The Only Nutrition Guide You'll Ever Need

Sebastien Patino
ACSM CPT, Coach

Nutrition is the most underestimated and most misunderstood part of fitness. Without proper nutrition, you will not make the progress you want at all. Making healthy changes to your lifestyle and body requires equal parts exercise and equal parts nutrition.

This article will cover the basics of nutrition, healthy eating, establishing good habits, and how to make better nutritional choices.

This article will be broken down into 4 parts:

  1. Nutrition Basics
  2. Tracking and Monitoring Nutrition
  3. Approved Food Sources
  4. Healthier Alternatives

Remember, it is important to understand that there truly are no inherently good or bad foods. Some foods have much higher calories than others while having amazing nutritional value such as avocado and nuts for example.

Within moderation, most foods can be eaten within a healthy diet. It is also important to understand that no single diet or food can create a long-term, healthy approach to nutrition and we need to incorporate many different foods, diets, and habits over time.

Nutrition Basics

Calories

All food has calories which our body uses for energy. The amount of calories you consume affects body weight directly.

In fact, calories are so important for body composition that the only thing you need to know about how to lose or gain weight is simply the amount of calories you are eating versus the amount you are expending. If you are eating in a caloric surplus, you will gain weight. If you are eating in a caloric deficit, you will lose weight.

It is as simple as calories in vs. calories out. This is universal for every single human body unless they have a severe medical condition.

So, if your maintenance calories are 2,500 calories, you will gain weight by eating over that amount, or lose weight by eating under.

It takes about 3,500 - 4,000 calories to gain a pound of fat. And it takes 2700 - 2800 calories to build a pound of muscle. This is important to know as we can determine how many calories we need daily in order to lose a pound of fat. If we eat 500 calories in a deficit, it will take about 7 days to lose a pound of fat

No diet, superfood, fat burner, or anything matters more than simply being in a caloric deficit or surplus.

Macronutrients

There are 4 macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Fats, Protein, and Alcohol.

Carbohydrates

4 calories per 1 gram

Carbohydrates are the body's preferred energy source. Carbohydrates are not necessary, as ketogenesis has proved to be a viable alternative the body can use as energy. However, carbs are very easy for your body and skeletal muscles to use as energy, and the vast majority of people will benefit from consuming carbohydrates over ketogenesis.

So, it is recommended that 40-65% of your total calories come from carbohydrates. This could range from 3g/kg - 10g/kg of bodyweight per day depending on your activity level.

Where do you get carbohydrates?

Sugar, Fruit, Grains, Vegetables, and Most Processed Foods.

Fats

9 calories per 1 gram

Fats are necessary for essential bodily functions such as hormone regulation, vitamin absorption, brain function, and much more. This is where most people tend to overeat on their calories as fats have more than double the amount of calories than carbohydrates or protein per gram. It is recommended that fats are 20-35% of your daily caloric intake.

Especially pay attention to dressings and cooking oils as they are often overlooked but can contribute to excess calories.

Where do you get fats?

Meat, fish, oils, nuts, avocados, and many other sources.

Protein

4 calories per 1 gram

Protein is considered the holy grail of macronutrients and for good reason. Adequate protein intake has been shown to facilitate muscle growth, prevent muscle loss, increase energy expenditure, and increase feelings of fullness.

High protein diets consistently prove to be helpful for weight loss through their ability to make you feel fuller and actually increase the amount of calories your body burns. It is recommended that most people take at least 0.8g/kg - 1.6g/kg of bodyweight per day. However, for weight loss and muscle growth, it has been clearly shown that 1.6g/kg -2.2g/kg and even upwards of 3g/kg per day of protein is best for reducing hunger, promoting muscle growth and weight loss.

And, no, high protein intakes do not cause liver or kidney problems whatsoever unless you have a serious pre-existing medical condition.

Where do you get protein?

Meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, protein shakes, nuts* and plants*.

*Nuts and plants such as beans are often cited as “good” sources of protein, however, these are actually not great sources of protein. Only about 15-20% of the calories in nuts or beans come from actual protein. Not only this, but the quality of the protein in plants is worse, too. Meaning you will need to eat more grams of protein from plant sources to get the same effects.

This is not to say you shouldn’t follow a plant based diet, but it will be more difficult to get enough protein in. So, work with your coach to determine a good high protein, plant based diet.

Tracking & Monitoring Nutrition

It is vital that you have a basic understanding of how to keep track of your nutrition. This is because unfortunately, the U.S. is not an easy place to navigate in terms of healthy eating.

To do this, there are three practices to begin monitoring/tracking your food intake:

  • Food Journaling - Easy
  • Portioning - Intermediate
  • Macro Tracking - Difficult

These methods are in order of how difficult they are to implement into your lifestyle immediately, with food journaling being the easiest and probably quickest way to begin monitoring your nutrition.

Food Journaling

Food journaling is the easiest way to start keeping track of what you eat. Simply keep a notebook, document, or app to write down what you are eating.

It would look something like this:

This is the first step most people take. It may not seem like much, but just by writing down what you eat, you are already practicing how to be more mindful of what you eat. You may notice yourself starting to choose healthier foods as a side effect as well!

Portioning

Portion control is the next best step to tracking your nutrition. Use the following guidelines to help determine how much a serving size is:

The following is generally what you should see on your plate every meal throughout the day to ensure you are eating the right amount of calories, macronutrients, and especially micronutrients.

You will want to adjust the amount of each category you eat depending on how frequently you eat, your size/caloric needs, how active you are, your appetite/satiety, your results, and how many meals you eat in a day.

There is no one size fits all approach to portioning. It will take time to understand how much you should be eating. But these are great guidelines to start understanding what types of foods and how much should be on your plate for the majority of your meals. Use these guidelines to start and see how your body responds to changing your portions accordingly.

Macro and Calorie Tracking

This method of tracking your nutrition is the most difficult. However, it also delivers the best results. It is not viable to live your entire life tracking this way, but if you have a certain goal in mind for weight loss or gain and you are wanting to achieve it in the shortest amount of time possible, then macro tracking is easily the best strategy.

There are mainly two ways to track macronutrients. One is to read the nutrition labels on your food and the other is to use a dedicated tracking app.

Nutrition Labels

Nutrition labels will always have a breakdown of macronutrients:

For this example, you can clearly see the macronutrients. This amount of macronutrients will always add up to the amount of calories shown as well.

Food Scale

To use this method, you will need a food scale to measure out each portion.

As seen on the nutrition label, weighing out 55 grams on a food scale will contain 230 calories, 8 grams of fat, 37 grams of carbs, and 3 grams of protein. You will need to document or write these down as you go throughout the day if not using an app.

Another way to track macronutrients and calories is by using an app such as MyFitnessPal. You will still need a food scale to be able to measure out each serving.

*Unfortunately, nutrition labels are not always perfect. Especially for processed foods. The FDA allows up to 20% error in their measurements and many food companies have been found to completely lie about their nutrition breakdown. So try to stick with whole foods as much as possible, and if you do eat processed foods, try to be consistent with only sticking to those specific foods.

“Approved” Food Sources

You can fit almost anything into your diet with moderation. It is totally okay to enjoy less “healthy” foods so long as you are not overindulging. However, below is a list of foods you can eat without too much worry about messing up your diet.

A good rule of thumb is to have at least 80% calories from the following food sources and 20% from anything else every week.

Meats - High Protein/Low Fat

  • Chicken Breast
  • Turkey Breast
  • Deli Meats
  • Lean Ground Turkey 90/10+
  • Lean Ground Beef 90/10+
  • Lean Ground Chicken 90/10+
  • Eye of Round and Top Sirloin Steak Cuts (Steaks are tricky, check nutrition label)
  • Tuna
  • Shrimp
  • Protein Powder

Meats - High Protein/Higher Fat

  • Chicken Thigh
  • Regular Ground Beef/Turkey
  • Most Cuts of Steak
  • Salmon
  • Ground Meats

Dairy - High Protein/Moderate - High Fat

  • Eggs
  • Cheese
  • Cottage Cheese
  • Milk
  • Greek Yogurt

Dairy - High Protein/Low Fat

  • Egg Whites
  • Reduced Fat Cheese
  • 0 Fat Greek Yogurt
  • Low-Fat Cottage Cheese
  • Skim Milk

Healthy Fats

  • Fish
  • Avocado
  • Nuts
  • Olive Oil
  • Nut Butters (All Natural)
  • Flax Seed
  • Coconut Oil

Slow Digesting Carbs (Low-Moderate GI Index)

  • Oats
  • Cream of Rice
  • White Rice/Brown Rice
  • All Fruits
  • Popcorn
  • Granola
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Beans
  • Yams
  • Lentils
  • Whole Grain Bread
  • Ezekiel Bread

Fast Digesting Carbs (Good/Useful Around a Workout)

  • Fruits
  • Sports Drinks
  • White Bread
  • Bagels
  • Rice Krispies
  • Gatorade Whey Protein Bars
  • Candy/Gummies
  • Rice Cakes

Vegetables

  • Spinach
  • Broccoli
  • Bell Peppers
  • Kale
  • Asparagus
  • Carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Brussel Sprouts
  • Cauliflower
  • All vegetables.

As you can see, most of this list is simply whole foods. If you have a variety of each of these each day, you should be well in your daily requirements for micronutrients as well. This is important as micronutrients are very important for all bodily functions, INCLUDING weight loss.

Healthy Alternatives

This is a short, but very important section. Most of the foods and ingredients you enjoy on a daily basis most likely have a healthier alternative that you should strongly consider. For example, there are now protein ice creams that taste REALLY good and they are a fraction of the calories with higher protein.

The following list is a list of healthy alternatives to some people’s favorite snacks.

  • Reduced Fat Air Fried Tyson Chicken Nuggets
  • Reduced Fat Shredded Cheese
  • Halo Top Ice Cream
  • PB Fit
  • PB2
  • Smart Sweets
  • Quest Chips
  • Diet or 0 Sugar Soft Drinks
  • Reduced Fat Popcorn

You can find a reduced fat, higher protein option of pretty much most foods at your local grocery store nowadays. You should really be taking advantage of that.

Luckily, there are more and more higher protein options popping up every week nowadays. Although most of these are processed, they can be great alternatives and sometimes life savers to the normal, higher calorie versions of them such as regular peanut butter or ice cream.

Bottomline

If you’ve made it this far, and you can understand the principles discussed in this article, then you’ll never need to pay $500 for a course on nutrition. Understanding calories and macronutrients, the types of foods that provide those macronutrients, and tracking the foods you eat is the most simple and effective way to reach your nutritional goals.

There is no one size fits all approach to nutrition, and every individual has their own unique challenges when it comes to nutrition. However, by following the principles laid out in this article, you can reach any fitness goal you strive for.

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