How to make your own diet plan

As we all know, diet is a very vital part of your fitness regime. Many people think of dieting and say, START STARVING or I’LL SKIP MY LUNCH FROM NOW ON. In an actual fact, that is a very wrong way of going about it. You need to give your body enough calories to keep your energy levels high for your workouts. If you don’t eat enough, you will probably stop in your workouts way before you should.

Today, I intend to show you how you can:

-          -  Calculate the amount of calories you need to ensure your body runs efficiently
-          -  Calculate how many calories you need in one day
-          -  How many grams of each macronutrient do you need
-          - What to eat and how to eat it.


Things you will need.
-          Microsoft Excel (or any spreadsheet tool) or Fatless Formula calorie intake calculator
-         Calorie Count

Start off with calculating your Basel Metabolic Rate (BMR) – i.e. the calories you require just to keep you systems going. 
Option 1: Use the following formulas
Option 2: Use the calorie intake calculator in the right hand bar.

English BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Metric BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

Now calculate your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). 
Option 1: Use the following factors
Option 2: Use the calorie intake calculator in the right hand bar.

Sedentary - BMR x 1.2 (little exercise)
Lightly active - BMR x 1.375 (light exercise)
Moderately active - BMR x 1.55 (moderate exercise)
Very active - BMR x 1.725 (hard exercise)
Extremely active - BMR x 1.9 (hard exercise daily)

Now you have the amount of calories that you need on a daily basis.

There are different schools of thought about what ratio your macronutrients should be. Some day 60/30/10, then you also see a 40/40/20 and there is also a 20/30/50 – (Carbs/Proteins/Fats).
Quick tip: If you want to gain muscle then 60/30/10 is great. If you want to get fit then 40/40/20 will do very well and if you want to lower fat with very little exercise then 20/30/50 is fine. Mind you, don’t do the 20/30/50 for long, it might be damaging.

Once you decide which one you want to go for, distribute your calories over the three macronutrients.
Carbs – 60%
Protein – 30%
Fats – 10%

If your TDEE is 2000 calories, then here you what you should get
Carbs – 1200 calories
Proteins – 600 calories
Fats – 200 calories

Now divide the carbs and proteins by 4 and the fats by 9, which will give us
Carbs – 300 grams
Proteins – 150 grams
Fats – 22 grams

This is how many grams of each you require every day. Now create a plan with 5 – 6 meals in the day. Take most of your carbs in your breakfast and around your workout. Protein should be equally distributed throughout the day. The fats should also be distributed, but avoid them right after your workout. Try to choose healthy carbs (Low GI, complex and non-simple carbohydrates). Go to Calorie Count read about your food choices.

There’s not much too it. Oh and consult a doctor before you have some health issues.
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1 Hour Push ups



Today's workout is known as the 1 hour push ups. Most of the workouts on Fatless Formula are round about 20 minutes but this one is different so here's a chance for you to see how you get a long. Our aim is to try and do as many push ups as we can in one hour. If you do 5 push ups per minute, you will have done 300 push ups in one hour. If you do 2 push ups but minute, you will have done 120 push ups by the end of it. Now it's completely your choose. You can either go for 2 or 5 per minute OR you can go for 30 push ups in the first go which would be enough for 6 minutes, so you start the next set after 6 minutes. Play around with it. See what your progress is like and then adjust accordingly.

This is an amazing workout for men AND WOMEN TOO. Push ups do not bulk you up. They help you get defined, get great arms, chest, shoulders and core, so don't be afraid to go for this amazing exercise.
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A Weekend of Weakness

So I was thinking that I would stick to my diet and exercise in the best way possible. I ate very clean for the entire week. I am thinking of posting some of the things I eat everyday, so you will see some interesting dishes very soon. Anyhow, I went to a cousin's place this past Friday. Even before I arrived to his place, I was asked to come to a restaurant. When I got there, I saw a buffet of over 50 dishes (10 of them were sweet dishes). DAMN!!! was the thought that came to my mind, coz I couldn't stick to my diet. I tired not to eat everything but most of these dishes were so good, I had to have a second serving. To cut the long story short, I go up three times, returning with mountains in my plate. This was considered to be the lunch.

As the sun vanish and the darkness took over, I started feeling sleepy and drowsy because of that heavy lunch. I decided that I won't have supper, but suddenly, my cousin came to my room and say 'DINNER TIME'. What I couldn't understand was, how could he eat this much!!? I didn't want to be rude or anything so I said, OKAY and we went out again. Had some pretty unhealthy sweets (three different sweet dishes) and then had some chicken wrapped in tortillas. THANK GOD that the chicken was grilled (that was the healthiest thing I had all day). Finally, I went to bed went to bed with a stomach so full, I couldn't lay on my bed properly.

The very next day, I had a huge breakfast. All you need to know is that the breakfast had one 500 ml glass of milk shake and one 500 ml glass of a smoothie (with sugar). Then before I knew it, it was lunch time. But this time, lunch wasn't all that bad. What came next was the scary part. I had to go to a wedding of a cousin. I got their before time, hoping to leave before the food was served but I was stopped by two friends. Now he food was served and I had to eat something. That something became some things and those some more things and those some more things became LOTS of things - INCLUDING ICE CREAM...YUM!! 

As I left the wedding hall, I thought to myself, that's the end of it. But surprise surprise, the cousin that I was staying with, hadn't had anything to eat and he was waiting for me so that we could go to PIZZA HUT and so we did. By the way, this was 12 at night. We finished the pizzas and got back home. The next day, I left without eating anything, because I couldn't take it any more. 

That is IT. A weekend of weakness times a large number. Now let's hope that I can burn that off within a week or so.
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300 Count Exhale Workout

Now that you have had a day's rest, here's something to get you back on track. This is a full body strength circuit routine so make sure you you have had enough food throughout the day for energy. Not enough energy would mean you giving up before you should. Here is something different in the workout. Count each rep (or each second in case of plank) out loud and exhale hard.

So, here is what you do. Start off with 5 minutes of warm up. Once you are warmed up, start with the following.

30 Normal Push ups
30 Squats 
30 Dumbbell Double Arm Rows

Rest for 1 minute

30 Normal Push ups
30 Squats 
30 Dumbbell Double Arm Rows

Rest for 1 minute

30 Shoulder Push ups
30 Second Plank
30 Supermans

Rest for 1 minute

30 Shoulder Push ups
30 Second Plank
30 Supermans

There you go. A full body workout in about 30 minutes. If you feel that the first round was easy, then slow down each movement. Just a reminder, you need to eat right throughout the day - small frequent meals with the right balance of carbs, protein and fats.
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Losing the Fat - Diet or Exercise?


The other day I was on this forum and I got involved in a discussion about fat loss. The discussion was basically about what is better for fat loss, diet or exercise. Incidentally, this was a bodybuilding forum and a vast majority had the opinion that weight loss or fat loss has nothing to do with exercise. There were comments like

‘btw....'workout for fat loss'? stupid freakin' thread. fat loss is about a caloric deficit.’

And

‘Fat is lost in the kitchen and by doing lower repetitions with the fork at the dinner table.’

I found it very interested that people who kill themselves in the gym were of the opinion that exercise has very little to do with fat loss.

So, should I agree or disagree with them. Well, in my personal experience exercise and diet are both important to get fit, but to lose weight!! Not really. If you just start eating less, you will lose weight as your body will dig into the fat stores that you have to make up for the calorie deficit. However, the human body is very intelligent and it adapts to how you treat it. You can only lose to a limit but reducing calories. I mean, how many calories can you create a deficit of. On the other hand, what exercises do is, increase your overall calorie expenditure. The only way your body adapts to this increase in expenditure is by either building muscle or increasing your stamina and other health benefits.

The point is, if your aim is only to lose weight, the lower your calories will work. But if you want to have a healthy life and increase your fitness level, then you need to have some sort of exercise in your daily routine. You see many skinny or thin girls who can’t walk 3 flight of stairs. To me that just isn’t right.

Cutting the long story short, exercise and diet go hand in hand. The fatless formula is all about keeping the balance between the two.
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