fitness

Several years ago, in the supermarket where I most often buy groceries, I picked up some packaged food, looked at the nutrition facts label and said to myself: “I want to know exactly what these numbers mean”.

I’m so happy I did that, because learning about macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats) was some of the most valuable knowledge I ever acquired about dieting.

So, I want to share with you, in a very structured and simple way, all the important basics of macronutrients that every single person should know.

Among many other things, learning how to read nutrition fact labels and understanding macronutrients (macros, in short) will help you to:

• Easily calculate when you are in a caloric deficit or surplus, depending on whether you want to lose weight or for your muscles to grow.
• The percentage of proteins, carbs, fats and sugars that you intake and how to fine-tune your diet according to your dieting goals.
• Realize how much sugar (or toxic trans fats) there is in almost every food, easily identify junk food outside fast food restaurants (it’s everywhere) and avoid empty calories.

I suggest you read the article on how to find the perfect diet before reading this one.

Calculating macronutrients is extremely important when it comes to dieting

First of all, don’t get fooled into believing that calories and macronutrients don’t count. There are many people out there trying to convince you that prehistoric people didn’t have a clue about calories (I was one of the people who believed in such a philosophy).

It’s absolutely true that prehistoric people didn’t know about calories, but they also didn’t have milkshakes, French fries, candies or even fruit in such an abundance as we have it today. On top of that, they were moving all day. Times have changed, so counting calories and macros can be really beneficial.

When it comes to dieting, the quality and quantity of food are what matters. Both of them matter.

Quantity (how much you eat – calories) is important when it comes to losing weight. Quality (what type of food you eat) is important when it comes to growing muscles, enjoying a high level of energy, having good digestion, staying healthy, and so on.

Trust me, I experimented with this on my own skin. I was on a vegetarian, vegan, fruitarian, macrobiotic, paleo and keto diets and many others, and the same rules apply over and over again (more about the rules in a moment).

I experimented with exercising and zero exercise while on all the different diets. I got very different results. Here is a simple chart that shows completely different body compositions on different diets:

Diet	Macros	Weight	Body fat
Standard diet	High carb (50%) Low fat (30%) Mid protein (20%)	90 kg	25%
Fruitarian diet	High carb (80%) Low fat (10%) Low protein (10%)	69 kg	18%
Current diet	Low carb (30%) Mid fat (30%) High protein (40%)	82 kg	16% and going down

Let’s not forget, every time I started to exercise while eating the same quantity of food, my body fat went down and my good moods went up.

Before we go to the calculations, there are only five rules that you must remember:

1. If you want to lose weight, you must be in a caloric deficit. If I exaggerate a bit: I did get fatter while eating only oranges and avocados if I ate too many calories. No matter what you eat, how many calories you consume has a big influence on gaining or losing fat.
2. You can get yourself in a caloric deficit by eating less (consuming fewer calories) or exercising (burning calories). It’s much easier to restrict calories than burn them. You can so easily eat 500 calories but it takes an hour of working out to burn the same amount. A good rule of thumb is that it takes 10 minutes to burn 100 calories. There’s a saying that you can never out-train your diet and that six-packs are made in the kitchen. But …
3. When you are in a caloric deficit, your body burns fat and muscles. That’s why it’s essential to also exercise while dieting. With exercise you build muscles, speed up your metabolism, improve your mood, burn additional calories, and so on. The right combination of strength, endurance and flexibility training will give you the best long-term overall results.
4. The unfortunate challenge that comes with exercising is that your appetite goes up. Consequently, you must be more disciplined about how much you eat. There are several tricks for eating less , but increasing the amount of protein, complex carbs with lots of fiber and the healthy fats will keep you fuller for a longer period.
5. If you want your muscles to grow, you need to increase the protein intake. But that’s not the only important thing. If you want to preserve your health in the long term, the quality of the food you consume also matters. Limiting sugars, refined grains and trans fats is mandatory for a healthy living. So up with proteins, fibrous foods, healthy fats, and down with sugars, trans fats and processed food.

In the end, remember that the combination of exercise and dieting is what works best. And when it comes to dieting, you must know your macros – (calorie), proteins, carbs and fat intake. There’s no doubt, counting calories and macros can be really beneficial. Now let’s learn how to calculate them.

Step 1: Calculate your recommended daily caloric intake or TDEE

Everything starts with BMR. BMR stands for the Basal Metabolic Rate. It’s the number of calories your body burns only by existing. Your BMR depends on your weight, height and age. If you don’t exercise or move at all, your target calories would equal your BMR.

But as we said, exercise is a must; or at least moving around as much as possible (walking, biking, jogging, playing basketball etc.). By exercising and moving around, you burn additional calories and speed up your metabolism.

You won’t believe it, but you burn calories even when you eat food. It actually costs energy to digest and absorb food. That’s called the Thermic Effect of Food or TEF (or sometimes SDA or DIT). Combining your BMR with the calories you burn through physical activity and the calories you burn while eating leads us to Total Daily Energy Exposure or TDEE.

TDEE = Calories you burn just by existing + calories you burn to process food + calories you burn by moving around and exercising

If your calories consumption equals TDEE, you will neither loose nor gain weight. TDEE is the number of calories that lets you maintain your weight.

There are many BMR/TDEE calculators out there, so I recommend you experiment with several of them and see what kind of calculations you get. As an even better alternative, let’s do the calculations by hand, since it’s not really hard.

Now the fun begins. Let’s calculate my ideal BMR and TDEE as an example.

Calculating your BMR

To calculate your BMR, we will use the Katch-McArdle formula, which looks like this:

P = 370 + (21.6 * LBM)

LBM stands for the lean body mass (in kg).

Lean body mass (LBM) is all the weight that you carry which isn’t fat. In other words, how much you would weigh if you had 0% body fat (it’s theoretical, because you would die without any body fat).

To calculate your LBM you need two pieces of data: your weight and your body fat. You can get both with a good smart scale (approximate) or by using a regular scale and body calipers (more accurate).

Here is the equation for calculating your LBM:

LBM = (100 – % Fat) / 100 * Weight

Let’s do a practical example. Here is my current data:

• Weight: 82 kg
• Fat: 16% (oh boy do I want to get that down to 12%)

My LBM = (100 – 16) / 100 * 82 = 68.8 kg (let’s say 69 kg). That means I carry 13kg of fat around (82kg -69kg = 13kg).

And my BMI is 370 + (21.6 * 69) = 1,860 kcal. If I don’t move at all, I use 1,860 by merely existing.

Calculating your TDEE

The next step is to calculate the TDEE out of BMI. It’s a very simple calculation. The more you move, the higher your TDEE is and the more calories you can consequently eat. Basically, you multiply your BMI with a number depending on how often you exercise.

Activity	Multiplier* (general)
Sedentary	1.1 (1.2)
Light exercise: 1 – 3 times per week	1.2 (1.375)
Moderate exercise: 3 – 5 times per week	1.35 (1.550)
Hard exercise: 6 – 7 days per week	1.45 (1.725)
Very hard exercise: 6 – 7 days per week	1.7 (1.9)

* The multiplier is a little bit lower than generally recommended based on observations of experienced trainers

Now I can easily calculate my TDEE. Since I do moderate exercise 3 – 5 times per week, this is how I calculate my TDEE:

TDEE = 1,860 * 1.35 = 2,511 kcal (let’s round that down to 2,500 kcal)

TDEE is the number where I won’t lose fat or gain muscles with the same level of exercise. But that’s not our goal, which leads us to the second step.

Step 2: Your target calories based on a dieting goal – losing weight or gaining muscles?

Usually there is a goal behind a new diet – to lose weight or to gain more muscles. That requires a little additional math effort because you need to calculate your target calorie intake. But it’s simple math, I promise.

Here are the rules to follow:

• If you want to lose fat/get toned (also called cutting): The overall goal is to lose fat with a minimum loss of muscles. Remember, when dieting your body eats muscles and fat. To achieve that goal, it’s recommended to train 3 – 5 times per week (to preserve muscles, speed up metabolism, burn additional calories etc.) and be at around a 500kcal deficit every day with your diet. You should eat around 20% fewer calories than you burn. You should train with weights and add cardio to your weekly training schedule.
• If you want to gain muscles/get big (also called bulking): The goal is to gain muscles while gaining a minimum amount of fat. To achieve that goal, you should again exercise 3 – 5 times per week, mainly doing weightlifting and HIIT training, and be in around a 300 kcal surplus per day (around 5% to 10% above your overall calorie intake).

As you can see, it’s quite simple.

If you’re skinny or want to focus on muscle growth, you bulk (caloric surplus, weights, little cardio) and if you’re fat, you cut (caloric deficit, weights, a little bit more of cardio).

Unfortunately, when you cut, you are losing fat and muscles (especially if you don’t exercise at all) and when you gain, you gain fat and muscles. You just want to make sure that it happens at different rates, in favor of gaining or preserving muscles. That’s why exercise and sufficient protein intake are so important, but more about that later.

Below is the table to help you decide if you should bulk or cut:

Current body fat (Men)	Current body fat (Women)	Diet type	Calories	Exercise
Lower than 10%	Lower than 17%	Bulk	+ 300 kcal	Weightlifting, Little cardio
Over 15%	Over 22%	Cut	– 500 kcal	Weightlifting, More Cardio
11% – 15%	18% – 22%	First cut to 10 – 12%, then bulk	or	First bulk, then cut to 10 – 12%

Below are some general recommendations on how to choose the right path, if you currently fall into this category and you have plans to look better in the mirror.As you can see in the table above, there are two paths to take if you’re around 11% – 15% of body fat (18% – 22% for women) – first cut, then bulk or vice versa.

Go for the “first cut, then bulk” path, if you:

• Love cardio exercise or it’s summer time, when you can do a lot of cardio outdoor sports
• Never lifted weights and you first need to learn how to properly lift
• Like to eat a lot and need to learn how to respect caloric limits (to not overbulk)
• Would like to get rid of the excess fat hanging off your body
• Really easily gain weight

If you choose this path, you should be doing moderate cardio (some sport you really enjoy outside the gym), learn how to lift weights properly with a personal trainer, and discipline yourself to follow your caloric targets. You will be losing fat, but you’ll also see your muscles get toned.

Go for the “bulk first, cut later” path, if:

• You already have good aerobic endurance and you are eager to lift weights
• It’s winter time and it’s harder to do cardio exercise outside (running, hiking, swimming etc.)
• You did research on beginner’s lifting programs (like 5×5 Stronglifts), have proper form or enough knowledge to lift weights (otherwise get a personal trainer, please)
• You have no problem following a strict diet
• You would like to gain muscles (look bigger) rather than go for definition
• You lose muscles really quickly

In such a case, you should do almost no cardio (well, you want to do a cardio sport you enjoy at least one time per week), focus on lifting weights, and eat enough protein. Your muscles will start to grow, usually quite fast in the beginning.

It takes around 2 – 3 months to see the first results (on both paths), but beginnings always give the fastest progress if you do things correctly.

Lean (toned), big (muscles) or natural (without steroids). You can only choose two.

Now let’s get back to my case. I managed to cut down from 22% to 16% fat in the past year or so. But that’s still not enough to start with clean bulking and focusing solely on muscle gain. Thus, during the summer, I’ll still be in the cutting phase. That means a 500 kcal daily deficit. :(

Let’s calculate my target calories:

• My TDEE = 2,500 kcal
• Cutting = 500 kcal deficit
• My target calories = 2,000 kcal per day (and in the bulking phase, that would be 2,800 kcal)

How fast will you be losing fat with a daily 500 kcal deficit?

Approximately 7,700 kcal equals 1 kg of fat (or 3,600 kcal for one pound of fat). It’s just an approximate number (there’s a big fight about that online!), not an exact one, because your metabolism can slow down, it’s harder to lose fat with a lower body percentage, it depends on your macros etc.

But it’s good enough to give us some very general direction. Now let’s do the calculation:

• 500 kcal daily deficit = 15,000 kcal monthly deficit (500 kcal * 30 days)
• 15,000 kcal / 7,700 = 1.95 kg. That’s almost 2kg of lost weight a month, the upper healthy limit for weight loss.

Exactly what I want and need.

Step 3: Calculate targeted calories per meal

Now that you know your targeted daily caloric intake, you can easily calculate your meal caloric targets. That’s especially beneficial for not overeating on snacks.

You will soon see why your snacks should be around 200 kcal on typical 3 big meals, 2 snacks diet. It’s sad but one bigger snack can get you away from your caloric targets and your fat won’t go anywhere.

There are some standard eating patterns that people follow that we can use in our calculations:

• Standard three big meals and two snacks
• Three big meals without snacks
• Two big meals and two snacks without dinner
• Six smaller meals

Now let’s do some calculations for my targeted 2,000 kcal daily consumption:

	6 meals	3 meals + 2 snacks	3 meals + 0 snacks	2 meals + 2 snacks
Breakfast	20% – 400 kcal	25% – 500 kcal	33% – 660 kcal	30% – 600 kcal
Snack	15% – 300 kcal	10% – 200 kcal		20% – 400 kcal
Lunch	20% – 400 kcal	30% – 600 kcal	33% – 660 kcal	30% – 600 kcal
Snack	15% – 300 kcal	10% – 200 kcal		20% – 400 kcal
Dinner	20% – 400 kcal	25 % – 500 kcal	33% – 660kcal
Post workout	10% – 200 kcal
Total	2,000 kcal	2,000 kcal	2,000 kcal	2,000 kcal

I love to eat often and a lot, and my blood sugar levels drop fast, which is why I follow the first option of having 6 meals more or less equally combined.

Sometimes it’s quite a challenge to squeeze six meals into an 8-hour timeframe while following an intermittent diet. But you definitely don’t suffer from hunger issues in doing so.

If you go for bigger main courses (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and have snacks in between, be careful not to over-snack. Make sure your snacks are around 200 kcal, otherwise you can quickly miss your macro targets.

Beware of empty calories

You consume empty calories with all the foods that provide zero nutritional value. These especially include soft drinks, candies, biscuits, cakes, jams, jelly, syrups, and so on.

Don’t forget to count such (liquid) calories if you consume them during the day. Empty calories can quickly get you over the caloric limit. One sugary drink (soda, juices) can quickly amount to 200 kcal.

Now the fun begins. It’s time to learn the macro goals for the favorite foods you eat most often.

Step 4: Define your macronutrient goals according to the diet you follow

We discussed all the important basics about the calorie intake. Calculate your TDEE and go for a deficit if you want to lose fat or for a surplus if you want your muscles to grow (in combination with eating enough protein and regular weightlifting).

The next step is to dive deep into calculating the right amount of protein, carbs and fats to consume daily with every meal.

• Macronutrients: Protein, carbs, fats
• Micronutrients: Vitamins, minerals

Before we start with any calculations, let me explain the basics of the three major food-building blocks (macronutrients or macros), why they are important and what the best food sources for each category are.

Macronutrient	Best for
Protein	Building muscles
Carbohydrates (carbs)	Primary source of energy
Fats	Hormones, nerves, tissues, vitamin absorption Secondary source of energy

Protein – building blocks for your muscles

Your body is made mainly of water and protein. Proteins are chains of amino acids. We know approximately 20 different amino acids and 9 of them can’t be made by your body, but need to be consumed with foods.

The major role of protein is to build new tissue and fix broken down tissue. They also help fight off infections (amino acids such as glutamine). If you don’t consume enough protein, your body starts to tear down your muscles to get the sufficient amount of protein.

Animal protein sources	Plant based protein sources
Lean meat Fish and seafood Low fat dairy Eggs Whey protein Nuts Greek Yogurt	Nuts Chia, hemp and other seeds Beans Lentils Seitan Tofu

Carbohydrates – the more complex and fibrous the better

Carbohydrates get turned into glucose and are the main and primary fuel for the body and brain (as sugar). Body breaks carbohydrates down to burn them as an energy source.

We know simple carbohydrates and complex carbs (whole foods with more fiber and micronutrients). It takes a longer time to break down complex carbs and consequently they don’t spike your insulin levels.

It’s not hard to guess which ones are healthier. Complex carbs, of course. The biggest problem are refined simple carbs that mess with your insulin levels and are so easy to consume in abundance (think crackers, for example).

Complex carbs (good carbs)	Fibrous and starchy carbs (good carbs)	Highly processed carbs (bad simple carbs)
Whole grains Brown rice Oatmeal Quinoa	Veggies Fruits Lentils Beans, peas Sweet potato	Refined grains Sugars Honey Syrups Soft drinks Candy etc.

Fats – essential for your body to function and excellent fuel

Fats (or fatty acids) are especially important for hormone balance, cell growth, nerve function, healthy tissues, some micronutrient absorption and for protecting your organs. We know saturated (animal sources), polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

Usually there is one dominant type of fat, and that is how food is categorized. And let’s not forget about trans fats, which are absolutely bad for you. Trans fats are created when polyunsaturated oils are altered through hydrogenation.

Fats can also be a source of energy for your body (on a keto diet).

Good fats Monounsaturated	Good fats Polyunsaturated	Fats to limit* Saturated fats	Worst food Trans fats
Avocado Nuts Olives Olive oil Some seeds	Flax seed Hemp seed Some nuts Salmon, sardines Beans Eggs Fish oil (they stay liquid in colder temperatures and contain lots of omega-3-6)	Fatty meat parts Red Meat Diary Butter Dark chocolate Tropical oils (coconut, palm oil)	Margarine French Fries Potato chips Crackers Everything fried

* There are contradictory studies on whether saturated fats are bad for you. Many diets recommend you limit saturated fats to 10% or less of your daily calorie intake (no more than 20 grams).

On the other hand, the keto diet doesn’t advocate any restrictions. Listen to your body, what you prefer, but be careful because if you are not on keto, you can easily overeat on saturated fats.

Simple guidelines for what to eat

As you can see, the tables above include three food types that need to be avoided or minimized:

• Everything with added sugar
• Highly processed carbs (sugars, refined grains, sweets, cakes etc.)
• Foods with trans fats (everything fried, crackers and similar snacks, margarine etc.)

And almost every diet agrees to include the following in your meals:

• Veggies and fruits (the latter in moderation)
• Healthy unsaturated fats
• Drinking enough water

Everything else is up to you and what works for your body and other factors (beliefs, culture etc.):

• If you are vegetarian, you will eliminate animal proteins and saturated fats
• If you are on a keto diet, you will eliminate carbohydrates and focus on eating fats
• If you are on a macrobiotic diet, you will focus on complex carbohydrates
• If you are on paleo, you focus on eating unprocessed food
• If you follow a standard diet, you will mainly eat carbs, and so on

The foods to experiment with and see if they work for your body:

1. Animal products (protein source for muscle growth or a source of fat)
   1. Meat – poultry, beef, lamb, pork etc.
   2. Dairy – yogurt, cheese, butter, milk etc.
   3. Eggs
2. Fish and seafood (protein source for muscle growth)
3. Grains (complex carbs for energy)
4. Beans, legumes and lentils (complex carbs for energy)
5. Nightshades – tomato, peppers, chili, eggplant
6. Coffee
7. Food supplements

The ratio between macronutrients

The point of this article is not to advocate any diet in particular, but rather to teach you how to do macronutrient calculations.

So, let’s look at what the most popular diets recommend about how much protein, carbs and fats you should consume:

Diet type	Protein	Carbs	Fats
Standard	15% (mid)	50% (high)	35% (mid)
Fruitarian	10% (low)	80% (high, fruits)	10% (low)
Macrobiotic	10% (low)	70% (high)	20% (low)
Low-carb	40% (high)	10% (low)	50% (high)
The Zone Diet	30% (high)	40% (mid)	30% (mid)
Keto	20% (mid)	10% (low)	70% (high)
Paleo diet	40% (high)	20% (low)	40% (high)
Fitness community	40% (high)	40% (mid)	20% (low)

Well, as I said, you have to do a little bit of experimenting to find the diet that works best for you. I would just recommend you don’t go into any extreme. I currently follow the paleo diet with carb cycling, but you will have to experiment on your own.

Now the next step is to get the actual grams for each macronutrient. To calculate that, we need yet another piece of data:

Macronutrient	1 gram = number of calories
Protein	4 kcal
Carbs	4 kcal
Fats	9 kcal

With that piece of data, it’s very easy to calculate how many grams of each macronutrient you should eat. Let’s do the calculation for my 2,000 calories, based on the 40P/20C/40F split that I follow after a little bit of experimenting.

I also do carb cycling, but that would only complicate things.

Macronutrient	% of calorie intake	kcal	grams
Protein	40%	800 kcal	200g
Carbs	20%	400 kcal	100g
Fats	40%	800 kcal	90g

Now we have the exact targeted grams of protein, carbs and fats to intake. Let’s now do a few safety checks to make sure the calculations are okay.

Are you eating enough protein for muscles to grow?

It’s completely up to you to find the right ratio of proteins, carbs and fats that works for you. But the one thing you want to make sure is to consume enough protein to preserve or grow your muscles.

As we said, proteins are responsible for muscle tissue and if you don’t consume enough protein, your muscles start to break down.

The recommended consumption of protein for muscles to grow is in the table below. I also added minimum recommendations for fats consumption, and the range for the carb intake. Commonly, people get enough proteins with using a protein shake.

So you can do the calculations the other way around as well.

• First calculate how much protein you want to consume and how many calories equals that.
• Then calculate the fats you need and the rest are carbs.

Macronutrient	Recommended consumption (per body mass in kg)
Protein (for muscle growth)	2.3g – 3.1g (1g to 1.4g per 1lb)
Fats	At least 0.5 g (0.23g per 1lb)
Carbs	From 1g to 3.1g (0.45g to 1.4g per 1lb) (on keto, your carb intake should be less than 50g per day, moderate amount of proteins and mainly fats)

I weigh 82kg (180lbs), so let’s do the calculations:

• 200g of protein equals 2.4g per my body weight. Checked.
• 90g of fats equals 1.1g of fat per my body weight. That’s more than the 0.5g minimum. Checked.
• The rest are carbs, which I cycle. I eat around 1.2g of carbs per my body weight.

The last step is to calculate approximate macros for every meal (there are only general directions to meet by the end of the day).

Meal	Calories	Protein (g)	Carbs (g)	Fats (g)
Breakfast	20% – 400 kcal	40	20	18
Snack	15% – 300 kcal	30	15	14
Lunch	20% – 400 kcal	40	20	18
Snack	15% – 300 kcal	30	15	14
Dinner	20% – 400 kcal	40	20	18
Post Workout	10% – 200 kcal	20	10	9
Total	2000 kcal	200g	100g	91g

Remember, these are not strict rules, only general directions. Of course, some of my meals will be more protein-based, others filled with more carbs or fats. But at the end of the day, I should hit my macro targets.

Here are some additional directions to follow:

• If you drink whey supplements, don’t consume more than 30g of protein at once. Crossing the 30g limit with solid food is not a problem.
• It’s good to have a planned meal with healthy fats every day, since it’s much easier to eat carbs than fat.
• Try to consume protein before and after a workout (in a few hours’ time frame) and as your last meal. Whey supplements after a workout might also help you with quick recovery.
• If you want to aggressively lose weight, you can temporarily cut carbs and eat more fats. It works really well for some people. They don’t eat carbs for 3 – 5 days and then they do carb loading. Carb cycling can also be a really good solution.
• For some people, the best time to eat carbs is with the first meal after you wake up and after exercise, but you will have to experiment with that.

When you are eating what type of food is not really that important. There’s a great article by Precision Nutrition explaining the nutritional hierarchy of importance:

1. How much do you eat? – Calorie control, not overeating
2. How you eat? – Slowly and mindfully, without distractions
3. Why you are eating? Hunger, emotional eating, social pressure
4. What are you eating? Macros and food type
5. When you are eating? Skipping meals, pre/post workout

And we are almost at the end – a slightly adjusted table of how I plan to achieve my daily macro targets:

Meal	Protein	Carbs	Fats	Calories
Breakfast	30g	10g	30g	430
Snack	30g	20g	20g	380
Lunch	50g	10g	15g	375
Snack	20g	40g	30g	380
Dinner	50g	10g	5g	285
Post Workout	30g	20g	1g	209
Total	210g	100g	91g	2059

Step 5: Get to know the macros of the food you most frequently eat and prepare a plan

It’s not over yet. At this final step, the fun continues. You know your macro targets – calories, protein, carbs, fats.

Thus, it’s time to hit these targets as precisely as possible at least by the end of the day.

To do that, you need the following data:

• A list of the foods you most frequently eat (for different meals): I suggest you prepare a list of all the foods you eat based on your daily meal plans, a meal log or your standard shopping list.
• The weight of foods: That’s the hardest part, but for a week or so you will have to weigh everything you eat on a kitchen scale.
• Macro values for every food: You get the macro values on a nutrition facts label, in different online spreadsheets or software applications. You can find many recipes online that already give macros for the whole dish and can help you do the calculations quicker.

As an example, let’s look at the approximate values of the food that I regularly eat:

Protein-based food

Food	Quantity	kcal	Protein	Carbs	Sugars	Fats
Lean chicken	100g	110	23.0	0.0	0.0	1.2
Lean beef	100g	160	22.0	0.0	0.0	7.0
Curd	100g	130	11.0	4.0	3.8	8.0
Sea bass	100g	199	18.0	1.0	0.0	2.0

Carb-based food

Food	Quantity	kcal	Protein	Carbs	Sugars	Fats
Banana	100g	90	1	23	12	0.3
Blueberry	100g	60	0.7	15	10	0.3
Broccoli	100g	34	2.8	6.6	1.7	0.4
Chickpea	100g	165	9	27	5	2.6
Buckwheat	100g	345	13	71	1	3.5

Fat-based food

Food	Quantity	kcal	Protein	Carbs	Sugars	Fats
Egg	100g	200	13	1	1	15
Salmon	100g	193	20	0	0	11
Avocado	100g	160	2	9	0.5	15
Almonds	100g	650	55	14	4	21

Based on that, you build your typical meals. Let’s look at the example of my favorite lunch meal:

Food	Quantity	kcal	Protein	Carbs	Sugars	Fats
Beef steak	150g	240	35	0	0	11
Broccoli	50g	35	3	7	2	1
Quinoa	25g	90	4	15	0	1
Total		365	42	22	2	13
Targets		375 kcal	50	20	0	15

As you can see, we are approximately in the macro targets for my lunch. I could add a few almonds to the dish and it would be perfect.

The next step is to:

• Make calculations for a few combinations of your favorite dishes (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks)
• Upgrade your favorite dishes to meet the macro targets (very approximately)
• Combine the dishes in the way that you get to your daily targets (quite precisely)
• Prepare your weekly dieting plan
• Do the same for the bulking phase, carb cycling and any other variations

You can do the calculations in a spreadsheet (download the template below) or in any food tracker, like MyFitnessPal.

I recommend you do it in a spreadsheet, especially the first time, to get a feeling of how calorically different food is and what macronutrients it’s based on. Afterwards you can set up the tracking system in one of the apps.

It took me approximately 15 – 20 hours to build my standard meals and do all the calculations. But it was definitely worth it. I never imagined how many calories there are in some food and how quickly and easily you can get in a surplus.

After you master the basics, you can additionally focus on how much fiber, sugar, trans fats and saturated fats you consume. And after that, tracking your micronutrients is an additional recommendation to make sure you get all the vitamins and minerals.

I hope this blog post helped you clarify some things around macronutrients and that you now know how to calculate the perfect targets for your dieting and fitness goals.

If there is a single area of life with the most confusing and contradictory information, it’s dieting without a doubt. There are hundreds of different diets out there, most of them claiming to offer you a miraculous solution for high levels of energy, a fit body and absence of any illness.

After reading a few dieting books or articles, you have no idea who to believe and what really works and what doesn’t. For almost every type of food in existence, you can find several “scientific” studies that are for and against eating that specific food.

And for almost every type of diet, there are gurus explaining their stories of how they easily acquired a six-pack, got cured of cancer and now they need only 2 hours of sleep. All you have to do is to click the buy button.

And you know what. They are all wrong. Because I’m the one who found the perfect diet for you … I’m the one who knows the secret to the spring of eternal youth, building muscles while eating French fries, and a secret supplement that makes you super strong.

I’m just kidding … But let me share with you my experience with different diets and what I learned about healthy eating up until now. It might help you solve some confusion and give you directions for what really works and what doesn’t.

I read my first few dieting books before I was even 18 years old. All the contradictory information got me super confused, as it happens to everyone. In all the confusion, I decided to experiment with different diets on my own skin and see what works and what doesn’t.

In the past 15 years, I followed many different diets and eating patterns. Here are only a few of the major diet types that I did:

• Standard (American) diet: Sometime up to my 18^th birthday
• Vegetarian diet (standard, lacto, ovo, alkaline): 4 years
• Vegan diet: 2 years
• Fruitarian diet: 1 year
• Raw – plant/fat-based diet: 0. 5 years
• Macrobiotic diet: 0.5 years (yin/yang principle – whole grain based)
• Atkins diet: 0.5 years (high protein, low carb, low fat)
• Ketogenic diet: 0.5 years (mid protein, low carb, high fat)
• The Zone Diet: 0.5 years (40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat)
• Paleo diet: 1 year
• The diet I currently follow is a combination of the past few diets and it fits me perfectly. I cycle complex carbs, on non-carb days I eat lots of healthy fats, and my diet is mainly based on meat, fish, eggs, dairy, veggies, nuts, seeds, fruits, ancient wheat sorts and beans.

Much like I experimented with different diets, I also experimented with different eating patterns – skipping breakfast or dinner, intermittent fasting, carb-cycling, different number of meals during the day, juice fasting, gluten-free diet, not eating sweets at all for several years, eating only low GI foods, and many other eating patterns and diets.

Before we start, I want to be very clear – I’m not promoting any specific diet and I definitely didn’t invent yet another miraculous solution that will make you super fit overnight. What I’ve learned is that you must experiment a little bit to find the diet that works best for you as an individual.

But you must be very careful not to go into extremes and, in the end, do more damage to your health than good. Eating disorders and dieting extremes are often a sign of emotional suffering.

If you find yourself getting obsessed with a certain type of diet and beating yourself up when you don’t follow it 100%, there’s a high probability you’re trying to compensate for emotional suffering by punishing your body.

Extreme diets, not supervised by a specialist, are most often only a version of self-punishment.

There are three major goals of this article:

1. I want to help you solve the confusion of which is the best diet out there. There is no such thing as the perfect diet. By experimenting you must find the one that works best for you (and this article will teach you how).
2. Even though many diets claim completely different things, there are some general health recommendations that most diets agree with. We will look at these recommendations, because they are absolutely worth following. What to definitely eat and what definitely not to eat.
3. I want to share with you how to safely experiment to find the diet that will perfectly fit you as an individual.

To put everything together, we will look at several things:

• The foundations of a healthy lifestyle
• The foods you should definitely eat
• The foods you should definitely not eat
• The foods to experiment with and figure out if they work for you
• Perfecting your diet with little tricks

The foundations of healthy living – diet, exercise and lifestyle

You can eat the healthiest diet in the world, but eating habits are only one part of a healthy lifestyle.

The other two foundations of health and fitness are exercise and a moderate style of living. Much like you can do damage to your health with a bad diet, so you can do it with a lavish lifestyle and physical laziness.

Don’t expect to solve all of your health problems or to be fit only by following a miraculous diet. Diet is absolutely important, and you can greatly influence your health, fitness and energy levels with proper dieting, but don’t forget about the other two foundations – exercise and lifestyle.

Diet, exercise and lifestyle all greatly influence your health and fitness levels.

When it comes to exercising, here are some general recommendations:

• Find the exercise you dislike the least and move at least three times per week
• Systematically work on your endurance, strength, flexibility/mobility/stability
• Learn to breathe properly through your nose, inhaling in the belly
• Spend enough time in nature, in the sun, playing and enjoying life
• Make sure your posture is good

And when it comes to your style of living, here are the rules to follow:

• Severe negative emotions for longer periods of time, like anxiety, anger, fear etc., can do extensive damage to your health
• Being under stress for a longer period of time is the recipe for destroying your health
• Loving connections with many different people matter a lot when it comes to health
• Always get enough sleep – that means 7 to 8 hours per night (except when having a baby)
• Learn to balance work, rest and play (you must learn to balance doing and being)

With regular exercise, you speed up your metabolism, preserve or gain muscles, improve your overall state of health, burn additional calories and brighten your mood. Never forget that you’re always only one workout away from a good mood.

When I went on a very calorie-restrictive diet without exercising, I did lose weight, but my posture got really bad, my muscles went away, and I certainly didn’t look healthy. A healthy diet with regular exercise works best.

On the other hand, a moderate lifestyle makes it much easier to follow your diet and exercising goals. If you make sure you’re well rested, in good company with a positive outlook on life, there won’t be any emotional eating, you will have an easier job focusing on your dieting goals, your hormones will be balanced, and your overall happiness will improve.

So please keep all three health foundations in mind – diet, exercise, and general lifestyle.

The quest for perfect diet – First narrow down the choices and the confusion will immediately decrease

The best thing that helped me reduce the confusion around dieting and which foods to eat, was narrowing down my choices. The fewer choices you have, the less confused you can be.

I simply went through the most popular types of diets and categorized foods into three types:

1. The foods most diets DO recommend eating
2. The foods most diets agree are NOT healthy at all
3. The foods where opinions differ (it means you must figure it out by yourself)

Now let’s look at these three categories.

1. The foods you should DEFINITELY EAT on a daily basis

In all the confusion, there are luckily a few types of foods that most diets recommend. These are the foods you should absolutely eat on a daily basis – if possible with every meal, no matter which diet you follow.

As you probably figured out, green veggies are on the list.

A word of caution. Eating only the foods on the “safe list” is absolutely not enough for getting all the macro- and micro-nutrients that your body needs. But these are definitely the foods that should be on your plate regularly and will help preserve your fitness and health.

There are three types of foods that are recommended by most diets:

• Veggies, especially the green ones, with the exception of nightshades
• Plant-based healthy fats, mainly from nuts and seeds
• Fruits, but absolutely eaten in moderation and not juiced
• We can also add water to the list

Make veggies your favorite food

Organic seasonal veggies, especially the green ones, have the best reputation in different diets. But you must go for the organic grown option.

The only exception among veggies are nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, chilies), for which some studies assert that they cause inflammation. To keep things as simple as possible, let’s keep nightshades off the list at this step.

Even without nightshades, there are so many vegetables you can enjoy with every meal:

• Artichoke
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Chinese cabbage
• Cucumber
• Green beans
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce, chicory, endive
• Pea
• Radish
• Rutabaga
• Spinach
• Squash
• Zucchini etc.

As you can see above, there are more than 20 tasty vegetables to enjoy with every meal. Veggie soups, salads, green smoothies, and veggie mix side dishes are the healthiest options you should definitely eat every day.

Veggies are rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber, they are low in calories, and there are so many different tasty dishes you can make out of them.

Healthy fats will make your cells super happy

Healthy fats also have a very good reputation in many diets. The most common reason they might not be recommended is because they are dense in calories. But that only means you must eat them in moderation.

And let’s not forget that there is a big marketing gimmick out there created by the sugar industry, claiming that fat is making you fat, which is absolutely not true. Overeating is making you fat, not fat.

Below is the list of foods filled with healthy fats that should absolutely be on your shopping list:

• Avocado
• Nuts (if you don’t have any allergies and make sure they’re not roasted and salted) – walnuts, almonds, pistachios, brazil nuts, cashew, macadamia, pine nuts and pistachios (exception are peanuts, since they are legumes, not nuts)
• Seeds – flax, chia, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, hemp and other seeds
• Dark chocolate (85%+)
• Olives
• Healthy oils – olive oil, coconut oil, flax seed oil

Fruits are the best way to sweeten your life

You probably know the saying an apple a day keeps the doctor away. It’s hard to fight such an old wisdom; as long as you eat fruit in moderation. Some diets are not very enthusiastic about fruit, because it contains quite a lot of sugar.

Unfortunately, modern fruit is grown to be as sweet as possible, since sugar is so addictive. Nevertheless, fruit is still packed with so much beneficial stuff for your health (vitamins, minerals, fiber) that a few pieces of fruit will absolutely do more good for your health than bad, at least in most cases.

When it comes to fruit, there are a few important rules to follow:

• Buy organic fruit from a trusted supplier (same as veggies and nuts)
• Go for seasonal fruit, especially the locally grown kind
• Eat only a few pieces of fruit per day (up to 5 portions – pieces or small cups)
• Don’t eat fruit after big meals as a dessert, but rather eat it as a snack between meals (otherwise fruit might mess with your digestion or make you hungry again)
• Don’t drink fruit smoothies or fruit juices
• Don’t eat dried or canned fruit
• If you want to lose weight, temporarily limit fruit consumption
• Don’t eat fruit if your doctor advises you against it because of some particular illness (diabetes etc.)

There are so many different fruits that can serve as a delicious snack:

• Apples
• Apricots
• Bananas
• Berries – blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries (berries are really good for you)
• Cherries
• Figs
• Grapes
• Kiwis
• Lemons and limes
• Mangos
• Melons
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Passion fruits
• Papayas
• Peaches
• Pears
• Pineapples
• Plums
• Tangerines
• Watermelons
• All the exotic fruit

Let’s not forget to drink enough water

Another tip that most diets recommend is to drink enough water. It’s the only way to keep your body and brain hydrated. Thus, drink a glass of water the first thing when you wake up, and then every time before meals and between meals.

You should drink around half a gallon (2 liters) of water per day, and even more during heat and exercise. Try not to drink out of a plastic bottle (plastic contains toxic chemicals like phthalates, bisphentol-BPA and xenoestrogens) and make sure you always have a glass of water by your side in the office.

Any other drinks like sodas, fruit juices, coffee, alcoholic beverages etc. do not count as an alternative to water. The only alternative might be un-sugared herbal tea (but not green tea). Still, make sure you drink a few glasses of water every day to become fond of drinking pure water without any taste.

2. The foods you should DEFINITELY AVOID

Much like we have foods that most diets and nutrition experts do recommend consuming on a daily basis, so we have foods that the majority of nutrition experts advise against.

These are the foods you should not eat at all, or at least very rarely (let’s say less than 10% – 20% of your overall food intake is reasonable and easily achieved).

Here is the list of the foods most nutrition specialists recommend you avoid:

1. Foods high in added sugar
2. Refined (highly proccessed) carbohydrates
3. Artificial trans fats

We should add to the list also:

1. All other highly processed food (sausages, salami, frozen food, canned food etc.).
2. Cheap foods of an unknown source
3. Cigarettes, alcohols and drugs

Sugar is your number one enemy

Let’s start with sugar. Sugar is your number one enemy and the greatest poison when it comes to food. The problem is because it’s so addictive and added to almost every processed food.

Sugar is not only in sweets, but also in low-fat foods, fruit yogurts, dressings, bread etc. There’s added sugar almost everywhere. While you can’t completely avoid sugar, it’s smart to limit it as much as possible.

Foods high in sugar (obvious and not so obvious) are:

• All types of candies and sweets – muffins, cakes, bonbons, chocolate, pudding, desserts etc.
• Breakfast cereals
• Low-fat yogurts and yogurt with fruit
• Honey, jelly and jams
• Dressings and sauces
• Cereal bars and many protein bars
• Flavored coffees and ice teas
• Pre-made soups
• Granola
• Bread
• Canned fruit
• Ice cream, frozen yogurt and milkshakes
• Juices, fruit drinks and smoothies
• Sports drinks
• Soft drinks
• And so on

Trans fats are as bad as sugar

Besides sugar, trans fats are definitely something to avoid. Artificial trans fats are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. Don’t confuse trans fats with saturated fats from animal products.

Trans fat raises your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and lowers your HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Not to mention that trans fats cause cancer.

Here are the foods high in trans fats you must avoid at all costs:

• Baked goods – cakes, cookies, waffles, biscuits, rolls and pies
• Snacks – chips, crackers, tortilla chips
• Fried or battered food – French fries, doughnuts, fried meat
• Breakfast sandwiches
• Frozen pizza
• Microwave popcorn
• Margarine

Highly processed food and refined grains

The third group of foods to be avoided are refined and highly processed carbohydrates and refined grains. Refined carbohydrates are grains that have had all the beneficial stuff removed (fibers, minerals, vitamins).

Consequently, most diets agree that you should go for the whole, healthier versions of carbohydrates.

The refined carbohydrates to avoid are:

• Pure sugar – white or brown sugar
• Syrups – agave, corn, maple brown rice and all other types of syrups
• Snack foods – chips, crackers, pretzels
• Soft sandwich breads and toasts
• Hamburger buns or hot dog buns
• Instant oatmeal, pancakes and waffle mixes
• Again, all types of desserts and sweets
• Highly processed food with expiration date in years – sausages, salami frozen food, canned food etc.
• White bread and white pasta (debatable) – but whole version is definitely healthier

In the end, we must add fast food, highly processed food and cheap foods from unknown sources to the list of unhealthy foods to be avoided. And you already know about the damage that cigarettes, drugs and alcohol do to your health.

We all need cheat meals

Does this mean you should never eat these types of foods? Being an extremist or a perfectionist only brings pain and suffering into your life.

I used to be an extremist and eating something from the list of “forbidden” foods above made me angry and anxious for a couple of hours. The emotional reaction probably did more damage to my health than that unhealthy snack.

When it comes to shitty food there are a few humane rules to follow:

• Eating less than 10 – 20% of shitty food is in most cases good enough (if you don’t suffer from any real illnesses or if you are not on a very strict diet). Don’t expect to completely avoid shitty foods, because that’s impossible in today’s world.
• It takes some energy, planning and a higher budget to avoid shitty food. The environment is not on your side when it comes to avoiding shitty foods. Be prepared for people, commercials and restaurants to not support your desire to eat healthy, rather than the opposite.
• Always go for the healthiest food available and don’t emotionally beat yourself up if it’s not the healthy choice. Sometimes on a business meeting or when you are travelling, it’s just impossible to eat really healthy.
• It’s normal to have a pig-out day from time to time (approximately once per month), when you eat all the possible crap food. It’s pretty much the same when you’re emotionally upset and there’s nothing that can calm you down except a big bowl of ice cream. Just make sure that it doesn’t happen daily.
• If you find yourself eating shitty food for several days in a row, at some point decide to eat only healthy food for the upcoming couple of days. You can always correct choices with your next move.
• Don’t have shitty food at home.

3. The foods you must figure out on your own if they work for you or not

Now you are familiar with the foods to definitely eat and the foods to avoid. That leads us to the last group of foods, with which you will have to experiment a little bit and find out what works for you and what doesn’t.

Your religious, ethical beliefs, taste preferences and exercise goals usually also have a big influence on what to go for.

The foods for which you have to decide for yourself (best with experimenting) if you will eat them or not are:

1. Animal products (protein source for muscle grow or source of fat)
   • Meat – chicken, cattle, sheep, pigs etc.
   • Dairy – yogurt, cheese, butter, milk etc.
   • Eggs
2. Fish and seafood (protein source for muscle growth)
3. Grains (complex carbs for energy)
4. Beans, legumes and lentils (complex carbs for energy)
5. Nightshades – tomato, peppers, chili, eggplant

We can also add to the list:

• Coffee
• Food supplements

These are the foods where most of the confusion comes from – many different diets are for or against and opinions of nutrition experts vary.

There are also many contradictory scientific studies about the effects of these foods on your health. The best thing to do is to experiment a little bit and see what works for you and what doesn’t.

Here is in general what different diets recommend:

• Vegetarian diet – no meat products, only plant based protein and fat
• Vegan diet – no animal products or seafood, only plant based protein and fat
• Macrobiotic diet – based especially on grains
• Paleo diet / Keto diet – no grains, beans, legumes or lentils
• Zone diet – eat everything in moderation (1/3 protein, 2/3 complex and fibrous carbs), no fatty meat

A simple way to find out what fits your body and what doesn’t

First eliminate all the foods that you don’t like, don’t want to eat because of religious, ethical or any other beliefs, or that just aren’t very popular in your local environment.

Then the best way to find out which foods fit your body and which don’t is to write a food journal. In the food journal, you note the following things:

• Your observations before eating anything – Do you like the smell, does the food looks tasty, do you like the texture and the actual taste? What is your body telling you?
• Observe your body’s reaction after eating the food – How does your mood change, any variations in energy levels, do you have any allergic reactions, would you eat the same meal next time?
• Body responses if you (don’t) eat a certain type of food – Do you have any cravings (doesn’t work for sugary foods), how good is your sleep, overall feeling, energy levels etc.
• Scientific tests – You can measure your blood sugar levels, vitamins and minerals deficiencies, there are several allergy tests out there, DNA test recommendations etc.

By gathering all the data, you only need several months to find the foods that work for you and the ones that don’t.

While you experiment, make sure you don’t go to any extremes. If you listen carefully to your body’s reaction, you will soon find the foods that resonate the best with your body.

For example, here is what works for me:

• I eat quite a lot of lean meat without fatty parts (saturated fat doesn’t resonate well with me). Eating a lot of meat was quite hard for me, considering that I was vegetarian for a long time. But I have much more energy now and my blood test also significantly improved.
• I eat yogurt made from goat milk, cheese, curd, but don’t consume butter or milk.
• All beans, legumes and lentils, work great for me, except soy.
• I need whole grains for high energy levels – wild rice, barley, millet, quinoa, buckwheat, oats. Refined grains don’t work good for me, at least psychologically.
• I do eat fish, but not other seafood.
• I absolutely don’t like nightshades.
• No coffee for me, but I do drink green tea.
• I do take a few food supplements.
• From time to time, I change my dieting regime a little bit to always try new things and options.

Other factors to consider when it comes to choosing the perfect diet

You might also have certain fitness or health goals that can influence your choice of foods. Here are some general directions to follow:

Do you want to grow muscles?

If you want to grow muscles, you will have to increase your protein intake. The easiest way to get enough protein are animal sources (meat, dairy, eggs, fish, whey protein).

You can find vegetarian bodybuilders eating only plant-based protein (beans, legumes, lentils, rice proteins etc.), but it’s much harder to get enough protein for muscles to grow.

That means growing muscles most often requires eating a lot of meat and animal products. Many diets like keto, paleo, Atkins etc. are big advocates of eating animal proteins.

Do you want to lose fat?

If you want to lose fat, there are two important rules to follow. The first one is that you can never out-train your diet. Exercising absolutely does help to lose fat, but a six pack is mainly made in the kitchen, not in the gym.

That’s because it’s so easy to eat 500 kcal, and you need to work out for an hour to burn the same number of calories.

The second rule when it comes to losing fat is that you should be in a caloric deficit (around 500 – 700 kcal a day). Some nutrition specialists claim that the quantity of the food is not important, only quality.

That’s not true. Both are important. When it comes to loosing fat, quantity can be even more important than quality, and when it comes to your overall health we must add quality to the equation.

• I lost fat on a standard American diet by restricting calories
• I got fat on paleo, vegetarian or any other diet by overeating

If you want to really lose fat, the best way is to calculate your BMR, TDEE and macros (carb, fat, protein intake) and then track your daily values. In practical terms that means, you will have to restrict calories in your diet if you want to loose fat.

You will get the best weight loss results by:

• Following a healthy calorie restrictive dieting
• Regularly exercising
• Increasing your protein intake foods rich in fiber
• Eliminating simple carbs and sugars
• Eliminating empty calories (sodas, juices, sweets etc.)

Do you want to run your body on glucose or ketones?

Your body can run on glucose or ketones. Ketones are alternative fuel, when glucose (blood sugar) is in short supply.

Ketones are produced in the liver from fat. When your body runs on ketones, your insulin level becomes very low. Your body produces ketones when you eat a minimal amount of carbs and a moderate amount of protein.

Some people feel great on the keto diet and others terrible. There is no other way to find out than to try it.

Ketones (70%+ of energy comes from fat)	Glucose (energy comes from healthy carbs)
Fatty meats Fatty fish Cheese Eggs Butter Oils Avocado, olives	Whole grains Wild rice Beans, lentils, legumes Sweet potato Vegetables Fruits

Putting it all together – the formula for finding your perfect diet

If we put it all together, the formula for finding your perfect diet is pretty simple:

1. Eat as many veggies as possible every day (except nightshades, if your body doesn’t like them) – Go for veggie soups, salads and green smoothies. Make sure there is always some type of veggies on your platter as a side dish. Be in love with veggies. No matter which diet you follow, veggies are the most vital food for your health.
2. Eat fruit in moderation – Fruit contains fructose (sugar), which is not optimal, but it is also packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber. So, eat fruit in moderation, maximum 2 – 5 pieces per day. When you crave sweets, go for a piece of fruit. If you want to lose weight, or your body to run on ketones, limit your fruit intake only to berries and to 1 portion.
3. Never forget to eat healthy fats – Avocado, nuts (if you’re not allergic), seeds, olives and dark chocolate are great snacks and super healthy foods. You should get at least 20% of your calorie intake from fats, and if you want to run your body on ketones, that should go up to 70% (by adding fatty meats etc.). Fat is not making you fat, overeating is making you fat.
4. Drink enough water – No matter which diet you follow, make sure you drink enough water. Drink a glass of water with a little bit of lemon when you wake up, and always have a glass bottle filled with water with you. Avoid all other types of drinks.
5. Make sure that you eat less than 10% – 20% of shitty foods – these are foods high in sugar, artificial trans fats, refined carbohydrates, fast food and all other highly processed foods. They should be consumed as an exception when you have a cheat meal, can’t calm down your emotions or there is nothing else to eat. But don’t beat yourself up after you eat any type of shitty food. Don’t strive for perfection, go for good enough. Be satisfied by choosing the best meal available at a certain moment.
6. Six types of foods to experiment with – When you know the foods to avoid and foods to eat as often as possible, there are certain foods for which you must figure out on your own if they work for you or not. Your religious and ethical beliefs, local customs, dieting goals, different diets that sound reasonable to you, and especially paying attention to your body’s responses (by keeping a journal) should give you a good idea of what to eat and what not to eat. The following are the foods to find out on your own how they fit your body, beliefs and goals:
   1. Animal products (meat, dairy, eggs) – recommend by all high protein diets (paleo, atkins, low-carb etc.) and keto diet (fatty meats)
   2. Seafood (fish, seafood)
   3. Grains – As a source of complex carbs. A very popular type of diet is also to go primary for grains without gluten.
   4. Starchy food (legumes, lentils, beans) – observe how they influence your diegestion
   5. Nightshades
   6. Coffee
7. Know your macros – Last but not least, one of the most beneficial things to know when it comes to dieting are macronutrients. That is the number explaining how many calories, protein, carbs, sugars and fats are in a certain type of foods. If you want to find the perfect diet for your body, you have to experiment a little bit with different macro ratios.

Here are the things you should know about macros and finding your perfect diet:

1. Your BME and TDEE – your daily caloric consumption based on your height, weight and how often you train
2. Do you want to be in a caloric surplus (gaining muscles) or deficit (losing fat)?
3. Your per meal caloric targets (number of meals, calories per meal)
4. % of carbs / proteins / fats that you intake on an average day
5. g of carbs / proteins / fats / sugars that you intake on an average day
6. g of proteins consumed per kg of your body weight
7. Macro values for your typical meals
8. Once in a while you can also calculate micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) to make sure you’re getting enough of them

More about that in one of the next articles.

Experimenting with different eating patterns

Last but not least, there are different eating patterns to experiment with. There are a few general recommendations for eating patterns that most nutrition experts agree on:

• If you want to lose weight, you must permanently change your lifestyle, not only go on a diet
• Simplify your meals so that you don’t overburden your stomach
• Eat slowly – it should take you at least 20 minutes to eat a major meal
• Do not overeat, you know to the point where you can explode
• Controlled fasting can be beneficial from time to time, check out intermittent fasting
• If possible, cook your own food

On the other hand, there are many other eating patterns that you will have to experiment with on your own to find what fits you best:

• Should you go for a smaller number of big meals (2-3) or a greater number of small meals (5-6)?
• Skipping breakfast, dinner or any other meals
• Eating carbs before going to sleep
• Cycling macronutrients (for example carbs) or supplements (for example creatine)
• Using food supplements (vitamins, minerals, sports nutrition)
• How much your Facebook or Instagram friends are interested in photos of every meal that you eat :)

Here’s what I figured out works best for me, and is an example of how a good personalized diet looks like. I need a very structured eating plan – 6 meals, more or less at the same time. My body runs best on complex carbs, but I cycle them to eat enough fats. It’s much easier for me to eat carbs than fats. Intermittent fasting works really great for me, with the last meal around 5pm.

In the end, it’s not that hard to find your perfect diet

When it comes to dieting, the information out there can be really confusing. But that shouldn’t stop you from improving your diet and overall eating habits.

There is no miraculous diet or a single trick that will make you super healthy and fit. Diets don’t work anyway. What you’re looking for is a permanent healthy lifestyle change, with healthy eating habits, regular exercise and a moderate lifestyle, which all combined provide you with optimal levels of energy, good health and a fit body.

As you’ve learned, there are foods you should more or less freely enjoy (veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, water) and foods you should avoid at all costs (fast foods, fried foods, foods high in sugar, refined grains and processed foods).

From the many different animal products, seafood and starchy foods, you must find the dishes that work best for your body. Having clear dieting goals and knowing your macros can help you a lot when it comes to fine-tuning your diet.

And eating a bagel from time to time won’t make you super fat or take 5 years of your life away. That’s it. Implementing these simple rules will get you to the top 10% or an even smaller percentage of people who live a super healthy life and follow a long-term endurable healthy diet. And that’s more than good enough.