Diet is where the majority of confusion stems from. There are too many conflicting ways in which people approach this. They either go for the 'keto' approach or 'low-carbs' or 'carb-cycling'. But what do all of these diets have in common? The answer is reduction of calories. As long as you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight.

And vice versa, if you want to gain weight you must consume over your maintanence calories. But how do you know how many calories you need in order to cut or gain weight?

The answer is simple. We find our calories utilising a BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculator which you can find by following this link. This helps determine the calories you need to maintain your current weight without the inclusion of exercise. Once your basal calories have been determined we will then apply your activaty multipliers, these range from:

• 1.2 (sedentary)
• 1.375 (lightly active)
• 1.55 (moderately active)
• 1.725 (very active)
• 1.9 (extremely active)

Once you have this calculated, your final calorie number is what you need to maintain your weight. Then it's a matter of either, adding calories in order to slowly gain weight, or subtracting calories in order to lose weight. Remember, if you decide to gain weight, you must do it in a slow controlled manner. similarly, if you cut down on weight, do it slowly in order to hold onto muscle mass while effectivley burning fat.

Finally, the most important aspect to tieing your diet together is understanding your macros. Macronutrients are comprised of Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats. I recommend tracking these three macros regardless of your goals to cut or bulk. For more information regarding macronutrients, you can find them by following this highlighted text.

If you plan to lose fat and get leaner you should focus on having a higher diet in protein, as protein helps muscle recovery and keeps you satiated for longer along with helping your body hold onto muscle (studies can be found by following this highlighted text). However, if you plan to gain weight, your focus should be on your carb sources. Additional information on properly bulking may be found by following this higlighted text