How to Eat to Achieve Your Fitness Goal

Your workout and your diet go hand in hand to help you achieve your fitness goal. It’s really difficult, if not impossible, to achieve your goal without one or the other. In this article I’ll show you how to eat to achieve your fitness goal so that you get the most out of each workout.

You cannot out train a poor diet. No matter how perfectly planned your workout program is, and no matter how strictly you adhere to it, if you’re not eating for your goals you won’t get the results you desire. It’s that important.

So here is a step-by-step process you can use to sync your diet to your fitness goal.

How to Eat to Achieve to Your Fitness Goal

I am not a dietician or nutritionist. I am a trained women’s nutrition coach with 7+ years of education and dedicated practice under my belt. The following steps and formulas are taken from science-backed texts and personal experience but are in no way meant to be a prescribed diet plan.

Step #1: Calorie Intake

The reason you start with calorie intake is because at it’s most basic level, weight gain or weight loss comes down to one ratio: calories in vs. calories out. For the sake of needing a start and stop point for reference, we’re talking about calories over the course of one day.

Calories in: all of the calories that you consume. This includes every meal and snack you eat, and every caloric drink you sip on.

Calories out: all of the calories that you burn throughout the day. This number includes more than just the calories you burn during traditional exercise. It also includes general movement (otherwise known as N.E.A.T.), as well as the calories needed to maintain normal bodily function (like digestion, respiration, growing hair and nails, etc).

There are three outcomes possible from this calories in vs calories out equation.

• A calorie surplus, in which case calories in are higher than calories out. This results in weight (either muscle or fat) gain.

• A calorie deficit, in which case calories in are lower than calories out, resulting in weight (either muscle or fat) loss

• And maintenance. During maintenance, calories in and out are at a balance and no weight is either gained nor lost.

Of course, it’s not as simple as eating fewer calories and burning more calories. Your body is far more complex and adaptable than that. But this initial number plays a big role in determining what comes in the next steps.

Determining Your Maintenance Calories

The number of calories you need for your specific goals starts at the baseline: maintenance. Once you figure out maintenance, you can adjust up or down according to the results you want to see.

Maintenance calories depend on a lot of factors including age, gender, height, weight, fitness level and diet history, among other things. So know equation is ever going to give you a precise calculation. But it’s a good reference point to get started with.

First, determine your BMR (basal metabolic rate). This is the amount of energy (in calories) that your body would expend in a day completely at rest. The Mifflin-St. Jeor formula is one of the most common ways to calculate your BMR.

Women: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm)-5 x age (years) -161
Men: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm)-5 x age (years) + 5

Now you need to multiply that number by what’s called an activity level multiplier. Think of this as a score based on how active or sedentary you are on a daily basis.

Take your BMR and multiply by:

1.2 if you are sedentary/have little to no exercise in a day
1.375 if you are slightly active/do light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week
1.55 if you are moderately active/do moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week
1.725 if you are very active/do hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week
1.9 if you are extra active/do very hard exercise/sports and physical job OR 2x training per day

Now that you’re fully immersed in the math of it, here’s a calculator that will estimate your maintenance calories for you. I think it’s important to understand the “why” behind the numbers that you can find on the internet…and understand why you should take them with a grain of salt.

Adjusting Maintenance Calories for Your Goals

Now that you know how many calories your body needs simply to exist just as you are, pick your goal:

If you want to lose weight/fat…

Then you have to consume fewer calories than what is required for maintenance. This creates a caloric deficit. With the right training program, your body will start to use stored fat for energy thus creating the results you’re looking for.

A good rule of thumb for a caloric deficit is 250-500 calories less than maintenance. Any less than 250 and you may not see results. Any more than 500 and you risk not being able to consume enough nutrients to maintain a healthy body, hormone balance and energy levels.

If you want to gain weight/muscle…

You need to create a caloric surplus by consuming more calories than what your body needs for maintenance. Remember that building muscle requires fuel – you can’t build without supplies! So if your goal is to build muscle, expect to see the scale go up a bit!

For building, start with a 250-305 calorie surplus. This is a good range to be able to build muscle while minimizing fat storage.

Step #2: Determine the Appropriate Macro Breakdown

When it comes to fitness goals, calories are just the starting point. Your macronutrient breakdown determines where those calories are coming from and how they affect your body. Not all calories are created equally.

Let’s quickly go over what macronutrients are. Macronutrients (or macros for short), are categories of nutrients that your body needs in large quantities because they are central to key metabolic processes. The three macronutrients are: proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Protein Intake

Protein is arguably the most important macronutrient in your diet. This is true whether you have fitness-related goals or not. Protein is made up of amino acids – a requirement for building muscle. But their necessity goes beyond that. Proteins control everything that happens at a cellular level which means that they’re involved in virtually every process in the body.

No matter your goal, shoot for between .8-1.5 grams of protein per pound of ideal body weight. 1 gram per pound is an easy number to remember. So for example if your goal weight is 150 pounds, you should aim to consume 150 grams of protein per day.

Why does this not fluctuate depending on your goal? Because the benefits of a high protein diet are vast.

Protein can help:

• reduce or maintain overall body fat
• increase muscle mass and strength
• repair and recovery from a workout and/or illness
• boost your immune system
• maintain bone health and density
• increase satisfaction and feelings of fullness during and after meals

As much as possible choose lower-fat, minimally processed proteins.

>> Click here to download a free list of high-protein foods

Fat Intake

Your body needs fat to burn fat. Fat provides energy, it helps your body digest certain vitamins, it helps regulate inflammation, your body uses it to make certain hormones and more.

Fats should make up roughly 20-30% of your diet. For the sake of simplicity, let’s call it 25%. Here’s how to make sense of this:

Let’s say that you’ve determined your ideal, daily caloric intake to be 2000 calories. 25% of 2000 is 500 calories. Every gram of fat contains 9 calories. So 500 calories divided by 9 equals 55 grams total.

Some fats are healthier than others. That said, your body thrives off of a mix of fats: monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated. The only fat that you should avoid is trans fat, which is a by-product of food manufacturing and not good for you.

>> Click here for a free list of healthy fat foods

Carbohydrate Intake

Carbohydrates are an important source of energy for your body, especially your brain. Plus, they provide key vitamins and minerals that are hard to get elsewhere. Though carbohydrates are the one macro that is not required for survival, most people feel and perform better with some carbs in their diet.

Determining your carb intake is actually quite simple. You simple take your overall calorie goal, subtract your protein calories, subtract your fat calories and what you’re left with is reserved for carbs. Note that every gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories.

I’ll take the same example as above to show you how it’s done:

Let’s say that your goal weight is 150 pounds, and your overall caloric goal is 2000 calories per day. You know that you need to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight, so in this case, 150 grams. Every gram of protein contains 4 calories. 150 grams x 4 calories = 600 calories will come from protein.

You also know (from the math above) that you’ll be consuming 500 calories worth of fat.

Total calories of 2000 – 600 (protein) – 500 (fats) leaves you with 900 calories left for carbs. Since 1 gram of carbs contains 4 calories, this person needs to eat 225 grams of carbs.

In summary, this person wants to eat:

• 2000 calories
• 150 grams of protein (600 calories)
• 55 grams of fat (500 calories)
• 225 grams of carbs (900 calories)

Carbohydrates get a bad rap but the truth is that carbs are your body’s go to source for energy. That’s a good thing, but it can also get in the way of your health and fitness goals. Try to choose carbohydrates from a wide-range of sources (including whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits), that are fiber-rich and minimally processed.

>> Grab a list of complex carbs to fill your plate with

Step #3: Adjusting and Personalizing What You Eat to Achieve Your Fitness Goal

It’s important to touch back on the fact that these numbers, and the ones that you come up with for yourself, are based on math and formulas. While it’s true that this is all science-backed and results-driven, it can never be absolutely on point for YOU.

Which is where adjustments and personalization comes in.

If your goal is fat/weight loss and you are NOT seeing results from these initial calculations…

You can reduce calories again by about 250 per day. Start by reducing carbohydrates, then fats. As much as possible, leave your protein numbers where they are.

If your goal is muscle/weight gain and you are NOT seeing results from these initial calculations…

Add another 150-250 calories per day. If you’re not hitting your protein goal, start their. If you are hitting your protein goal, try adding a carbohydrate or fat. What you choose can depend on your preference and fullness level.

What Else Should You Pay Attention to?

You want to eat to achieve your fitness goal. Heard. And we’ve covered a lot of ground here but, there are a few additional nutrition and diet tips that can help you feel better, look better, perform better and reach your fitness goals:

• Eat the rainbow. Macronutrients take most of the limelight but don’t forget about micros: namely vitamins and minerals. Your body only needs micronutrients in trace amounts, but they’re still necessary for your health and fitness! Stay on top of it by eating a wide variety of fresh and frozen produce in all colors of the rainbow.
  
• Stay hydrated. Your body won’t last long without water. And it won’t feel good or perform well with even just a 2% decrease in bodily fluid. Aim to consume at least 80 ounces of water a day, more if you’re working out or you live in a hot climate.
  
• Pay attention to nutrient quality. I said it once and I’ll say it again: not all calories are created equally. As much as possible, get your calories and nutrients from whole, minimally processed food sources.
  
• Reduce alcohol and caffeine intake. In moderation, both liquids can be just fine for your health and your goals. But over-consuming either can take a toll on your health and fitness goals.
  
• Supplements can absolutely play a role in helping you sync your diet to your fitness goals. But keep in mind that supplements cannot do the work for you, and they will never be a stand in for the real thing. Supplements – like multivitamins an minerals, omega 3s, superfoods and protein powders, can fill in gaps but try to get most of your nutrients through your diet of whole foods.

Need Help with Your Diet and Workouts?

I know this can feel overwhelming so please know, you don’t have to do this alone! I’m here to support you in any way. If you want help with…

• Nutrition and healthy eating. Calories are overwhelming. Macros are confusing. I can help you develop a step-by-step, habit-based approach to better dieting and a healthier relationship with food. Click here for more information on Nutrition Coaching with Julia Hale Fitness.
  
• Fitting fitness into your life so that you can reach your goals, I coach women across the United States completely virtually and I can give you an action plan for success, and accountability and support to see it through.