Example custom flexible dietary plan

So I often get asked what a custom flexible dieting plan entails, what do you get out of the process and how will it help. So I have decided to create an example based on my own specific training and physique goals. This example will layout the information provided by one of my plans, the everyday tracking of calories, macros and micros and give you an idea of just how easy it can be to enjoy food, maintain a healthy lifestyle and look great.

Upon signing up I will create for you a free myfitnesspal.com account. We will discuss via email your goals, training, current diet, schedule, food preferences and anything else that may impact the plan. During this process, I will educate you on the fundamentals of nutrition, exercise and supplementation and ensure you understand the process. Don’t let that frighten you, I teach only as much as you want to learn.  After careful planning and lots of math, I will come up with custom calorie and macro-nutrient figures. I will then enter these on your account on myfitnesspal. (below)

From there I will create a one day food intake plan, which will hit your calorie and macro-nutrient figures, showing you what a regular day eating within your personal figures would entail. (below) I also give you detailed guide on how to use myfitnesspal to track your figures, including tips and tricks to make the entire process far simpler.
Now with a solid foundation knowledge of why we are aiming for these figures and how to meet them, I leave you to track your calorie and macro-nutrient figures on a daily basis. I keep a watchful eye on your progress by logging in daily, weekly or monthly* to ensure you are correctly hitting your figures, not making mistakes and to make any adjustments based upon progression and results.
*check-ups based on plan paid for

There you have it, as easy to follow, minimal work, maximum payout custom flexible dieting plan. Sign up now: http://jgfitnut.com/contact/

Hierarchy of Importance

Weight-loss is often the thought to be very difficult, in fact most in the fitness, nutrition and supplementation industries over complicate simple concepts in order to confuse and frustrate consumers into believing that losing weight is extremely difficult. Why?  Because they then claim to have the answer, which is usually a high priced program, guide or supplement.  The truth is, as I have discussed in previous articles it all comes down to thermodynamics, the energy balance equation and the caloric theory.  And if that last sentence did not make sense to you, go  read the following article Fueling the body 

It can also be said that the consumer over complicates weight loss themselves, usually by attempting to demonize certain foods, diets, exercise etc.  As well as focusing too much on the minor details and missing the big picture.  So the concept behind this article is to establish a hierarchy of importance when it comes to weight-loss, allowing you to focus on the big picture and forget the minor details.

1. Overall Calories 

Overall calories whether it be at a deficit or surplus is the most important aspect of weight-loss.  It is the determining factor as to whether you gain or lose weight.  Obviously being at a calorie deficit ensures weight loss while a surplus leads to weight gain.  However it is possible to be at too high of a deficit or surplus, which can lead to metabolic resistance, hormone down-regulation, weight gain and decreased training performance.  For a better understanding of suitable deficits or surpluses please read
http://jgfitnut.com/free-programs/free-dietary-program/

2. Protein Intake

Closely following overall calories is protein intake, this is of particular importance especially while at the calorie deficit because consuming adequate amounts ensures muscle protein is spared and the majority of weight-loss comes from excess fat.  Additionally protein is the most satisfying macro-nutrient leaving you feeling satisfied and expending the most energy while being broken down.

3.  Fat Intake

While it may seem odd fat intake takes priority over others, let me assure you it plays a vital role in hormone production, and in order to lose weight, you need a healthy dose of fatty acids daily to ensure your hormones are regulated properly. Gone are the days of low fat diets, as in the long run they do more damage than good. It is of somewhat importance to ensure the majority of your fat intake comes from unsaturated sources. To learn more about fats and the role they play in the body read Intro to Nutrition 101

4. Vitamins and Minerals

This aspect of nutrition can be easily overlooked by most, especially those new to IIFYM or flexible dieting. The truth is newbies get so wrapped up in being able t eat foods they once deemed “bad” they overeat on these food and ingest very little vitamins and minerals, which are nutritional co-factors and very important in a plethora of functions in the human body. For a better understanding of vitamins and minerals read Intro to nutrition 101 and for a explanation of the correct way to flexible diet or IIFYM read Flexible Dieting(IFFYM)

5. Carbohydrate Intake

Lastly we include carbohydrates, now while it is true you are able to function without carbohydrates, it is not ideal for long term adherence or optimal function.  It is also recommended you consume the majority of your carbohydrates from complex forms however this is not a vital recommendation, more of a footnote. To learn more on carbohydrates read Intro to Exercise 101.

Stick to this pyramid and you will give yourself every chance of success.

FREE dietary program

So here is where I provide you with the necessary tools to firstly, calculate your daily caloric needs, secondly, select an appropriate deficit and thirdly select macro-nutrient ratios for your goal. I will also provide you with a sample dietary plan.

Firstly lets re-cap on how it is we as human lose weight,  as we learnt in Fueling the body, it all comes down to the energy equation and caloric theory. In order to lose weight we must be consuming less energy via food than what we need to sustain our metabolic functions and physical activity; and of course the opposite applies for gaining weight. So the first thing we must do it calculate our daily caloric needs.

Calculating daily caloric needs 
There are a number of way to do this, most take into consideration age, weight, height, gender, activity or body-fat. Despite there differences they all output fairly similar calorie estimates.  Now to save you doing math just yet(you will be required to a little later on) I have linked you to a decent calculator here. Mess around with the different equations(click the advanced button) and notice how the numbers vary depending on the equation. This is because it is only an estimate and must be tweaked depending on progress or non progress. I can’t stress the previous point enough.

Selecting an appropriate calorie deficit
Now we have the our daily caloric need, the next step to weight loss is choosing an appropriate calorie deficit. Once again there are several ways to do this, some like to use the daily caloric estimate for your goal weight, others use percentages of you daily caloric value. Ideally especially if you are already overweight you want to be using percentages, so the drop in calories is not too drastic. These deficits can be categorized into three groups;

Small 15-20% deficit
The advantages of having a small deficit are only minor changes are needed in dietary intake  to arrive at the deficit, making it easier to adhere too, less impact on training performance, less metabolic resistance and hormonal down regulation. However the rate of fat-loss is very slow, and as the deficit is so small a minor mistake in calculations can erase the deficit.
Recommended for: Specific case/athletes
Length of time: Long

Medium 20-25% deficit
A medium deficit ensures a faster rate of fat-loss and less likelihood of obliterating the deficit via miscalculation, while still being fairly obtainable with only moderate dietary restrictions.  However there is a higher impact on training performance, although not profound and increased metabolic resistance and hormonal down regulation.
Recommend for: Average case/Normal or overweight
Length of time: Medium

Large >Greater than 25%
Larger deficits obliviously lead to faster weight loss however require major dietary intake changes. They also have greater effects on training performance, metabolic resistance and hormonal down regulation. This is not something you want to be doing long term. The good news is no matter how bad you miscalcualte you will almost always still be at a deficit.
Recommend for: Extreme cases/obesity
Length of time: Short

Selecting macro-nutrient ratios
Like the other steps in this journey there are several different ways to select macro-nutrient ratios, seeing as we have already used percentages we may as well stick with that theme. The idea behind selecting macro-nutrient ratios is to provide your body with enough protein to prevent lean muscle loss, enough fats to maintain hormonal regulation and enough carbohydrates to fuel physical activity. If you are left scratching your head at this point you probably haven’t read the lead up articles Introduction to nutrition and calories, Calories, Kilo-calories, joules and kilo-joules. A fairly standard set of percentages is 40/30/30. That is 40% protein, 30%fats, 30%carbohydrates, these can be tweaked somewhat however this is a good starting point.

Converting to grams per day

Now we have our required daily caloric intake, have selected an appropriate deficit and have sorted our macro-nutrient ratios. However food labels usually do not measure macro-nutrients in terms of calories, they instead measure macro-nutrients via grams and let you figure out the rest. So if we remember back to reading  calories, Calories, Kilo-calories, joules and kilo-joules, each macro-nutrient was assigned a caloric value per gram. They are as follow:
1 g of carbohydrate = 16.7kJ (4 Cal)

1g of fat  = 37.7 kJ (9 Cal)

1g of protein  = 16.8 kJ (4 Cal)

1g of alcohol = 29.3kJ (7 Cal)

1g fibre =  6.3-8.37kJ(1.5-2 Cal)

As we are only worrying about proteins, fats and carbohydrates, don’t pay too much attention to the others, let me worry about them. In order to convert our calculated macro-nutrient ratios from calories to grams we simply divide by the caloric value. So if we require 903 calories  daily from protein and we want to know how many grams per day that equals to, we divide by 4, giving us 225.7. Simple. Now don’t get to caught up on the .7, leaving it out will not result in a disastrous miscalculation but merely will lead to a loss or gain of a few calories. This is no big deal, in fact I usually have a leeway of a few hundred calories in all my dietary programs.

It is at this stage I would like to state the above is a very very simple way of calculating calories, deficits and macro-nutrients, often a great starting point but by no means the be all and end all. There are several more complex and accurate ways to calculate these variables which would lead to greater success. If you are interested in obtaining figures via the more complex methods or just can’t be bothered doing the math, let me do it for you here.

Okay so now we have our daily figures, we must try and hit these figures regularly on a daily basis. To begin with this can be somewhat tedious but necessary, the idea is by counting calories, weighing food and tracking macro-nutrients either via labels or online(also available on smartphones) we learn correct portion sizes for weight-loss and eventually when we hit our goal, weight maintenance. The lack of understanding about portion sizes is why so many countries including ours suffer high obesity rates. Learning how much food is necessary to fuel your body and it’s daily activities is THE fundamental ingredient to dropping the rate of obesity. However the above is not just for the obese, it can be used for anybody wanting to improve their body composition and aesthetics.

I have gone ahead and taken the above steps using my age, weight, height, gender and activity level to produce a dietary guide.
1.Calculating daily caloric needs
Maintenance calories:  2821
2.Select an appropriate calorie deficit 
Caloric deficit: 20%
Calories at deficit: 2257
3. Select macro-nutrient ratios
40/30/30
Calories: 2257
Protein:  903 calories
Fat: 677 calories
Carbohydrates: 677 calories
4.Converting to grams per day
40/30/30
Calories: 2257
Protein:  225g/pd
Fat: 75g/pd
Carbohydrates: 169g/pd

TADA! I now have my very own personalized figures for weight loss. Give it a try using your own statistics and stick with it for at-least 4 weeks, if you aren’t seeing changes in the mirror try a higher calorie deficit, but don’t do anything to absurdly high. If you still are not seeing results or simply want me to do your calculations for you visit here

Now while hitting these targets regularly will lead to weight-loss, food choices play a fairly important role in health which is something we should always be mindful of, so I beg you, please read guide to flexible dieting.

Finally there are a number of different FREE tools on the internet, from food databases to calorie counters and meal planners, below I will provide a list of the ones I find most helpful.
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
http://www.eatthismuch.com/
http://www.calorieking.com.au/
http://runkeeper.com/

Free Exercise Program

Below I will be providing FREE exercise programs. These programs are broad, simple programs to begin with and slowly and gradually progress in difficulty  so they can be undertaken by anyone from beginner to athlete. They are not specifically designed for any one fitness component or goal, however when performed correctly using the Basic training principals should yield strength, lean mass and anaerobic endurance gains. Coupled with my FREE dietary program and you should be well on your way to your weight-loss/gain goals. To view the program simply click the links below.

Beginner Program
Designed for people who have never resistance trained before.

Beginner Progression(Coming Soon)
Designed for people who have spent 10-12 weeks on the beginner program, have limited experience in resistance training or have had a extended break from resistance training.

Intermediate(Coming Soon)
Designed for people who have completed 10-12 weeks on the beginner progression program, have moderate experience in resistance training, train at moderate intensity or have had a short to moderate break from resistance training.

Intermediate Progression(Coming Soon)
Designed for people who have completed 10-12 weeks on the intermediate program, have had high experience in resistance training, train at moderate to high intensities or have had a short break from resistance training.

Advanced(Coming Soon)
Designed for people who have extensive experience in resistance training, frequently and consistently train at high intensities without injury.