Seasonal Meal Plans

 

Variety is a crucial part of a healthy and high-performance nutrition program because it helps ensure that you're getting a more well-rounded combination of vitamins and minerals. And beyond these micronutrients, there are innumerable components that can improve your health and performance – even if science hasn't quite figured out how – including phytonutrients and flavonoids. Generally, the more you change up your food choices, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables, the more balanced your overall micronutrient intake will be.

 

The 4-week Seasonal Meal Plans are designed to meet your daily calorie demands so you have the energy and focus to be more productive at home, at work, and during your workouts. At the same time, the plans ensure you're getting the right vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, as well as the balance of carbohydrate, protein and fat, necessary for optimal health and performance.

Like our successful Endurance Meal Plans, the Seasonal Meal Plans follow our proven method for achieving weight loss and sustaining your energy levels throughout the day by spreading food intake across six meals: breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack. Each Plan includes a wide variety of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products to keep your taste buds guessing and insure you take in all the nutrients your body needs on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Meals include a range of recipes including mouth-watering salads, rich smoothies, tasty desserts, and even burritos.

 

 

Note: These plans contain meat, poultry, fish, dairy products and eggs. They are not vegetarian or vegan meal plans.

 

 

Why 4-Weeks?
Following the success of our 4-week Vegetarian Meal Plans we made the Seasonal Meal Plans 4 weeks as well. Since your resting metabolic rate (see below) changes with weight and age, and training plans change intensities throughout the year, you'll need to re-calculate your caloric needs after 4-8 weeks to determine whether or not you need to switch to a different Meal Plan.

The Plans:
Each Meal Plan comes as a .pdf download.
Click here
for the latest free version of Adobe Acrobat. When you click BUY NOW, you will be taken to an online purchasing service at FastSpring.com to complete your transaction(s) and download your file(s).

1. Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)

 

RMR represents the minimum number of calories your body uses every 24 hours to keep you alive. The Mifflin-St. Jeor Equation used by our RMR calculator here is the one that Carmichael Training Systems prefers.

2. Lifestyle Factor

 

Take the number from your RMR above and multiply it by the appropriate Lifestyle Factor taken from the table below.
[Example: A 37-year-old 5'10", 150-lb. male has a RMR of 1612 calories. He works at a desk all day and drives to and from the office so his Lifestyle factor is 1.25. Thus his minimum daily calorie needs are 2,015 (1612 x 1.25).]

3. Exercise Calories

 

Use the chart below to determine how many calories you burn during your workouts. Then add this number to the total of your RMR times your Lifestyle Factor to determine you average daily calorie needs. [Using the example above, our 150-lb male with a minimum daily calorie total of 2,015 exercises roughly one hour a day. Thus he'd need to add 750-800 calories to his diet for a total of 2,765 – 2,815 calories burned each day.]