Considerations in Building a Nutrition Plan
Nutrition is both a science and an art. It’s very individual. It often includes trial and error. However – so unbelievably often – when I talk to people that want to get their nutrition in check it amazes them how quickly changes can occur when they are simply bringing more awareness to what they’re eating and being intentional about what they’re consuming.
As a follow up to Nutrition 101 and Nutrition 102, this article is meant to be a high-level overview of where I begin helping people when they’d like to be more strategic with their nutrition. This isn’t a “must follow” strict set of rules, but rather some foundational building blocks to consider when getting started on being intentional with your nutrition.
Firstly, Disclaimer: Listen to Your Doctor and Do What You Medically Have to Do
As I mentioned, nutrition is very much a science. In fact, the science is why I selected the foundational elements later on in this article for what I first consider when building nutrition plans. HOWEVER, I am not a licensed medical professional AND I am not your licensed medical professional. This is not advice, nor a prescription. This is anecdotally what I’ve seen work for me and others as well as the knowledge I’ve accumulated from my studying of the subject.
Always consult your doctor, registered dietitian, or licensed medical professional for specific guidelines according to you, your body, and your health.
Secondly, Define Your Goals
This step is your compass. While you don’t need a compass to get where you want to go, knowing the direction you’re going often helps to get you to your destination faster.
I find that this step is sometimes overlooked or skipped. While it’s not ~necessary~, if you’ve already made the decision to begin dialing in your nutrition efforts you likely have an idea of an end goal in mind. Therefore, you might as well make sure your efforts are leading you to the results you’re looking for.
A Brief Overview of Body Recomposition if Your Goals Are Around Losing Fat/Gaining Muscle
Unless there is an alternative medical objective or reason for being strategic with nutrition, most people decide to dial in and get strategic with their nutrition to either lose body fat or gain muscle as their compass. In the fitness world we call this body recomposition.
For the purposes of this article, when I refer to body recomposition I am referring to losing body fat while concurrently increasing lean mass (aka muscle).
Generally, it is often difficult to lose weight and gain muscle mass at the same time. The typical recommendation is to lose weight first (if you have excess weight to lose), then work on building muscle. However, it is possible to work towards both gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously.
The safe guideline recommendations to lose body fat while gaining muscle requires 3 components:
1. Adequate protein intake
★ Protein will help to maintain and, if consumed in the proper amount, build your muscle.
★ Remember: we cannot create protein, we must consume protein from our diet.
2. Resistance training
★ Resistance training is synonymous with strength training. In resistance training you use your body to work against a force. Bodyweight exercises can be considered resistance training. However, it’s important to note that your body will adapt to whatever stimulus you put on it after a certain amount of time exposed to that stimulus. Once your body adapts to that stimulus your body creates a new set point. When your body adapts and that stimulus is no longer challenging, then you need to increase the challenge in order to create a new set point, continue seeing results, and gain the same benefits. We can increase the challenge by adding weights. Weights can be resistance bands, dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, and machines.
★ Resistance training will help preserve your muscle while in a negative calorie balance.
★ Bonus: increasing your muscle mass helps to burn fat!
3. A moderate calorie deficit
★ Remember: calories are units of energy. When we are trying to lose weight, we are in a negative energy balance in which we will try to expend the calories already stored and use those as our “calories out” by reducing the amount of “calories in”. Thus creating a calorie deficit.
★ In most cases, calorie deficits at 250 calories are seen as negligible and ineffective. Effective calorie deficits are often in 300-500 calorie increments. The general recommendation is to reduce calories by 500 per day for a couple of weeks while your body adapts and adjusts. Then, if necessary, repeat this process and reduce your calories for another set of weeks by 500 additional calories.
*It’s important to note that the rate of muscle gain while in negative energy balance will likely be slower than if the client is in calorie surplus.
To reiterate, losing fat and building muscle simultaneously is possible. However, individuals will often see results quicker if they focus on one and then the other.
Thirdly, My 3½ Fundamental Elements to Start Your Nutrition Strategy
After your medical needs are taken care of and your goals are defined, I believe there are three and a half pillars to define when crafting a nutritional strategy.
Component #1: Determine your calorie targets
You/your coach can do this manually or there are online calculators that will do the math for you after plugging in your numbers. I like this online calorie calculator from Dr. Josh Axe. It’s thorough and doesn’t require every field to be filled out nor your email address to send you results.
*As a word of caution, some nutrition calculators will spit out outrageous numbers that aren’t healthy for you to do without medical supervision. This is why it’s best to consult a nutrition coach, registered dietitian, or licensed professional to guide you on an effective and healthy strategy.
Component #2: Determine your protein targets
Again, you/your coach can do this manually by determining the percent of calories you want to allocate to protein or you can use online calculators like this one from Dr. Josh Axe’s website. It’s thorough and doesn’t require an email to send you your results.
Component #3: Aim to hit the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) from the USDA Dietary Guidelines for the generic population unless otherwise directed.
★ Fiber | ~30 g per day. 25 g for women, 38 g for men
★ Sugars | <10% daily calories (~277 cal for women, ~347 cal for men)
★ Saturated/Unsaturated Fat | <10% daily calories ( ~204 cal for women, ~276 cal for men)
(As a reminder these amounts are not specific to you. Discuss specifics with your medical professional.)
The “Half” Component: determine how you can ensure you’re getting plenty of variety for all your micronutrient needs!
(see: Nutrition 102 Variety for Vitamins)
★ You can get body recomposition results from only eating chicken and broccoli, but doing so will cause you to miss out on so many essential micronutrients our body needs to function! Remember that even though supplementation is helpful and may even be necessary, (at the time that this article was written) the general science consensus is saying the synergistic effect of whole food sources allows these micronutrients to react to each other in certain ways allowing for the best bioavailability. Meaning, the nutrients are most effective, best absorbed, and best utilized by your body when consumed from whole food sources.
Even if you don’t want to track your nutrition plan or have the basics down but want to optimally maintain or improve your nutrition, these 3.5 fundamental elements should be subconsciously floating around in your mind while making nutritional decisions. It’s my hope that even if you have the basics down, that you can use these 3.5 fundamental elements to make sure you’re hitting your nutritional bases.
Next Steps
After determining your goals, baselines, targets, and strategy, you’ll want to decide how you’re going to track and evaluate your nutrition plan. Another crucial and often overlooked step of a successful nutrition plan. I want to keep this article digestible (pun intended) so alas, that is another article for another time.
For now, I want to leave you with 3 reminders:
Always consult with your doctor.
These plans take adherence and time to see results. No matter how spectacular your plan is, you won’t see results overnight. Accept ahead of time that trial and error is involved in the process. Do not be discouraged. Pivot and adjust as necessary, but implement your plan for a few weeks and give it time to work before you give it up.
The best strategy is one that you can adhere to aka the one that you will stick with and actually do.
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This is not advice nor a recommendation. The amounts listed are straight from the USDA Dietary Guidelines for the generic population and are not specific to you. Discuss specifics with your medical/licensed professional.