What is an article about creating the perfect diet plan doing on a site called A Workout Routine in the middle of a guide to creating the most effective weight training program?

I mean, this is obviously a site geared specifically towards workout related topics, so why the hell am I writing about diet stuff?

Well, Ill tell you why.

If your diet plan isnt what it needs to be, your workout routine will fail completely no matter how perfect it is.

That is not an exaggeration. You could be using the single greatest workout program ever created and it will get you absolutely nowhere if you arent eating in a way that supports your goals.

What Im trying to say is, your diet plan is equally as important as your workout routine (if not more so) in terms of getting the results you want to get.

So, what you need to do now is create the diet plan that will work best for you.

As you can imagine, fully explaining how to do that would require its own insanely comprehensive guide.

Until I get around to doing that, heres the ultimate mini-guide to how to create your perfect diet plan.

The most common recommendations for your daily calorie intake are:

Now let me explain what the hell that actually means.

Every person has a certain number of calories that they need to eat each day in order to maintain their current weight. This is whats known as your calorie maintenance level.

There are a bunch of complicated ways to estimate what your maintenance level is, but the quickest and simplest way is to just multiply your current body weight (in pounds) by 14 and 18.

Somewhere in between those 2 amounts will usually be your daily calorie maintenance level.

If youre more active and/or think you have a fast metabolism, then you should probably use the higher end of that range. If youre less active and/or think you have a slow metabolism, then you should probably use the lower end of that range.

If youre unsure, just pick a number in the middle. Well make sure its perfectly accurate later on. Dont worry.

Next, pick your goal

In order to lose fat, you must consume LESS calories per day than your maintenance level amount. Doing so creates a caloric deficit, and this forces your body to start burning your stored body fat for energy.

Meaning, a caloric deficit is a fat loss requirement.

As I mentioned before, the most often recommended caloric deficit is about 20% below your maintenance level. So, lets do some basic first grade level math.

For example, if your estimated calorie maintenance level is 2500 calories per day, youd figure out that 20% of 2500 is 500 (2500 x .20 = 500). Then youd just subtract that 500 from 2500 and get 2000.

In this example, this person would need to eat 2000 calories per day to lose fat.

In order to build muscle, you must consume MORE calories per day than your maintenance level. Doing so creates a caloric surplus, and this provides your body with the calories it needs to actually create new muscle tissue.

Meaning, a caloric surplus is a muscle building requirement.

As I mentioned before, the ideal caloric surplus for most guys is about 250 calories above your maintenance level, and around half that for girls. So, lets do some basic first grade level math.

For example, a man with an estimated calorie maintenance level of 2500 calories per day would add 250 or so calories to it and get about 2750.

In this example, this person would need to eat about 2750 calories per day to build muscle at an ideal rate.

Since our calorie intake is based on an estimate, its possible it can be a little off. Luckily, theres a very simple way to double check it.

Weigh yourself once per week first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything (or weigh in daily and take the weekly average). Then, just monitor what your weight does from week to week.

Basically, just consistently weigh yourself each week and make sure your weight is moving in the right direction at the optimal rate that I just described.

If is it, perfect! Keep eating that amount of calories each day.

If it isnt, then just adjust your calorie intake in 250 calorie increments until it is. Simple as that.

The most common recommendation for the daily protein intake of healthy adults who are weight training regularly is:

Between 0.8 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. An even 1 gram of protein per pound is probably the most common recommendation of all.

So, for example, if you weigh 175lbs, youd shoot for about 175 grams of protein per day (or a little more if you prefer it).

High protein foods include chicken, fish, turkey, lean meats, eggs/egg whites, milk, protein supplements and to a lesser extent nuts and beans as well.

The most common recommendation for your daily fat intake is:

Fat should account for between 20-30% of your total calorie intake, with an even 25% probably being most common.

For that to make sense, you need to know that 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories.

So, for example, if your ideal calorie intake is 2000 calories per day, youd first figure out that 25% of 2000 is 500. Then, youd divide 500 by 9 and figure out that youd need to eat about 55 grams of fat per day in this example.

Foods high in the healthy fats that should account for the majority of your fat intake include fish, fish oil supplements, nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts, etc.), seeds, and olive oil.

The most common recommendation for your daily carb intake is:

However many calories are left after a sufficient protein and fat intake have been factored in those calories should come from carbs.

Dont worry, its not as confusing as it sounds.

Basically, figure out how many calories your protein and fat intake will account for, and then subtract them from your ideal total calorie intake. However many calories youre left with to reach that ideal total those calories will all come from carbs.

Confused? Its alright, Ill show you an example in a second.

The majority of your carb intake should come from foods like fruits and vegetables, rice (brown, white, whatever), sweet potatoes, white potatoes (they are not evil), and various beans and whole wheat/whole grain products (unless of course you have issues digesting grains).

Now let me show you a step by step example of how to put it all together.

Lets pretend we have a guy who weighs 175lbs and has the primary goal of building muscle. Lets also pretend his calorie maintenance level is 2250 calories (just a completely made up example number).

Heres how hed create his diet plan

And thats it. The most important parts of this example diet plan are done.

This example person figured out they will eat:

Once again, these are all just completely made up amounts to show an example of how to set up your diet plan. Thats how youd do it.

And yes, even though the person in the example above had the primary goal of building muscle, the diet would have been set up the exact same way if they had the primary goal of losing fat instead. The only difference is that they would have created a caloric deficit instead of a surplus in step 1.

The process of putting it all together would remain exactly the same.

Now, you may be wondering about certain other aspects of your diet besides your calorie, protein, fat and carb intake.

The thing is you shouldnt.

In all honesty, nothing else is that important. Everything described above is what will account for 99% of your diets effectiveness. Everything else is just a minor detail.

All that truly matters diet-wise is ensuring that you eat the right amount of calories each day along with an optimal amount of protein, fat and carbs that ideally come from mostly higher quality sources.

After that, its all a matter of doing whatever will best allow you to make that happen. What I mean is

Thats all that matters. Everything else is either extremely insignificant or just a stupid myth that is scientifically proven to not matter at all (like how you must eat 6 smaller meals per day its bullshit).

Whatever is best for you, your life, your schedule and your preferences thats what you should do.

Well, in addition to what I just explained, theres really only a couple of additional tips worth caring about:

And thats it.

Thats the ultimate mini-guide to creating the diet plan that will best support your workout routine and overall goal.

(UPDATE #1: Ive now written the diet mega-guide. Its here: The Best Diet Plan)

(UPDATE #2: Ive also put together a new 9-step diet guide that you can download as a pretty PDF file and view on your computer, phone or tablet whenever you want. Its 100% free. Just click here and tell me where to send it.)

Well, at this point weve already covered every major aspect of how to create the workout routine and diet plan that will work best for you. All thats left to do now is put it all together properly and put it into action correctly. To ensure that you do that, lets start here

Sample Workout Routines Example Weight Training Workouts

(This article is part of a completely free guide to creating the best workout routine possible for your exact goal. It starts here:The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine)

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How To Create The Perfect Diet Plan For Your Workout Goal