Your meal plan is one of the most important tools for ensuring success in your fitness goals. Whatever approach you choose, the main priority is creating a strategy that works for you, your goals and your lifestyle.

Key Takeaways

• Schedule your meals each day with a strategy that fits your preferences and lifestyle. Make sure you can follow it consistently.
• Plan your protein sources for the week, so you have options at hand when you need them.
• Add fat sources to your meal from sources such as avocados, nuts, olives and olive oil, with saturated fats in moderation.
• Limit alcohol intake to 10-15% of your daily calorie target one to two times per week.
• Aim for at least 3.7 litres of fluids per day for men and 2.7 litres for women.
• Use herbs and spices to add flavour to your meals.
• Once you’ve created your meal structure, make sure you can hit your calorie and macronutrient targets.

Learn how to write a meal plan that fits with your schedule, meets your daily nutrition targets and properly fuels your workouts in six key steps. Luckily for you, we have broken down daily meal planning to guide you through the process.

Step 1:

Schedule your meals!

The first step in scheduling your meals is to decide how many times you will eat each day.

A key point to make here is that the total amount of food consumed within a 24-hour window is far more important than your meal frequency, or the specific timing of your meals.

From experience, we find that three to five meals work best. Where you fall on this range will depend on your own personal preferences and what fits with your schedule.

The U.P. app will automatically allocate you four eating windows: breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack.

Try to schedule regular times for your meals. Eating at roughly the same time will make following the diet part of your routine and help with hunger and cravings, as you will know when your next meal is coming.

Scheduling your meals is important, but do not worry if:

• Your schedule does not allow for evenly spaced meals throughout your day.
• Something crops up and you have to move meals forwards or backwards from their planned times.

The most important thing is to create a meal plan that meets your daily nutrition targets and that you can follow consistently. For long-term success, your meal schedule must fit with your lifestyle, not the other way around!

Action:

Select your meal frequency/times and add them to your diary.

Step 2:

Plan your protein!

Meeting your daily protein target should be your main priority, but research also suggests that spreading your intake over multiple protein feedings is best for muscle growth.

To optimise your protein intake:

• Include a protein source with each of your meals.
• Aim for a 20-50 g serving of protein per meal.
• Aim to get most of your daily protein intake from animal-origin sources, as they contain all the EAAs your body needs for optimal health and building muscle.
• Consider limiting fatty protein sources to one serving (20-50 g) per day, so you can include a greater volume of food in your diet.
• Consider limiting protein supplements to one serving (20-50 g) per day and use whole food sources to meet the rest of your target.

You can make adjustments to serving sizes within the 20-50 g range. For example, you may prefer a smaller serving in the morning if you struggle for appetite, e.g., 20 g, and a larger serving in the evening, e.g., 50 g.

Some protein sources also tend to be more convenient and palatable at certain times of the day than others. For example, most people have time to prepare eggs for breakfast, but may not find the prospect of white fish very appealing.

Action:

Allocate your protein target and select a protein source for each meal.

Step 3:

Plan your fats!

The next step is to allocate the remainder of your fat target. Remember, you will already have used a portion of this meeting your protein target.

There are no specific timing requirements for dietary fats, therefore you can add them to your meal plan based on personal preference.

A good starting point is to spread your intake evenly across each meal to help add texture and flavour.

To optimise your fat intake:

• Include a balance of all three types of fats (SFAs, MUFAs, PUFAs) in your diet. You can do this by using a varied selection of the sources listed in the fat table to meet your target.
• Aim to use fatty fish as your fatty protein source two to three times per week, or take a daily fish oil supplement.

Action:

Add fat sources to your meal plan to meet your fat target.

Step 4:

Add drinks and condiments to your meal plan!

After you have allocated your macronutrients, the next step is to add drinks and condiments to your meal plan.

To optimise your fluid intake:

• Aim for at least 3.7 litres per day for men and 2.7 litres for women.
• Use the minimum effective caffeine dose and avoid it from the early afternoon (2-3pm) onwards.
• You do not have to include diet sodas in your meal plan, but should not feel guilty about doing so in moderation either.
• Limit alcohol intake to 10-15% of your daily calorie target one to two times per week.

Herbs, seasonings and spices are all great ways to add flavour to your meals. Check out the transformation recipes for ideas on how to include them in your meal plan.

Action:

Add drinks and condiments to your meal plan.

Step 5:

Make final adjustments!

Once you have scheduled and planned your meals, the final step is to make sure the calorie and macronutrient totals for each meal add up to meet your daily targets.

Remember that the U.P. app automatically suggests the serving sizes you need to eat, to help you meet these daily targets with minimal fuss.

You may have to adjust certain serving sizes up or down slightly, but remember that the macronutrient ratios do not have to be perfect.

When making your final adjustments:

• Aim to meet your calorie target within a +/- 50kcal range.
• Aim to meet your protein target within a +/- 10 g range.
• Aim to meet your fat and carbohydrate targets, but do not worry if you miss them, provided you still meet your protein and calorie goals.

Action:

Double check your macronutrient/calorie totals and make any final adjustments to serving sizes.