Hi guys and welcome to the simple nutritional plan for the next 21 days.

The aim is to keep it simple and straightforward. There are thousands of diet plans out there, but we are going to keep to the basics because that is 90% of the solution!

Please don't get hung up on minute details, the aim is simply to cut out the junk and eat clean, unprocessed food whilst employing a reasonable calorie defecit. Here's how!

The calories part

Whilst not the only issue you must create some reasonable energy defecit to lose body fat.

What you eat is ALSO important because certain foods and foods that are heavily processed will effect your hormones, which are the guys who ultimate send the message either to burn or store fat and also contain toxins that may be stored in body fat! They will also have lost most of there nutritional value meaning that to process them and digest them your body will have to raid it's vitamin and mineral stores thus leading to a net loss of nutrients, this is what i mean when i say 'nutrient robbers'

I'm going to try to keep this very simple, but it does involve some basic math! Remember that this is a rough estimation but is generally accepted to be fairly accurate. First before you start I highly reccomend you open a free account with FITDAY where you can log and find all the calorific values for hosts of food stuffs

http://www.fitday.com/

First aim for 10 to 12 cals per lb of bodyweight for a safe energy defecit. When i say SAFE i mean a level that's not in the short term going to effect your hormone levels in a way that will put you into fat storing mode by cutting calories too low.

You may need to adjust up or down depending on activity levels but for our purpose we will take the middle figure of 11 cals per lb. Ok, lets get going!

How many of my calories should come from Protein Carbs and Fat?

Heres how to do it:

First set Total Daily Calories:

Lets take an average between 10 and 12: Bodyweight of 150lbs x 11 equals 1650 calories

Then set Protein requirements: approx 1gm per lb of bodyweight

So 150 lbs equals 150 gms protein. There are 4 calories per gm of protein so that makes 600 calories from protein

Then Fat: approx 0.25 to 0.30 gms per lb of bodyweight.

So 150 lbs x 0.3 equals 45 gms of fat. There are approx 9 calories per gm of fat so that makes 405 calories from fat.

So 600 calories from protein and 405 from fat equals 1005 calories. That leaves us approx 650 short of our daily requirement of 1650. So whatever is left is what we use to calculate our carbohydrate intake.

So that gives us the following approx breakdown:

Total Calories 1650

Calories from Protein 600 ( 150 gms)

Calories from Fat 405 (45gms)

Calories from Carbs 650 (162 gms) There are approx 4 calories per gm of carbs

Voila! Hope that makes sense? Please remember though that this is a GENERAL plan, the figures are approx so please DON'T get hung up on getting the amounts exact, it's just to give you a general guide ,you may find that you need to tweak youir daily calorie intake either a little higher towards the 12 per lb figure or lower towards the 10 per lb figure. And of course you will be working out 4 x weekly which is going to add to that energy defecit.

Now for the actual dietry guidelines below:

General guidelines.

Keep it simple, eat good quality fresh food!

Keep a FOOD diary.

Try to plan what you are going to eat 24 hrs ahead. ( don't get pedantic about it!) Make a simple meal plan

Prepare food ahead if possible.

Keep snacks close at hand, EG Nuts, seeds, chopped veggies and fruit, clean homemade dips like humous and guacamole, non wheat based crackers

Try to eat 5 to 6 smaller meals a day including snacks.

Avoid any processed foods and simple sugars:

1. Is it in a tin, packet, bottle, polythene wrapper, jar or cardboard box?

2. Do you recognize all the ingredients as natural food items?

3. Can you identify less than 5 steps from raw ingredients to the finished

product?

Each meal should contain a source of good quality protein.

Whilst allowed, limit intakes of nuts, certain fruits and starches: see guidelines below

Try to eat oily fish 2x weekly.

Drink plenty of filtered water. Do not drink water out of re-filled plastic bottles.

You can eat unlimited vegetables, try a variety. Increase cruciferous vegetable intake, they are anti estrogenic.

All fruit and vegetables contain different vitamins and minerals, and these can be

linked back to the five colour groups listed below. By ensuring your diet contains a

variety of colours on a daily basis, you’ll ensure that you are getting a wide range of

those essential vitamins & minerals. For example:

Red: Cherries, Red Peppers, Cranberries , Tomatoes, Water Melon, Berries

Orange & Yellow: Carrots, PIneapple, Mangoes, Sweet Potato,

Green: Brocoli, Cabbage, Kale, Lettuce, Cucumber, Grapes, Pears, kiwi

Blue & Purple: Blueberries, Grapes, Aubergine, Plums, Blackurrents

White: Bananas, Cauliflour, Parsnips, Onions and Garlic, Mushrooms

Grains, Beans & Pulses

You can eat beans, pulses and certain grains, such as the little known Quinoa.

Quinoa is actually a seed, rather than a grain but as it tends to be prepared and eaten

as a grain I’m including it here.

It is high in protein and contains a good balance of

essential amino acids. It makes an excellent substitute for rice or couscous

.

The other grain you can eat is organic rolled oats.

Dairy

You can eat free range eggs, butter and natural live yogurt.

Nuts and seeds

You can eat a wide range of dried fruits, nuts and seeds.

Oil and seasonings

You can use olive oil, along with salt, pepper and whatever other natural herbs and

spices you’d like to use to flavour your foods.

Eat organic where possible cost permitting

Best oils for cooking in are coconut, butter and olive oil (for light frying)

Foods which are allowed are as follows. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST!

These foods below can be eaten liberally:

All vegetables, fresh and frozen

Fresh Protein sources: Eg Poultry, Beef, pork, fish, sea food, eggs;

Fresh plain organic yoghurt and butter.

Seeds and spices

Home made salad dressings using vinegar and olive oil

Rice or almond milk

Parma ham

Smoked Salmon

Beans and pulses

The following foods which are allowed for the whole 21 days ( except in the case of the brown pasta) should be limited in the following ways

Starches

Sweet potatoes

Brown Rice

Oats

Quinoa

Brown Pasta (after first 11 days)

Whole grain rice cakes

Whole grain rice flakes ( good oat replacement)

1 serving allowed with every meal before 3pm. Serving size is approx a palm full or half a cup before cooking

Nuts

Can be eaten at any time of day but limit daily intake to around 1 handfull

Fruits fresh and frozen.

1 seving allowed with every meal up untill 3pm

The following foods are banned only for the first 10 days

Milk

Cheese

Brown pasta

Peanuts

Caffeine

After this they may be consumed sparingly. 1 cup of milk daily, 50g cheese or 2 tbsp of soft cheese. If you notice any reactions to any of these then it's best to cut them out completely.

These foods are banned for the duration of the 3 weeks.

Simple sugar in it's many forms ( this includes jams, honey ,nutella!)

Processed foods ( usually in a jar, tin or packet) includes packet meats.

All Breakfast cereals (Full of sugar and salt)

Soda's and fruit juices,even diet!

All Bread and bread based products (buns, croissants etc)

Soy Products (estrogenic)

White rice (nutrient robber)

White Potatoes

White Pasta (nutrient robber)

Cakes, biscuits, crisps, sweets, chocolate and ice cream YOU GET THE IDEA!

Alcohol

Vegeatble and sunflower oil

Margarine