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Before we get started on meal plans we need to know our Base Caloric Intake. There are hundreds of calculators online that all serve the same purpose, but my personal preference is the calculator on NutritionData.com’s website. It allows you to enter your basic information, general activity and some common exercises you may participate in daily.

Enter your information and get your caloric requirements. Do not be shocked if it seems higher then you expected: The human body requires a lot of energy to function. For someone my size and age living a sedentary life style with no exercise the base calories is about 2600. When you start eating properly it becomes less about how much you eat, more what you eat and how often you eat.

Now I cannot stress this enough: You must eat a minimum of six meals a day for this diet to work. If you are not willing to do this then stop reading now! Our goals are boosting the metabolism of our body so we burn our calories more efficiently. Three square meals a day is an absolute garbage concept and it will not do anything for your metabolism. Look at how a Sumo wrestler eats if you do not believe me. You need to be eating constantly, so you force your body to digest and convert food into energy more often. Your body really does get better at burning calories the more often it does it.

So lets say your base caloric intake is 2400. At six meals a day you could either split that up evenly, at 400 calories each, or spread them out. If you choose the latter, the larger meals come first and the smallest meal should be your final. For example: 600 + 400 + 400 + 300 + 300 + 200. Yes that is only 2200 calories. I believe in giving myself some play room for additional calories that I just count as miscellaneous. I am not zealous enough to count the calories in the ketchup on my burger or the tablespoon of sugar for my coffee, so I doubt you are either. Try to give yourself 10% of your base as “free calories” to take care of those little things that would just be a pain in the ass to count.

Now we need to actually start planning out some meals. I am not going to tell you exactly what you need to eat, rather what you should be eating. A typical meal for me includes: A source of protein, be it meat, low-fat dairy or bean, a source of carbs, vegetable or bread and a leafy green. For example my typical breakfast is normally:

Protien: 4 Egg whites and 1 egg

Carb: 1 grapefruit and 1 banana or 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 1/2 cup of oat bran

Greens: Spinach salad with 1 tsp of flax seed oil and vinegar as dressing

My next meal is usually 3 hours later and consists of:

Protien: 1 cup of yogurt or 1 cup of cottage cheese

Carbs: An orange or an apple

Then lunch about 2 hours later:

Protien: 1/2 can of tuna with 1 tbl spoon of fat-free mayo

Carb: A whole wheat pita

Leafy Green: Spinach salad with fat-fat dressing, spinach stuffed into the pita.

As you can see I really don’t care much for the idea of appropriate times for eating certain foods. Who decided that peas and salad were only a dinner item? Or eggs were only for breakfast? An idiot, thats who. Food is food and your body could care less what time of the day it is.  I should note that my meals are pretty varied, though what I eat on a day to day basis stays pretty consistent. I do this out of convenience more then anything else. Now that you have an idea on how to build a solid meal, start thinking about the meals you can make. If your going to use food that requires cooking, like chicken for example, cook that component of the meal in advance, freeze it and microwave it when its time to chow. Batch preping your meals saves a ton of time.

If your not scared yet we can move onto the next section: Marco dieting.