I am not here to have you revamp your diet and cut out foods you love or eating out. I am here to help you strike a balance. Nutrition is one of the most important parts of losing fat and building muscle. Thankfully there is a way to eat foods you enjoy, feel full, and still lose weight. In fact any diet you see that has you making harsh restrictions you should run from. These strict guidlines generally lead to binges particularly on the weekend (NFL Sundays have a way about them). We want to create an enjoyable diet that satisfies you so that you can stick to it.

Where to start

To start off you will want to have an idea of your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Once you have that number you can start basing meals around it to ensure your diet is lining up with your goals ie. deficit to lose weight or surplus to gain weight. I personally use Legions Macro Calculator to get this information. Select maintenance under “goal” to see your baseline. Now that you have this number you can start formulating a diet that helps you stay below it while keeping you satisfied. *I will go over an intuitive method as well* I recommend staying roughly 400-500 calories below maintenance for fat loss. It equates to roughly a pound a week but this way you have a lower chance of binging and lose less muscle over time. We want to burn more fat than muscle to give us the athletic look.

Start by thinking of major staples you enjoy. For me personally its Burgers, Burritos, Asian style Beef with Rice, Chicken breast, potatoes, pasta, and popcorn as a snack. So when I am thinking about what to eat that day I base it around a combination of these foods. And since I have made my recipes often enough I know roughly the amount of calories and protein in each. My day of eating can look something like this:

Breakfast: Yogurt with 2 scoops of protein and mixed berries – 430 calories,

74g of protein

Lunch: 2 Homemade McGangbangs (IYKYK) – 700 Calories, 62g of protein

Dinner: Chicken Pasta with Garlic and Parmesan and veggies – 715 Calories,

68g of protein

Snacks/ Drinks: Popcorn w/ Olive Oil – 230 Calories, 7g of protein

3 Glasses of Prosecco – 330 Calories

Total: 2405 Calories, 211g of protein

My TDEE: 2900 Calories. Body Weight 200 Lbs

Deficit: 500 Calories

Check my post on recipes for more like this!

Conclusion

As you can see I was able to eat a full days worth of food have some drinks and still stick to my goals. Some easy changes that allow you to eat more would be getting leaner meats something like 96/4 olive oil spray. Or lean ground chicken, lower calorie burger buns, and adding in lots of veg to keep me full. This is how I am able to have 2 burgers at lunch and still be in a deficit. It will take some tinkering around at first but once you find the staples in your diet and the calories that correspond you will be able to plan a general day of eating. The more you do this the easier it will be for you to estimate amounts of calories. You can then start eating more intuitively. I do recommend tracking calories so you can get a general understanding of how ingredients effect meals.