How To Use The 21 Day Fix Meal Plan
I touched on the importance of meal planning when it comes to picking your 21 Day Fix recipes, but today I want to expand on the 21 Day Fix Meal Plan as it applies to the 21 Day Fix overall program.
How does the meal plan fit?
As I have mentioned, the 21 Day Fix is a fitness program that combines exercise and proper diet to help you lose weight and get healthy. The 21 Day Fix Meal Plan was created featuring natural foods in a low/no sugar, low-salt, macronutrient diet, so your body gets the fuel it needs to complete the exercise portion of the program.
What is macronutrient?
That may sound complicated, but it’s not. Macronutrients are simply the three necessary components of every diet: carbs, fats, and protein. Your body weight determines the acceptable ranges and recommended percentages, of the three macronutrients. A balanced diet meets those ranges while hitting your target calorie consumption.
How do I find the proper levels?
Time to do a little bit of math, but don’t worry; it’s basic stuff. First, you need to find each of these numbers
a) Your baseline calories – Current body weight (in pounds) multiplied by 11.
b) Your daily caloric needs – Baseline calories (the answer in “a”) plus 400
c) Your calorie target – Caloric needs (answer in “b”) minus 750.
For those of you who prefer math language, it looks like this:
a) Baseline Calorie (BC) = Wx11
b) Daily Caloric Needs (CN) = BC+400
c) Calorie Target (CT) = CN-750
Important note: the minimum calorie target should be 1200, so if your number falls below that, use 1200. It’s unhealthy to eat less than 1200 calories a day for extended periods.
Important note #2: The above calculations are for losing weight. There are different calculations to use if you want to maintain or gain weight.
I have my numbers, now what?
Once you have your calorie target, you can check out this handy chart that will tell you exactly how many of each container you can eat per day. It’s all pretty straightforward.
How strict is the 21 Day Fix Meal Plan?
It’s not that restrictive at all, which is one of the reasons that 21 Day Fix has gained in popularity, instead of fading out like other fad diets. The meal plan covers all the foods, including grains and seeds, which some of the newer diets eliminate.
If you have tried any other diet, you know that one of the significant issues is those cravings for foods that you’ve had to eliminate. That’s when the cheating happens, and that (in turn) causes you to fall out of the diet.
Because the 21 Day Fix meal plan allows for at least a little bit of all kinds of foods, your nutrition stays balanced – so no more cravings. Beachbody has also made adjustments to the way treats and replacements are counted.
Follow the 21 Day Fix meal plan, and you’ll find yourself making better food choices on your own in no time.
