One of the first questions we get asked by new BP Transformation Coaching clients is this:
“Ok, I’m ready to go, I’ve read the Simple Guides To Eating Vegetables, Protein, Carbs & Fats but what should I eat?”
Maybe you’ve had these same questions yourself.
Should you eat low-carb or low-fat?
Is the Keto diet better than a vegan diet?
And how many meals should you be eating?
Is it better to skip breakfast with intermittent fasting or have 6 meals throughout the day?
Do you have to eat all of my meals out of Tupperware containers?
With so much information available telling you what you should and shouldn’t eat, it’s hard to know who to trust your health with.
Fortunately, at BluePhoenix Fitness we make meal planning easy. Which is why we’ve developed our 7-Step Super Simple Meal Planning System and you’re going to get all of it today in this Simple Guide To Meal Planning.
In today’s Simple Guide To Meal Planning you’ll learn all 7 steps, including:
- What Are Your Goals?
- How Many Meals Do You Want To Eat Each Day?
- Are You Using The BP Hand Method or Counting Calories?
- What Eating Style Do Your Prefer? (pick your tem-plate)
- What Are 4-7 Simple Meals That You Enjoy?
- Plan Your Week & Put It On A Calendar
- Hit Up The Grocery Store
- Putting It All Together & Your Next Steps
That’s a lot to cover, so as Ray Arnold would say – “Hold onto your butts.”
Let’s get started with the most important question…
Step 1: What Are Your Goals
The most important question you need to answer before going any further is – What are your goals?
What’s important to you right now? What would you like to improve or focus on for the next 4-12 months?
This is important because your answers to these questions are going to dictate everything else that goes into planning out what you’re going to eat.
For example, someone who would like to lose 50 lbs this year is going to eat a lot differently than someone who wants to gain 25 lbs of muscle.
Similarly, someone who is 65 years old and wants to reduce their joint pain is going to eat differently than someone who is 22 years old and wants to improve their performance on the football field.
So before going any further, take a moment to get very clear on:
- Where you are right now (i.e. age, gender, height, weight, fitness level, nutrition level etc.)
- Where you want to be in 12 months from now
Another question that might help you answer that second point is:
“If we met in 12 months from today, what would have had to happen for you to be ecstatic with your results?”
And when you’re thinking about your goals, remember to be S.M.A.R.T.
- Specific: get crystal clear on your outcome
- Measurable: you should be able to measure your progress
- Attainable: something challenging enough to be exciting, but still attainable
- Relevant: they should be something that’s important to you
- Time-Based: have a deadline
{Related: How To Set Goals For An Awesome Life}
Once you’re crystal clear on your goals, it’s time to move on to the next question…
Step 2: How Many Meals Do You Want To Eat?
A lot of people gloss over this and simply default to one of 2 options:
- The Traditional – 3 meals/day
- The Modern – 3 meals plus 2 snacks/day
Or they say something like, “I just eat when I’m hungry.”
The problem with this is that if you don’t know how many meals you’re eating each day, how do you know how big or small those meals should be in order to reach your goals? The answer is: you don’t.
This isn’t a terribly complicated question and it’s definitely not set in stone. You can change eating patterns daily if you want, but the important thing is at least having a plan.
To make this step simple, here are some example meal frequency eating patterns to choose from:
- Traditional: 3 meals/day
- Modern: 5 meals/day (3 meals + 2 snacks)
- Intermittent Fasting: 2 meals/day
Now let’s take a look at how each of those might look on a daily basis.
Traditional – 3 meals/day
Just like grandma would suggest, in the Traditional template you’ll have your 3 square meals each day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You’ll wake up and have a nice, nutritious breakfast. Maybe you cook up some eggs and steamed spinach or perhaps you’re more of a SuperSmoothie person.
Then when lunch time rolls around you take a minute to eat the nutrient-dense mixed green salad with chicken and avocado you prepared.
And finally in the evening it’s time for dinner. You bake a nice thick piece of wild-caught salmon and have it with some wild rice and steamed broccoli.
Modern: 5 meals/day
If you prefer the health advice of fueling your body all day, then the Modern eating pattern might be a better fit for you.
In this style you’ll have your 3 main meals just like in the traditional but you’ll add in 2 snacks per day in between.
Ideally these snacks will be whole foods like nuts, grass-fed beef jerky, fruits or vegetables. It might help to think of these as “smaller meals” instead of “snacks” because the term “snack” is typically associated with processed foods.
The important thing to remember with the Modern is that when you’re eating more frequently you need to adjust the size of those meals. This is why understanding your goals is so important.
Intermittent Fasting: 2 meals/day
Over the last few years intermittent fasting has become a very trendy diet. Except it’s not actually a “diet”, it’s simply an eating pattern that adjusts your meal frequency so that you’re only eating 1-2x per day.
The theory for losing weight is that if you’re only eating 2 meals/day then it’s easier to control how much you’re eating. Like all eating patterns we’ve discussed, for some this works very well, for others it doesn’t.
Intermittent fasting is quite simple in practice: you simply skip a meal. For some people they skip breakfast and only eat lunch and dinner. Others prefer to eat breakfast and lunch but they skip dinner.
There are a lot of aspects of intermittent fasting we could talk about but that will be for another more detailed article.
For now, let’s keep things simple. If you choose this eating pattern then you’ll skip either breakfast or dinner and you’ll only eat 2 meals/day.
Each of these eating patterns have their advantages and disadvantages. At the end of the day it comes down your goals and your preferences.
So in the name of keeping things simple, choose the eating pattern that calls to you the most and we’ll move on. Like I mentioned above, this isn’t set in stone and can be adjusted later.
If you’re not sure which one to choose, go with the Traditional and let’s move on.
Step 3: Are You Using The BP Hand Method or Counting Calories?
In each of the Simple Guides To Eating Vegetables, Protein, Carbs and Fats we discussed two different approaches to portion control – counting calories and the BP Hand Method.
Each of those methods have their advantages and disadvantages. But ultimately you should choose the method that you feel is most appropriate for your lifestyle, goals and nutrition level.
Let’s quickly touch on both of these methods.
The BP Hand Method
The BP Hand Method is part of Level 1 in our Sustainable Nutrition System. This is where we typically start BluePhoenix Transformation Coaching clients because it’s simple and very sustainable for long-term success.
Our philosophy is that until you can consistently practice the simple nutrition skills taught in Level 1 – like the BP Hand Method – there’s no need to move onto more complex nutrition protocols like weighing your food and counting calories.
And the great news is that most people don’t ever have to go beyond Level 1. We’ve found that once you start consistently practicing the Level 1 skills like the BP Hand Method you’ll be extremely happy with your results and being able to maintain your progress without much effort.
In the BP Hand Method we’re going to use your hand to measure portion sizes of your vegetables, protein, fats and carbs. Since you always have your hand with you (I hope) this is a very simple and sustainable method of portion control.
You can check out the Simple Guides for more detailed info on each of those, but basically it goes like this:
- 5-7 “fists” of vegetables per day
- 3-6 “palms” of quality protein per day
- 3-6 “cupped handfuls” of Smart Carbs per day
- 3-6 “thumb lengths” of Healthy Fats per day
And those amounts will go up or down based on your goals (see above), body size, activity level, eating preferences (see above & below) and progress.
Are you starting to see how this all fits together?
Once you’ve mastered the BP Hand Method and are ready for Level 2 (which you may never need to explore), that’s where we dial things in through calorie counting and weighing your food.
Counting Calories & Weighing Your Food
If you’re more advanced when it comes to nutrition you may need to explore Level 2 practices.
This is really only necessary for people wanting to:
- strip away the last 5-10 lbs of body fat
- get down to a very low body fat percentage while maintaining or gaining muscle
- really dial in their athletic performance
Let me repeat: Most people don’t ever need to go into Level 2 nutrition practices and will be very happy with the more sustainable results in Level 1 (i.e. the BP Hand Method). At most, this is a short-term strategy to be used if you really want to dial things in.
Counting calories and weighing your food can be extremely beneficial for times when we need to be very precise with how much food we’re eating and the macronutrient breakdown of that food.
However, it’s also very time consuming and if not done properly can be wildly inaccurate.
To do this properly you’d start with calculating how many calories your body needs to reach your goals.
Then you’d move on to determining what percentages of macronutrients (fats, carbs, protein) is optimal for your body and your goals.
After that, you’d calculate how many grams of carbs, proteins and fats fit into those percentages based on your total calories.
And finally, you’d get your food scale out and weigh every single piece of food that goes into your body. You’d also track every gram of food in a food journal like My Fitness Pal to ensure you’re staying within your boundaries.
Does that sound like fun to you?
Even if it does sound like fun, it’s definitely not sustainable for the average person with other responsibilities (like work, family, other hobbies).
Keep It Simple
Pick a method and move on. Like everything this can be changed and adjusted as you go.
If you’re not sure which level you’re at, you’re at Level 1.
Step 4: What Eating Style Do You Prefer? (choose your “tem-Plate”)
There is no shortage of speciality diets available. All you have to do is walk into a bookstore to see walls of diet books and cookbooks to go along with them.
Fortunately, even though it seems like there’s an endless amount of different diets with fancy names, most of them can be put into 3 categories:
- Low-carb/high-fat
- Low-fat/high-carb
- Balanced
They all have advantages and disadvantages, but like everything this can be adjusted as you go. So choose the one that you prefer right now and move on to the next step.
Low-Carb/High-Fat Diets
These are diets that focus on reducing carbohydrate-heavy foods and eating more fat-heavy foods.
Common names for these diets would be:
- the Paleo Diet
- Whole30 Diet
- Keto Diet
- Bulletproof Diet
- Carnivore Diet
- Atkins Diet
- South Beach Diet and so on
This is an approach BluePhoenix Fitness uses in some cases as well with our Transformation Coaching clients.
If you prefer to eat a lot of meat, fish, eggs, nuts and oils, and you don’t mind skipping the grains, legumes, pasta, breads or other “carb” foods, this might be the way to go.
If you’re using the Level 1 BP Hand Method, your tem-Plate for this eating preference would be:
- 5-7 “fists” of vegetables per day
- 3-6 “palms” of meat, fish or eggs per day
- 1-2 “cupped handfuls” of Smart Carbs per day
- 4-6 “thumb lengths” of Healthy Fats per day
And if you’re using the Level 2 calorie counting method, your macronutrient tem-Plate would look like:
- 10-20% Carbs
- 40-70% Fats
- 25-40% Protein
Low-Fat/High-Carb Diets
On the flip-side have low-fat diets. These diets will have you lower your fat intake which usually means you’ll be eating more carbohydrate-heavy foods.
These were the diets of the 80’s and 90’s. Fat was the enemy and was to be avoided at all costs. Fortunately we now know that’s not true, but low-fat diets still persist.
Most government nutrition recommendations like Canada’s Food Guide still skew this way. You’ll also lean this way if you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet.
At BluePhoenix Fitness we might use this style of eating with our Transformation Coaching clients looking to improve performance, gain muscle or who would prefer to follow a vegan diet.
If you’d prefer to eat more carb-heavy foods like grains, legumes, pasta, breads, and potatoes, while reducing fatty foods like meat, fish, eggs, nuts or oils, this might be the way to go.
If you’re using the Level 1 BP Hand Method, your tem-Plate for this eating preference would be:
- 5-7 “fists” of vegetables per day
- 2-4 “palms” of meat, fish or eggs per day
- 4-6 “cupped handfuls” of Smart Carbs per day
- 1-2 “thumb lengths” of Healthy Fats per day
And if you’re using the Level 2 calorie counting method, your macronutrient tem-Plate would look like:
- 40-60% Carbs
- 10-20% Fats
- 20-30% Protein
Balanced Approach
And then right in the middle we have the balanced approach, where you have equal amounts of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
This is typically the most common approach we take at Blue Phoenix Fitness. Although the other two methods do have their place and we use them both in different circumstances.
Another common diet that follows a more balanced approach is the Mediterranean Diet (although it does skew slightly lower carb).
If you enjoy all foods and would like to eat a more balanced diet that includes a variety of healthy, whole-foods then this might be the best approach for you.
If you’re using the Level 1 BP Hand Method, your tem-Plate for this eating preference would be:
- 5-7 “fists” of vegetables per day
- 3-6 “palms” of meat, fish or eggs per day
- 3-6 “cupped handfuls” of Smart Carbs per day
- 3-6 “thumb lengths” of Healthy Fats per day
And if you’re using the Level 2 calorie counting method, your macronutrient tem-Plate would look like:
- 30-40% Carbs
- 30-40% Fats
- 30-40% Protein
Remember when you’re looking at those tem-Plates that the amounts will largely depend on your answers in Step 1, combined with adjusting over time.
But no matter which eating preference you choose, the importance still has to be on eating more unprocessed, whole-foods and less processed foods.
Make your choice and let’s start planning our meals!
Step 5: What Are 4-7 Simple Meals That You Enjoy?
Now that you know how many meals you’re going to eat each day, how you’ll measure portion sizes and your tem-Plate for the foods you’ll be eating it’s time to get into the fun stuff…your actual meals!
This is where you’re going to have to do a little bit of research on your own. Fortunately, once you know all of the stuff we’ve covered there are endless resources for recipes.
For example, let’s say you decide you want to roll with the Low-Carb/High-Fat tem-Plate. Then all you would have to do is go do a quick search online for “low-carb recipes” and you would be flooded with websites and social media accounts dedicated to just that.
Or if you decide that you’d like to go a little heavier on the carbs, then you could do a quick online search for “low-fat recipes” and bingo! More recipes than you could ever enjoy in your entire life.
Along with that, you can find some of our favourite recipes at BluePhoenixFitness.com.
One thing to keep in mind while doing your recipe search is that the recipes should be very simple. At least in the beginning.
There will be plenty of time to experiment with fancy recipes later, once you’re in a good rhythm with your nutrition plan. For now keep things as simple as possible with as few ingredients as possible.
Now you’re going to choose 4-7 simple meals that you think you’d enjoy and save them. These meals are going to make up your weekly menu in the next step.
When you’re doing this you’ll want to find recipes that fit your meals each day.
So if you’re following The Traditional of 3 meals per day, then you’ll need breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes. If you’re following the Intermittent Fasting protocol with only 2 meals per day, then you’ll only need recipes for those 2 meals.
Have some fun with this, but try to keep your total meals under 10. You just want to have a handful of meals you know you’ll enjoy that are simple to make.
Got them? Awesome, now let’s make your menu…
Step 6: Plan Your Week & Put It On A Calendar
Good news – this is the easiest step! Now that you’re armed with your 4-7 simple meals, we just need to plan out your weekly menu.
Take a calendar and plan out all of your meals for the next week. Put them all in there and then put the calendar in a spot the whole family can see.
Along with your 4-7 simple meals you’re also going to put any “off plan” meals that you have coming up.
For instance, do you have a birthday dinner coming up? Put it on the calendar.
Or maybe you have a work lunch to attend on Thursday. Put it on the calendar.
Is it your anniversary on Tuesday? Put your dinner reservation at the fancy restaurant on the calendar.
Every single meal you’re eating has to go on the calendar because then you can plan for it. And when you plan for your “off plan” meals, you can enjoy them without stress or guilt. Because you have a plan you can make sure the rest of your meals are dialled in throughout the week.
Once everything is on the calendar it’s time for the final step…
Step 7: Go Grocery Shopping
All that’s left to do now is head to the grocery store and get the food you need to make your meals for the week.
As long as you kept your meals simple in Step 5 then this shouldn’t be very complicated.
No matter which tem-Plate you chose back in Step 4 there are a few staples you’ll probably need:
- Plenty of vegetables and some fruit (fresh or frozen)
- Some high quality meat, fish and eggs
- Smart Carbs in the form of whole-foods
- Healthy Fats like olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds
- Some spices for flavouring
Either way, keep it simple and just buy what you need for your meals for the week.
And if you really want to set yourself up for success, prep as much of the food as possible as soon as you get home.
For instance, if you bought a bunch of fresh vegetables, take some time to wash and cut them all up so they’re ready to go when you need them. You could even batch cook a bunch of your meat to cut down on cooking time later in the week.
Do as much as you can ahead of time so that when “life” happens during the week it won’t throw your nutrition plan off the rails.
Putting It All Together
Congratulations! You’re now a meal planning pro ready to conquer your kitchen!
Now that you’re armed with the Blue Phoenix 7-Step Super Simple Meal Planning System you’ll never have to wonder “what should I eat” ever again. Just start with Step 1 and work your way through it to make your personal nutrition plan.
To recap, here’s all 7 steps:
- What Are Your Goals?
- How Many Meals Do You Want To Eat Each Day?
- Are You Using The BP Hand Method or Counting Calories?
- What Eating Style Do Your Prefer? (pick your tem-plate)
- What Are 4-7 Simple Meals That You Enjoy?
- Plan Your Week & Put It On A Calendar
- Hit Up The Grocery Store
As our good friend Uncle Ben would say, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
The 7-Step Super Simple Meal Planning System holds great power, and now so do you. Use it wisely and responsibly.
Let’s Kick Things Up A Notch…
This Simple Guide has no doubt given you plenty of tools and strategies to begin eating healthy and living your most awesome life!
But if you’re wanting to go a bit further or you’re looking for some extra personalized help, I have 2 options for you…
OPTION 1
If you want step-by-step, personalized guidance on exactly what you need to do to reach your fitness or weight loss goals…
- Customized workout program
- Specific lifestyle-based nutrition plan
- 100% access to your personal coach at all times
Then you’ll want to apply for our awesome 1-1 Blue Phoenix Fitness Online Coaching Experience.
OPTION 2
Looking for some workouts you can do at home with no-equipment and limited time?
And if you just want to connect or say hi, you can always find me on Facebook here or here and on Instagram here or here!
Drop by and and say hello 👋.
Stay strong and live awesome, my friend.
-Cam