4 Meal Plans for Every Fitness Goal

Even though you’re on a strict diet, you can still have a guilt-free dessert. Here are some meal plans you can follow to achieve your fitness goals.

They say that when you’re dieting either for losing weight or getting fit, what you eat is more important than what you do at the gym. It’s 90% diet and 10% gym. Do you agree with that?

Whatever your goal is, monitoring what you eat is crucial in any fitness plan because having properly portioned meals takes a lot of consideration. You have to think about the nutrition facts such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, and sodium, among other things.

If you’re planning your fitness journey or on your way to start one, here are some meal plans to help you achieve your #fitnessgoals. Before reading on, remember these three things: carbs, protein, and fat. These three are the important components of your meal plan.

Meal Plan for Beginners

For people who don’t have major concerns about their physique and just want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, you have to fix the internal processes of your body to avoid sickness and keep the energy level at the optimal.

This meal plan is low in carbs but high in protein. What makes this meal plan different from the others is the inclusion of food that is high on antioxidant.

Follow this meal plan:

Meal 1: Greek yogurt, raspberries, granola, eggs

Meal 2: Double chocolate cherry smoothie

Meal 3: Bibb lettuce burger

Meal 4: Protein bar

Meal 5: Shrimp with spinach salad & brown rice

This meal plan will provide you 2,500 calories. If you can’t find or don’t have some of the ingredients, you can always switch it up with other ingredients as long as it’s from the same food family listed above.

Meal Plan for Losing Weight

If you want to shed some pounds, you have to eat 55% carbs, 25% fat, and 20% protein. As you can see, carbs are still essential because this is where your energy comes from.

Here’s a sample meal plan of five:

Meal 1: Oats, egg whites, olive oil, salsa, and orange

Meal 2: Greek yogurt, blueberries

Meal 3: Grilled chicken, brown rice, broccoli

Meal 4: Salmon, asparagus, sesame seeds

Meal 5: Cottage cheese, peanut butter

Even though you’re on a strict diet, you can still have a guilt-free dessert like yogurt and chocolate cake.

Meal Plan for Getting Lean

This type of meal plan aims to assist you in getting lean and toning your muscles. This is for people who eat every 2-3 hours and frequent the gym 4-5 times a week.

If you’re targeting to keep a low body fat and build a toned physique, here’s a sample meal plan you can follow:

Meal 1: Ezekiel bread, peanut butter, eggs, olive oil, strawberries

Meal 2: Tuna, pita bread, vegetables, balsamic vinaigrette

Meal 3: Grilled chicken, quinoa, green beans, almonds

Meal 4: Tilapia, brown rice, sesame seeds, broccoli, carrots

Meal 5: Cottage cheese, flaxseeds

You don’t have to worry because this meal plan will still supply the energy you need to execute hardcore workouts. Remember, this is for fueling, rebuilding, and leaning muscles.

Meal Plan for Bulking Up

Because of your goal, this meal plan has an approximate of 3,000 calories. You should be taking meal plans that are high in carbs and calories.

Don’t misunderstand bulking up as eating anything you want as long as you increase your reps and mass in the gym. It’s about building your diet around the gym routine you currently have.

Here’s a sample meal plan:

Meal 1: Cheesy scrambled eggs with scallions

Meal 2: Blueberry almond smoothie

Meal 3: Steak with tomato basil salad

Meal 4: Recovery shake

Meal 5: Chicken with quinoa salad

Meal 6: Yams and parmesan white fish

If you noticed, this meal plan has an extra set because your body needs high-quality and nutrient-dense meals.

Meal planning might seem to be a challenging task, but this will give you guaranteed results. Naturally, you can have a few cheat days here and there, but you have to stick with the meal plan you’ve prepared. In line with that, you can change some of these meals especially if you’re getting tired of eating the same type of food. Again, keep in mind the three essentials which are carbs, protein, and fat.

At the end of the day, you should be very mindful of what you eat, follow the various meal plans above, and see which type of meal plan is appropriate for your fitness goal.

Also, remind yourself that there’s a difference between hunger and craving. In getting fit, you address your hunger and not what you’re craving. According to the fitness bible, you don’t starve yourself to lose weight. The way to go is to eat right and put the hard work in the gym.

What are your fitness goals?

Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.

About The Author

Alexandra Dayrit Alexandra Dayrit has come a long way from being a chubby, unfit kid to a budding fitness professional. She eats, sleeps and breathes fitness as the Editor in Chief of Shape Philippines, PR and Events Manager of Gold’s Gym Philippines, Business Development Manager of UFC Gym Philippines and NASM Certified International Personal Trainer. Through her work, she hopes to spread the message that you should work out because you LOVE your body, not because you hate it and that you should always Love Your Shape. For more fun fitness tips and healthy recipes, connect with her on Instagram @alexdayrit