A healthy diet is absolutely essential to achieve success in any sporting activity, and to lead a healthy lifestyle it is important to achieve a balanced intake of macronutrients thanks to the design of a diet according to your goal.
Next, we give you the guidelines for you to create your own diet, made by and for you, as this is the only way to achieve success and eat an adapted and balanced diet.
Guidelines for designing a diet according to your goal
Set yourself a goal
When a person begins to follow a diet, they do so because they want to achieve a change or physical improvement , with clear ideas of what they want to achieve.
The diet will help you control your body weight, so the goals you can pursue are: weight loss, weight gain or maintenance. When you have decided, you can move on to the next stage.
How many calories do you need?
Foods that provide energy, do so thanks to the macronutrients that make them up. This energy is quantified with kilocalories or Kcal, better known as calories. The amount of calories you take in is what determines the energy your body gets. In case the number of calories is greater than what you really need, you will gain weight. While if you eat fewer calories than you need, you will lose weight. Lastly, if you eat just the right calories, you will stay at your weight.
The question is: How many calories do I need to function? The answer to this question is important to design your diet according to your objectives, because according to this data you will be able to choose the distribution of macronutrients and specify what your diet will be like.
There are various formulas for you to calculate the amount of calories you need , including the “Chris Shugart Formula”, the “Brian Hayock Formula” and Harris Benedict. Either of these will help you calculate the calories you need.
When you know how many maintenance calories you require, the next step is to adjust these to your goal , this step is simple. In case you want to gain weight you should add between 400-500 Kcal. If you want to lower it, reduce the same number of calories. If you don’t want to change your weight, eat the calories you have calculated.
What is the next step?
Although calories are the basis for designing a diet based on your goal, other factors must be taken into account. Earlier we discussed that calories come from macronutrients: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. It is important to distribute the macronutrients so that you get a greater energy intake that allows you, in case you want to lose weight, maintain your muscle volume and, if you want to gain it, build muscle mass.
The protein intake is essential for the aforementioned, it is normal to think that anyone who does sports in the gym should always take more protein, but it really is not like that, your body requires a contribution of 2 grams of protein per kilo, with that you will be able to cover the protein base of your diet, if you take too much it will not help.
The distribution of carbohydrates and fats is another issue, it is important to provide a minimum amount of fat, just 1 gram per kilo of weight, but this amount is minimal. There is no need to be afraid of fats, the distribution of these can be done freely. Keep in mind that you can cut out carbohydrates, but fats are essential.
You can do the distribution of carbohydrates and fats according to your personal preferences and what is easiest for you. Next, we show you an example of distribution so that you do not make a mess, you can make a good distribution and design a good diet according to your objective
- 150 grams of fat -> 1350 kcal -> 40% of energy.
- 350 grams of carbohydrates -> 1400 -> 43% of energy.
- 140 grams of protein -> 560 kcal -> 17% of the energy intake.
This is just an example, you can be flexible and distribute the nutrients to your liking, as is most comfortable for you.
After distributing the nutrients, what should I do?
When you have managed to distribute the nutrients, what you must do now is plan the meals and quantities to achieve your nutritional goal , this distribution is entirely up to you. You can select the source of nutrients you want and distribute them freely throughout the day.
You do not have to eat 6 meals a day, this is not advantageous at a metabolic level, nor does it help the nutrients to be better absorbed. It does not mean that you cannot eat many meals a day, but that it is not necessary. It is your personal choice: if you feel like eating 3 times a day, do it. If you want to eat 6, you can do it without problem.
The really important thing is to distribute the nutrients in the meals you make , the number of meals you eat is not a determining factor, nor the time you do them. We also encourage you to forget the myth of not being able to carbohydrates at dinner, in the same way that it is not true that you have to eat a maximum amount of protein that the body can assimilate.
When you know what and how much to eat, spread out what you prefer during the day. If you follow these guidelines, you will be able to design a diet according to your goal with relative ease.
What should i eat
When you know how to calculate the calories you need, the next step is how to distribute them . The only thing to keep in mind is that all proteins are not the same, and neither are all carbohydrates. Still, all fats are not the same type.
Regarding the types of fats, you have a very complete article that specifies which ones exist and how they influence your diet. With regard to proteins, it must be made clear that there are those of animal origin – from animals such as eggs or pork – and of vegetable origin – they come from vegetables such as nuts, legumes or flour. wheat-. It is not the same what animal or vegetable proteins can provide you, so you must emphasize the compensation we have talked about before.
