Nutrition

Your BMR is the calories your body burns at rest.

Formula (Harris-Benedict):

• Women: 655 + (4.35 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age)
• Men: 66 + (6.23 x weight in lbs) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age)

Important: If body fat is above 20% (men) or 28% (women), use lean body mass instead:

• Lean Mass = Total Weight - (Body Fat % x Total Weight)
• Example: 100kg at 40% body fat = 100 - 40 = 60kg lean mass (use this for BMR)

Step 2: Calculate Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)

Multiply your BMR by your activity level:

Example: BMR of 1745 x 1.2 (sedentary) = 2094 calories/day to maintain weight

• To lose fat: Eat less than TDEE
• To gain muscle: Eat more than TDEE
• There is absolutely NO WAY around this principle. Let science guide you, not bro-science.

Step 3: Set Your Macros

Macro basics:

• Protein: 4 calories per gram
• Carbs: 4 calories per gram
• Fat: 9 calories per gram

Protein target: 1.8-2g per kg of bodyweight (non-negotiable for muscle preservation)

For gaining mass: At least 20 calories per pound of bodyweight For getting lean: 15 or fewer calories per pound of bodyweight

Step 4: Choose a Diet Approach

Remember: The ratios matter less than your total intake vs expenditure. These frameworks help you follow a diet consistently.

Step 5: Build Your Meal Plan

Choose Your Staples

DIY Diet Chart Process

1. Install MyFitnessPal or similar tracking app
2. Calculate your BMR and TDEE (use online calculators for approximation)
3. Set deficit or surplus based on goal
4. Keep protein at 1.8-2g/kg bodyweight
5. Set fats at 30-40% of total calories
6. Fill remaining calories with carbs
7. Log everything for at least 2 weeks to build awareness

Healthy Eating Principles

• Eat whole, nutrient-dense meals — not constant snacking (messes with immune system)
• Food is fuel with the power to heal or make you sick
• Listen to your body: Track how you feel after eating for 2 weeks. "Good" foods make you energetic. "Bad" foods leave you lethargic and bloated.
• Add good things (veggies, water, protein) rather than obsessing over reduction
• Deplete glycogen stores regularly — cut sugar/seed oils, lift weights, fast intermittently, eat whole food

Why Eating Healthy is Hard

Your brain loves glucose. When blood sugar drops, you crave food. Understanding the glycemic index helps:

• High GI foods (white bread, sugar) spike blood sugar fast, then crash — leaving you hungry again
• Low GI foods (whole grains, sweet potatoes) digest slowly, keeping you full longer
• Adding fat to a high-GI food slows the spike (e.g., peanut butter on bread)

Practical Tips

1. Grocery shopping: Buy only items on your "good food" list. Small limited quantities for treats.
2. Change your environment: Don't keep unhealthy food on your desk or in your kitchen. Keep water accessible.
3. Meal prep: Cook 3-5 meals in advance, store in Tupperware, grab when hungry.
4. If always hungry: Your meal isn't balanced — add good fats (grass-fed butter, olive oil, avocados, coconut oil, nuts).
5. Unhealthy food hack: Eat it in the middle of a healthy meal — healthy start, treat middle, healthy end.

Quit Sugar Roadmap

• First 24 hours: Find times you usually eat sugar, do something else instead
• Next 3-5 days: Double your intake of complex carbs
• Next 2 weeks: Don't bring sugary stuff home. Make it hard to find.

Replace Seed Oils

• Low-temp cooking (quick omelet): Olive oil
• High-temp cooking: Ghee, coconut oil, or avocado oil
• Key is knowing the smoke point of each oil

Reading Nutrition Labels (3 Steps)

1. Check quantity — Labels show per 100g or per serving. Calculate for your actual portion.
2. Check macros — Calories, protein (more = better), carbs (sugar should be <1/3 of total carbs), fats (limit saturated/trans, favor unsaturated). When label says "0g trans fat" but lists "partially hydrogenated oil" — it has trans fat under 0.5g.
3. Check ingredients — Listed from most to least common. If sugar is first, most of the product is sugar.

Pre & Post Workout Nutrition

Before workout (2 hours prior): 300-500 calories, primarily healthy carbs. Quick option 5-10 min before: 50-100 calorie snack (banana, yogurt, toast with peanut butter).

After resistance training: Whey protein + fast-digesting carb (banana) within 1 hour. This is the ONE meal that should absorb rapidly — to shuttle nutrients into damaged muscles.

After cardio: Wait 30-45 min to ride the fat-burning wave, then eat protein + vegetables.

During exercise (>1 hour): 50-100 calories every 30 min from quick carbs (raisins, energy bar).

Supplementation Basics

Skip expensive isolates — blends work fine. Don't chase the 5% marginal supplement gains before nailing the 95% (diet + training).

Eating Out Without Getting Fat

1. Eat a healthy snack at home before going out
2. Drink a big glass of water
3. Pick high-protein + veggie dishes first
4. Don't consume free drinks (the real price is your health)
5. Ask for sauces on the side, butter instead of margarine
6. Eat slowly and chew your food — half of digestion happens in your mouth
7. If you don't like the taste, don't eat it just because you ordered it

Indian Diet Adaptations

• Dal + chapati = complete essential amino acids
• Snack on nuts daily for extra protein
• Avoid deep-frying vegetables — sauté or flash boil to preserve nutrients
• Add raw salads with meals if dishes are cooked at high heat
• Good fats: avocados, almonds, walnuts, flaxseeds, olive oil, fish oil

Key Hormones to Understand

• Insulin: Regulates blood sugar. Rises with carb intake. Not evil — it builds muscle AND stores fat.
• Glucagon: Opposite of insulin — releases stored glucose when blood sugar is low.
• Leptin: Your "fuel gauge" — signals brain about food availability. Drops on long deficits. Periodic refeeds help.
• Cortisol: Catabolic — metabolizes fat, protein, AND carbs. Chronically elevated = bad (muscle loss, fat gain).
• Testosterone: Primary muscle-building hormone. Best natural booster: lifting heavy weights.

Anti-Patterns

• Not counting calories and expecting quantitative results
• Copying someone else's diet without calculating your own needs
• Eliminating entire food groups without understanding why
• Relying on supplements before nailing diet fundamentals
• Eating "health food" that's actually loaded with hidden sugar
• Skipping meals thinking it helps — it slows metabolism if done chronically
• Not reading nutrition labels

Output

After this conversation, the user should walk away with:

• Their BMR and TDEE calculated
• A macro split chosen based on their goal
• A list of staple foods for protein, carbs, and fats
• 2-3 practical habits to implement immediately (meal prep, sugar reduction, label reading)
• Understanding of pre/post workout nutrition timing

Guide users to /weight-loss for fat loss strategies or /my-blueprint to see the author's personal approach.