs
• Get a good amount of carbs before and after your workouts (at
least 0.2 – 0.25 g/lbs of your target bodyweight)
Fat Timing
• Least important in regards to nutrient timing
• Keep fat intake lower before workouts (because it slows
digestion)
NutritionAndFitness.net
Part 5
Supplements
Supplements can never replace proper diet
planning and nutrition, but they can help you
reach your fitness goals faster.
Recommendations:
• Protein Powder: You don’t have to use protein
powder to reach your daily protein intake, but
getting enough from foods can be tricky.
• Creatine: Will help you strength levels and is
totally safe for healthy adults
• Fish Oil: Will have no effect on your muscle
buildung or fat loss abilities but is good for your
overall health
NutritionAndFitness.net
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