Fat
Adobo Sirloin from The Shredded Chef
1 serving
237
39
2
7
Next, you should familiarize yourself with the nutritional facts of your chosen foods using CalorieKing, SELF Nutrition Data, or the USDA Food Composition Databases.
As you do this, you’ll probably find that some foods and recipes are too high calorie or macronutritionally imbalanced to fit your needs. Remove these from your list.
Now you have a list of foods and dishes that seem like good candidates for your meal plan, which means you’re ready to start building it. Here’s how I like to do it:
Set up your pre- and postworkout meals first.
Add your primary sources of protein to the rest of your meals.
Add your fruits and vegetables.
Add any additional carbs and caloric beverages that aren’t dessert or junk.
Tweak your protein intake as needed.
Add additional fat as needed.
Add treats if desired.
And in the end, you want to be within 50 calories of your target intake when cutting and within 100 calories when lean bulking and maintaining.
Let’s look at each of these steps in more detail.
1. Set up your pre- and postworkout meals first.
I like to start here because these two meals are simple and straightforward, and they usually account for a fair chunk of your daily protein and carbohydrate intake.
2. Add your primary sources of protein to the rest of your meals.
The goal here is to meet most (80 percent or more) of your protein needs with your primary preferred sources of protein (meat, fish, eggs, high-protein dairy products, soy, powders, etc.).
You don’t need to reach 100 percent of your protein needs just yet, however, because your carbs are going to add protein as well.
You should also keep an eye on your saturated fat intake while adding your protein. (Remember that it shouldn’t be more than 10 percent of your total calories).
3. Add your fruits and vegetables.
If you’re going to give your body adequate nutrition, including vitamins, minerals, and fiber, you’re going to need to eat several servings of fruit and vegetables every day.
In this step, your goal is to work at least one to two servings (cups) of fruit and at least two to three servings of fibrous vegetables into your meal plan.
Fibrous vegetables include basically everything your mother said you had to eat before dessert:
Arugula
Asparagus
Bok choy and other Asian greens
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Cucumber
Eggplant
Garlic
Green beans
Kale
Leeks
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Onion
Radish
Spinach
Swiss chard
Zucchini
It’s also smart to eat a variety of fruits and veggies—especially colorful ones—because some are richer in certain nutrients than others.
4. Add any additional carbs and caloric beverages that aren’t dessert or junk.
The next foods to layer into your plan are additional nutritious carbs, like whole grains (bread, rice, oats, pasta, etc.), legumes (beans and peas), and tubers (potato and other root vegetables), as well as caloric beverages that have at least some nutritional value, like fruit juice, milk, sports drinks, and alcohol.
If you’re cutting, I don’t recommend that you include any caloric beverages in your meal plan because they don’t trigger satiety like food.7
You can drink 1,000 calories and be hungry an hour later, whereas eating 1,000 calories of food, including a good portion of protein and fiber, will keep you full for a number of hours.
This is why studies show that people who drink calories are much more likely to overeat than those who don’t, and that there is a clear association between a greater intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in both adults and children.8
5. Tweak your protein intake as needed.
If your protein is still short after adding your nutritious carbs, now’s a good time to top it off.
The easiest way to do this is by increasing the serving size of one or more of your primary sources of protein.
6. Add additional fat as needed.
Next, you should bolster your fat intake with (healthy) fatty foods of your choice, such as butter, cheese, oils, nuts, seeds, and avocado (my go-tos).
Remember to ensure that your saturated fat intake doesn’t end up too high.
By the end of this step, you should have met your protein and nutritional needs and accounted for most of your carbs and fats as well. And unless your TDEE is very high, you should have also allocated 80 to 90 percent of your total daily calories.
What, then, should you do with the calories and macros that remain?
You can play with the serving sizes of everything you’ve done so far, or you can . . .
7. Add treats if desired.
Any calories left at this point are “discretionary,” meaning you can use them on whatever you’d like.
Again, you can find delicious and calorie-friendly options in my cookbook The Shredded Chef (www.shreddedchefbook.com), as well as on my websites Muscle for Life (www.muscleforlife.com/category/recipes) and Legion Athletics (www.legionathletics.com/category/recipes).
Putting It All Together
Meal planning is much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
You can dump the pieces into a heap and try to muddle your way through it, or you can shortcut the process by being more systematic—start with the edges, sort the tabs and blanks, separate into color groups, and so forth.
Following are several examples of effective and well-made meal plans for cutting and lean bulking. They’re also included in the free bonus material that comes with this book (www.biggerleanerstronger.com/bonus).
Cutting Meal Plan for a 200-Pound Man
Meal
Food
Amount
Calories
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Preworkout Meal
Plain nonfat Greek yogurt
240 grams
142
24
9
1
Banana
136 grams
121
1
31
0
Total
263
25
40
1
Workout
Breakfast
Plain nonfat Greek yogurt
240 grams
142
24
9
1
Unsweetened al
mond milk
300 grams
45
1
4
3
Blueberry
150 grams
86
1
22
1
Total
273
26
35
5
Lunch
Skinless boneless chicken breast
200 grams
240
45
0
5
Roasted Garlic Twice-Baked Potato from The Shredded Chef
1 serving
242
6
43
6
Butter
10 grams
72
0
0
8
Total
554
51
43
19
Dinner
Skinless boneless chicken breast
200 grams
240
45
0
5
Sweet potato
300 grams
258
5
60
0
Broccoli
300 grams
102
8
20
1
Butter
10 grams
72
0
0
8
Total
672
58
80
14
Prebed Snack
1% cottage cheese
360 grams
259
45
10
4
Total
259
45
10
4
Daily Total
2,021
207
207
43
Daily Target
2,000
200
200
44
Lean Bulking Meal Plan for a 150-Pound Man
Meal
Food
Amount
Calories
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Breakfast
Egg white
120 grams
62
13
1
0
Whole egg
150 grams
215
19
1
14
Whole grain bread
40 grams
101
5
17
1
Jam
20 grams
56
0
14
0
Butter
5 grams
36
0
0
4
Total
470
37
33
29
Workout
Postworkout Shake
Plain nonfat Greek yogurt
340 grams
201
35
12
1
Banana
136 grams
121
1
31
0
Blueberry
150 grams
86
1
22
1
Oat
80 grams
303
11
5
Skim milk
240 grams
82
8
12
0
Total
793
56
131
7
Lunch
Chicken Pesto Pasta from The Shredded Chef
1 serving
412
31
38
17
Total
412
31
38
17
Snack
Apple
182 grams
95
0
25
0
Total
95
0
25
0
Dinner
Sirloin, trimmed of visible fat
140 grams
216
30
0
10
Brown rice
120 grams
434
9
91
3
Curried Potatoes and Cauliflower from The Shredded Chef
1 serving
230
12
47
1
70 to 85% dark chocolate
20 grams
120
2
9
9
Total
1,000
53
147
23
Daily Total
2,770
177
375
76
Daily Target
2,700
169
371
75
Maintenance Meal Plan for a 180-Pound Man
Meal
Food
Amount
Calories
Protein
Carbs
Fat
Breakfast
Whole egg