2000 calories diet template needed

[ybg]

As per the title, I’m looking for a 2000 calories diet template so I can get a basic idea on food quantities and then fine tune it according to my needs. If you have anything similar and you feel it helps, please send it over. Looking mainly for basic food types like lean meat/chicken/salmon/eggs and a combination of good fats and carbs as the plans that I find online mostly use fancy recipes and I would like to keep it simple.

 

[_Endure_]

Download myfitnesspal or the like and input some of the meal plans you are thinking and it will basically give you a general ballpark on your macros and caloric intake. You're going to have to weigh/measure/count your food. i.e. 200g cooked chicken breast + 100g cooked grams rice + 2 cups spinach + 20 almonds etc.

 

[LeanEngineer]

Download myfitnesspal.

This Myfitnesspal is a live saver for tracking macros and staying on point.

 

[ybg]

I thought I would avoid the task of guessing quantities etc. but it seems that I have homework to do.
Thanks guys!

 

[_Endure_]

I thought I would avoid the task of guessing quantities etc. but it seems that I have homework to do.
Thanks guys!

It takes no time, not sure why you are looking for an easy answer here. Everyones macros and needs are different. If you are serious about training you will learn nutrition. Nutrition and sleep are the #1 keys to training and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I

 

[jtbull]

This Myfitnesspal is a live saver for tracking macros and staying on point.

any free ones out there.

 

[LeanEngineer]

any free ones out there.

My fitness pal should be free. I think you can pay to get some extra features by the free version works just fine for me.

 

[HIT4ME]

I thought I would avoid the task of guessing quantities etc. but it seems that I have homework to do.
Thanks guys!

What is it that you are thinking - if you want someone to do the work for you, you can hire a coach maybe? But if you want help - tell us what you are specifically having a problem with and we will help.

You don't need to guess at anything - just grab the packages of the things you like to eat and read the labels. Start there. You will learn that 4 oz. of chicken (uncooked) has roughly 120 calories, 22 grams or protein, 1 g fat, 0 g carbs. You take that and all the other items you like and you mix and match and adjust serving sizes until you hit your goals.

So if you need to get 45 grams of protein in a 400 calorie meal, you know that 2 servings (8 oz) of chicken will get you to 44 grams at 240 calories and you can fill in the additional 160 calories with almost anything to get the extra gram of protein. Or you could do 4 oz. of chicken, something else that gives you protein, etc. It's just learning the values and then mix and match.

Once you have planned a few things, come back here and lay it out and we can help more.

 

[ybg]

What is it that you are thinking - if you want someone to do the work for you, you can hire a coach maybe? But if you want help - tell us what you are specifically having a problem with and we will help.

You don't need to guess at anything - just grab the packages of the things you like to eat and read the labels. Start there. You will learn that 4 oz. of chicken (uncooked) has roughly 120 calories, 22 grams or protein, 1 g fat, 0 g carbs. You take that and all the other items you like and you mix and match and adjust serving sizes until you hit your goals.

So if you need to get 45 grams of protein in a 400 calorie meal, you know that 2 servings (8 oz) of chicken will get you to 44 grams at 240 calories and you can fill in the additional 160 calories with almost anything to get the extra gram of protein. Or you could do 4 oz. of chicken, something else that gives you protein, etc. It's just learning the values and then mix and match.

Once you have planned a few things, come back here and lay it out and we can help more.

I was expecting the political correctness lecture to be fair.
I am afraid that I will hit all my calories just from chicken, this is why I was looking for a template to use and introduce some variety and adjust from there. I looked at eatthismuch.com for food choices but it doesn’t look like fitness oriented. Too much variety and not so ‘clean’ food choices.

I will definitely use your advice and come back with questions or requests for suggestions.

Thank you.

 

[HIT4ME]

I was expecting the political correctness lecture to be fair.
I am afraid that I will hit all my calories just from chicken, this is why I was looking for a template to use and introduce some variety and adjust from there. I looked at eatthismuch.com for food choices but it doesn’t look like fitness oriented. Too much variety and not so ‘clean’ food choices.

I will definitely use your advice and come back with questions or requests for suggestions.

Thank you.

Ok, so what do you weigh, what are your goals and what are you thinking for macros?

For me, I always start with two factors - calories and protein. In this case you have chosen 2000 calories (check) and I usually shoot for 0.8-1.0 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. Carbs and fat can make up the difference in whatever amounts you see fit and it may even be good to very these from day to day.

So, to start you probably want to think of protein sources that can help you reach your goals and create a list. Some if these items should be lean proteins with low carbs, but some can be a mix.

So, a list may have chicken, beef, eggs (whole and egg whites), beef jerky, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, protein powders, fish, and even beans, etc. Whatever you like that has high protein. Start with those.

The rest if your calories can be filled with fats and carbs or even faux-proteins (think bacon in small amounts).

Use veggies as much as you can - they can be low calorie and high volume.

Having some leeway to add a small, controlled amount of "not clean" items can make things more pallet able and make sticking to the diet easier.

For instance, I often make 8 oz. If chicken with a bag of riced cauliflower - and this is just 300 calories with about 45 grams of protein. If I add 70 calories with of sweet and sour sauce or bbq sauce to this, it is still pretty low calorie and doesn't taste like diet food. Of course if I am getting really strict I skip the sauce, but I will only suffer through that for so long. Just one example.

So, start with a list if proteins you like, and then go to a list of foods you like and figure out the nutrition from there.

 

[ybg]

That is a great post with really helpful advice.
In order to go step by step, I will provide my stats below and ask for your opinion as I am not sure that the results I am getting from calculators are always relevant.

height: 5'11"
weight: 198 pounds
age: 30

Myfitnesspal BMR calculator says 1,870 calories/day.

Where do I start and what should my macros be? I would say that I need to drop fat in a steady pace.

Say 160-200g protein, that would be 28oz of chicken. I used calorieking to get macros.

Please let me know if the logic and the figures above are correct so that I can continue.

 

[HIT4ME]

OK, good start. So doing some handy dandy calculations I have your body fat at an estimate of around 24% (based on your BMI of 27.6%) and if you have not used steroids, etc. this is probably within reason This means your lean mass is around 151 pounds. I would use this as your guage for protein - about 150-160 grams of protein a day should be sufficient. More is not bad, but sometimes we become so focused on getting in the protonz that our diet becomes hard to follow. If you get 160 grams of protein, I would say you are pretty good. I would try not to go below 150 and 200 is OK - so your logic/range is pretty good.

You will also get pretty tired of chicken pretty fast - I would come up with a list of foods. And back on the protein - sometimes just being able to add in 70 calories of BBQ sauce can make the difference between having a hard time eating chicken every night to being able to stick to the diet. So if you're hitting your calories and getting your protein, find things like this that fit and make it more enjoyable.

The calculations I have have you at around 2,200 calories a day for maintenance if you're sedentary (most of us with an office job are if we are honest with ourselves). I would think 1700-1800 calories/day is a good starting point. The issue with this becomes WEEKLY intake. 1800 calories/day will create a deficit of 2,800 calories/week which is about 0.8 pounds of fat in theory. If you add in some aerobic work and burn another 500 calories a day that way, 4 days a week, you will increase that to 4,800 calories/week for a deficit or just about 1.33 pounds of fat loss per week - which is not too bad.

But if you have a cheat meal once per week and it is 2,000 calories - you wipe out a lot of that weight loss. Still, a planned cheat meal can be good if it allows you to stick to the diet and is kept in check. Just be aware - and you may need to drop your calories a little more to allow for that cheat meal or just learn to not have it every week.

 

[HIT4ME]

Oh, and your 1870 is BMR - I was stating TDEE. The difference is BMR is your Basal Metabolic Rate which is how many calories you will burn, in theory, just lying around all day doing nothing like a pile of skin and bones. The TDEE (Todal Daily Energy Expenditure) takes into account some typical level of activity - like getting up to go to the fridge, walking to your car, driving, getting to work, sitting at your desk drinking coffee, etc. haha. Of course doing extra exercise will increase the TDEE, but not your BMR.

 

[ybg]

Thank you again for the really helpful advice. I was trying to plan for my meals through the past days and this is one of the example days. I am also adding a bag of green salad a day which I don't include in the calorie counting.
Alternatives would be salmon for protein and sweet potato for carbs.
Can you review the below and tell me what you think? If what I put together makes sense I can make more alternatives in order to include other types of foods. What would you change or adjust?

Food	Protein	Carbs	Fat		Calories
400g chicken (14oz)	92.4​	0​	5​		440​
Total 0% greek yogurt	18​	7​	0​		100​
Casein 2 scoops	48​	2​	0​		214​
Quaker muesli serving		29​	3.6​		181​
200g rice (raw) (7oz)		158.3​	1​		715​
Olive oil (1 tbsp.)			13.5​		119​
SUM	158.4​	196.3​	23.1​		1769​

 

[_Endure_]

First major red flag is you need to hit 55-60grams of fat minimum daily. 23grams isn't where any healthy person should be at.

 

[ybg]

First major red flag is you need to hit 55-60grams of fat minimum daily. 23grams isn't where any healthy person should be at.

What would you add? Should I increase the olive oil amount?
Anything else that should be adjusted?

 

[Sean1332]

I'm gonna throw this out there, it's not necessary, just might be helpful: Download the RP Diet app and use the 2 week free trial to learn how to portion out your meals and what to eat. This will give you a great idea about how to lay out your macros based around actual meals and not just bulk input information into MyFitnessPal. Then, just cancel the app after the 2 weeks (or continue and pay $15/mo as it will undoubtedly help). Even if you just do the first 2 weeks, you can get a better idea on how to do things on your own with the help of MyFitnessPal.

As mentioned, you need more fat. Around 30% of your bodyweight at least. Almonds/nuts are a good source of fat and also contain some fiber. The fats from fish. That's great you're adding in a bag of greens. Just keep certain targets in mind: Meeting the minimum amount of fat and meeting your protein goals. From there, the rest of your calories can be filled with your carb choices, altered up and down in respect to your activity level. Don't train one day? Lower the carbs and raise the fats a bit.

 

[_Endure_]

What would you add? Should I increase the olive oil amount?
Anything else that should be adjusted?

Google is your friend. I would highly recommend you do much more reading into nutrition based on the questions you are asking. It’s about the grams of fat you need to hit. Anyone who is serious about training or just being healthy has to understand this and it’s not hard. Sleep and nutrition, start there.

Fats: Ground beef, pork bacon, pork sausage, salmon, sardines, lamb, nuts, whole milk, cream, cheese, eggs, butter, coconut, avocado etc.

 

[HIT4ME]

Glad to see you putting in some work to organise on your own and learn. Yes, as you may know already, you need to keep learning as others have said - but we all had to start somewhere.

having said that, given the situation you have laid out above - you are at 24% bodyfat so dietary needs for fat are pretty darned low.

if you are not already I would add in 4-8 grams of fish oil daily and count the calories for this of course too.

Since you have bodyfat, again, it isn't like your body won't have enough floating around to fuel hormone production as needed. Beyond the bare essentials in a fat loss situation, it isn't necessary to worry too much about it. Unless someone can provide some pretty solid research to me stating otherwise, I would never worry about it.

Now, long term over year's...yes you may want to increase it a little, but by definition you can only be in a restricted caloric intake for a temporary period.

What you have laid out, to me, is a good starting point but the question I have is, how long can you stick to it? Eating chicken every meal every day will get old fast.

What about veggies? Broccoli, cauliflower, river cauliflower, spinach, whatever - you can get a lot of bulk from these sources, they are full of micronutrients, have more protein than you may think and for the volume they tend to be very low calorie. I think that is a bigger red flag than the fats..

How about eggs and egg whites? One of my go-to breakfasts is 1-2 whole eggs with 4-5 egg whites and 2 servings of fat free shredded cheddar. The fat free cheddar takes some getting used to, but it is 9 grams of protein for 45 calories per serving.

The entire egg/cheese omelet has 315 calories and around 45 grams of protein.

I would be real careful with sources of "healthy fats" like nuts during a diet. Sure a small amount can be healthy - but a handful can blow a diet real quick.

Cutting fat out entirely is not always a good idea and can go a bit far, you don't need to fear it. But this realization has created this entire "healthy fat" movement and I really think that goes too far too. We demonize carbs and increase fats and that is a poor recipe for health. But 60 grams as suggested is reasonable for long term so I am not trying to say that is wrong. Just the dogma on the internet is wrong.

 

[_Endure_]

We demonize carbs and increase fats and that is a poor recipe for health.

There's no way to make a blanket statement as such. Plenty of people know their macros and eat a lot of healthy fats and are in prime health. Plenty of people eat crap foods full of fats and aren't. Plenty of people eat too many sugary or high GI carbs because they are "easy" to snack on, cheap and readily available. Others have good intakes of sweet potatoes, rice, veggies, honey and are in prime health. You can draw extremes in any situation but it comes down to the person.

 

[HIT4ME]

There's no way to make a blanket statement as such. Plenty of people know their macros and eat a lot of healthy fats and are in prime health. Plenty of people eat crap foods full of fats and aren't. Plenty of people eat too many sugary or high GI carbs because they are "easy" to snack on, cheap and readily available. Others have good intakes of sweet potatoes, rice, veggies, honey and are in prime health. You can draw extremes in any situation but it comes down to the person.

First off, I am not drawing extremes. As a matter of fact I am saying that 60 grams if fat as suggested is a good long term goal for general health and eating - but during a weight loss diet it doesn't make a feck of difference. If you are at 20-25% bodyfat then you have plenty if fat already stored for your needs.

Now as far as it being down to the individual person - not as much as people would think. I know everyone loves to think they are special, and supplement companies and diet books make a fortune exploiting this, but 98% of us are very similar.

What it comes down to has nothing to do with macros at all. It has, almost entirely, to do with calories. Caloric overload of any sort is a problem that leads to problems. Caloric overload with low fat leads to fewer problems than caloric overload from high fat. As a matter of fact, if scientists want to induce diabetes in a mouse they never use straight carbs. It is often just high fat. And it is often high fat and high carbs. But never just carbs - it isn't reliable. Doubt me? Just go to pinned and look up any studies on animals using a diabetic model.

Depending in your definition if "a lot of fats" you could be right or very wrong. I would define a lot of fats as being enough to create an overload, and hardly any people are thus eating a lot of fats and perfectly healthy for very long.

Now if you are defining a lot of fats as 60 grams, than what I said agrees with you 100% - for a long term basis at a maintenance level of caloric intake, that's fine.

Further, fats are very calorically dense - so increasing fats quickly increases calories. As a matter of fact, if he were to add in 35 grams of fat he would add 325 and calories to what he already has and this could severely impact his deficit and thus, weight loss.

Finally, have you ever tried to define a healthy fat? It is a scam. Even fish oil isn't universally accepted as a healthy fat. Avacados, nuts, whatever you saw on the interweb is far from being as healthy as people promote.

But why do you need fats when you can make all but the essential fats from other fats, carbs or even proteins? And if you can survive on 1-2 grams of fish oil for instance - how much fat do you really think is needed and healthy?

 

[HIT4ME]

And don't take me wrong, I appreciate the debate - it is fun to learn about this stuff. Feel free to prove me wrong. I could be.

 

[ybg]

Of course I am trying to learn and all posts have been really helpful so far. There are things that I already know or have read about, but trying to put them on paper is not always straightforward.

I have made the below alternative day. Feel free to comment. I would also like to hear your thoughts on the accuracy of the amounts used.

Food	Protein	Carbs	Fat		Calories
500g salmon (17oz)	99.5​	0​	54.3​		914​
Total 0% greek yogurt	18​	7​	0​		100​
Casein 2 scoops	48​	2​	0​		214​
Quaker muesli serving		29​	3.6​		181​
200g sweet potato (raw) (7oz)		40​			172​
Olive oil (1 tbsp.)			13.5​		119​
SUM	165.5​	78​	71.4​		1700​

 

[HIT4ME]

I think you are getting in the right path. I noted that you had 0 protein for the rice and that normally will have a few grams or protein.

Having said that - can you improve? Yes. But you are learning the nutrition on things.

As others have stated, download some food logging apps and start logging your food. Sometimes you will need to be flexible and not knowing exactly what you are today can lead back to guessing. Guessing is always the beginning of the downfall in a diet.

Some additional food options to consider: fat free cottage cheese, eggs, fair life skim milk (2 cups has 26 g protein for 160 calories which is on par with some protein powders).

I would also try to replace those protein scoops with food at least some of the time. You are not eating a lot and it will get hard if you are drinking calories all the time. 4 oz. Of chicken or 8 oz. Cottage cheese is a lot more filling than a scoop of protein.

Cruciferous veggies?

Overall, I think you are starting to figure out how to plan this out better, and as you learn more foods and practice you will get better and better.

 

[ybg]

I think you are getting in the right path. I noted that you had 0 protein for the rice and that normally will have a few grams or protein.

I have read that rice, legumes etc. should be counted for their content in carbs rather than protein. This is one of the reasons I have some blank cells in the tables above. What is the best thing to do on that matter?

Also, I usually marinate chicken in oil, lemon, honey, salt, etc.
How should those or the oil in the pan be counted? Taking into account that most of this quantity ends up thrown away.

 

[_Endure_]

I have read that rice, legumes etc. should be counted for their content in carbs rather than protein. This is one of the reasons I have some blank cells in the tables above. What is the best thing to do on that matter?

Also, I usually marinate chicken in oil, lemon, honey, salt, etc.
How should those or the oil in the pan be counted? Taking into account that most of this quantity ends up thrown away.

Depends on how detailed you want to be. Protein will be small from carb sources for the most part but certain ones have some decent protein. Beans, lentils, peas, oats can have quite a decent amount depending on how much you eat and the type while veggies, fruit, rice, honey etc will have much lower or none at all.

 

[Resolve10]

I have read that rice, legumes etc. should be counted for their content in carbs rather than protein. This is one of the reasons I have some blank cells in the tables above. What is the best thing to do on that matter?

Also, I usually marinate chicken in oil, lemon, honey, salt, etc.
How should those or the oil in the pan be counted? Taking into account that most of this quantity ends up thrown away.

If you are going to count everything then you should include them. When cooking with oils I usually measure the entire amount added as well.

At the end of the day you just need to be consistent. For example if you don't count the protein from those sources, then just never count it so that is consistent. As accurate as calorie counting can be there is still quite a range of variables that can make it inaccurate, but it gives us a way to be consistent, so just find a guideline and follow that.

 

[_Endure_]

^ yep just like there is no way to tell how much fat might cook out of red meat, fish, chicken thighs etc. It's all a guess but consistency is key as noted and how you react to what you are taking in. There is always likely going to be a good +/-150 calorie or more error rate in anyones macros.

 

[jrock645]

I have read that rice, legumes etc. should be counted for their content in carbs rather than protein. This is one of the reasons I have some blank cells in the tables above. What is the best thing to do on that matter?

Also, I usually marinate chicken in oil, lemon, honey, salt, etc.
How should those or the oil in the pan be counted? Taking into account that most of this quantity ends up thrown away.

I would avoid marinating in oil if you’re trying to lose weight. And unless you can weigh the oil that comes out of the pan after sautéing, count 80% it against your calories. My suggestion is get used to nonstick pans and light coats of pan spray. Calories from added oils stack up quick.

 

[HIT4ME]

If you are going to count everything then you should include them. When cooking with oils I usually measure the entire amount added as well.

At the end of the day you just need to be consistent. For example if you don't count the protein from those sources, then just never count it so that is consistent. As accurate as calorie counting can be there is still quite a range of variables that can make it inaccurate, but it gives us a way to be consistent, so just find a guideline and follow that.

I would avoid marinating in oil if you’re trying to lose weight. And unless you can weigh the oil that comes out of the pan after sautéing, count 80% it against your calories. My suggestion is get used to nonstick pans and light coats of pan spray. Calories from added oils stack up quick.

Yeah, honestly, oils and marinades can add up quickly. I try to use things sparingly. It's better to use a small amount than none at all if it is the difference between you being able to stay on your diet or not - but you have to account for it somehow. For me, I usually try to use low cal marinades that don't throw me too far off if I just include all of it. Like if I use a marinade that has 25 calories/serving and use 4 servings, and I use it once per day, just counting that 100 calories doesn't make much difference.

Oils I try to count all that I use - which helps keep me from dumping too much in the pan and saying, "Well, I'm throwing away most of it". It can really add a lot of calories to the food if you're doing it a couple times a day. If you are in a 500 cal/day deficit and eat 2 tbsp. of oil in your food - you're wiping out 25-30% of that deficit right there.

 

[ybg]

At that point, I should say a big THANK YOU to all those that contributed to this thread. I get back occasionally and re-read what has been written here as my guide.

I came back to the gym at the beginning of the year after a year off and a couple of injuries. So far, during my workout "journey" I have been "perma-bulking" and eye balling the amount of food, macros etc.

Hopefully, I can see some results by following this regimen that you guys helped me build and I might get back to you with further questions or some updates on how am I doing.

Corona got me one month in, in my gym membership, however, I am jumping rope 6-7x a week for 20 mins and doing some bodyweight exercises. Also trying to gain some flexibility back by doing leg/lower back stretches (one of my injuries).

Thanks again.