How to Build Your Customized Diet Plan and Fitness Routine?

  • postauthorEditorial Staff
  • postdateJuly 29, 2024
  • postreadtime7 min read
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Despite being a common part of human race, we’re still different from each other. Our life is not similar to every next person at all.  From work to culture, from habits to our behavior, these factors vary from person to person.

This is also the same case with health and fitness. Just like we can’t follow the same style of living as others, we can’t expect to be on the same track as theirs, when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle.  Since, it’s not sustainable. Their fitness approaches will always be different than what we look for. This is why we need to have customized and personalized diet and fitness plans which suit our regular routine and work in a long term.

If you’re someone who is very new to the world of fitness and would like to start with your fitness journey, usually, a nutritionist or a fitness coach can help you plan your meals, workouts and lifestyle modifications for better health. However, if you wish to do it yourself initially, you can! But, never copy or try to follow the same diet or a workout plan as the other person, even if you have seen them transform. Our bodies are different and so are its requirements.

So, to build a customized diet plan and workout routine for yourself, you need to consider these general factors.

Let’s talk about it.

Key considerations to build a customized diet plan and fitness routine

a customized diet plan

Fitness goal

We all have a reason behind staying fit. Some of us start with our journey to lose weight or gain weight, or to overcome a lifestyle disease, while some of us want to build a career out of it as a fitness model or an athlete or lastly, some of us decide to stay fit for better health.

It is important to decide a goal and that’s when you will be able to go to the further steps mentioned below. So, think why do you want to stay fit and what kind of end result do you expect out of your fitness journey which you are supposed to maintain for life just like you expect a result out of your education degree or making efforts in a job to achieve something.

Similarly, with a goal in your mind, you will be able to stay consistent with your fitness journey better and your goal will help you design your diet and overall fitness routine as well.

Calorie intake

According to your fitness goal, you need to set your diet plan with the number of calories you must eat to get the desired results.

For example, if you want to lose weight – you need to eat in a calorie deficit which means eating slightly 300-500 calories lesser than your maintenance.

Similarly, if you’re looking for weight/muscle gain, you need to eat in a calorie surplus which means eating 300-500 calories more than your maintenance. The count could vary accordingly.

This is the most important factor you need to take care of because there is no other way which can help you lose or gain weight scientifically. You need to eat the number of calories required as per your goal.

Here’s the calorie calculator you can use, to see your amount of calorie intake needs.

Now does it mean you need to count on your calories of every ingredient that you use every time?

Well, no. The easiest way you can do is, download fitness apps which can help you log your food intake and get an idea how many calories do your food items have, which you pick to eat initially for a couple of months. This will make you habitual of your portion size and build healthy habits after sometime, when you’re not even keeping a track on the app.

You can also use a kitchen scale to measure your portion size and find out the exact number of calories according to its nutrition label, Food labels contain lots of useful information for calorie counting. Make sure you check the portion size recommended on the package.

Nutritional Requirements

Since we have learned about the concept of calorie counting, now it doesn’t possibly mean that you can fit in all the junk food, processed and packaged items matching with the number of calories you need.

Surprisingly, this can show you a slight change in your weighing scale even if you follow this approach, but is it worth it? Absolutely not.

As we will run out of proper and healthy nourishment if we keep consuming only the empty calories from junk food. Such food items lack essential nutrients that our body needs for better functioning, muscle recovery, skin and hair health. Moreover, they will also affect our blood sugar, heart health, blood pressure and overall immunity.

This is why we need to design a plan having 80% of nutrient rich food and 20% of food having less nutrients to offer. This is how you will also be able to build a healthy relationship with food by balancing your food habits with enough discipline.

Also, junk food doesn’t give the same level of satiety as nutrient rich foods do, so this habit can’t be sustained for long. You will end up eating more than you think since one item has loads of calories. It will not be worth even if you’re planning to gain weight. The only difference you need here is increasing or decreasing the portion size of the nutrient rich foods you eat most of the times according to your goal.

For example, X person wants to lose weight – so he will include half banana, 1 cup skimmed milk, 1 scoop oats and 1 scoop whey to his protein shake whereas Y person who wants to gain weight – will include 2 bananas, 1 cup whole milk, 1 scoop oats, 1 scoop whey and even include 1 tbsp peanut butter to increase the portion size and calories of the same shake.

So, make sure to include some whole grains, lean protein sources, good fats and enough whole fruits and greens in your diet, no matter what your fitness goal is.

Regular schedule & lifestyle

Your diet plan and your workout timings are always decided according to your regular schedule. You can’t expect to consume your meals or workout at the same time as others.

So, see what suits you. If you’re a job person, fix your meals and workout timings accordingly. The same is the case with a student, traveler, homemaker etc. The goal is consistency and sustainability.

Eating habits

You will be able to design your diet even better according to your eating habits. Eating habits include factors like – being a vegetarian/non vegetarian/ovo-lacto vegetarian/vegan. The other factor is taking care of your likes and dislikes of a particular food that you must not resist at all (it should possibly be a nutrient rich choice mostly) or do not want to consume at all. You can include and skip them respectively. That’s how you will enjoy your meal plan and your overall fitness journey without feeling like a punishment.

Medical conditions

Unfortunately, if you have any medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension, CVD, PCOS or physical injury/pain or food allergies, you strictly need to follow a diet and exercise plan which can help you overcome the disease rather than making it worse. So, you must learn what food sources are supposed to be included in your plan and with what intensity you need to exercise which can suit your health.

It is advised to consult a professional in this case. Also, even if you’re absolutely healthy, you can still consider getting a full body check-up done before designing a plan for yourself.

Sustainability

Always build a diet and a workout plan which you can follow for life and not just a couple of months. After all, fitness is a permanent part of life which should not be a habit but a lifestyle. So, design a diet which you can sustain with according to the food items you can eat mostly, with appropriate timings you can follow almost daily. Do not copy the same diet as others. Like if you do keto or intermittent fasting because you saw the other person doing it, doesn’t mean it will suit you for life. Chances are you will end up getting to the same former habits.

So, pick your diet smartly. Be it keto, IF, balanced diet. Do what suits you since its all about calories and nutrients according to your goals, no matter what kind of diet you follow. Every diet will give you the desired result. You just need to follow the right approach with patience.

Same is with the workout routine and the kind of regime, intensity you follow. The choice and the level is yours. So, pick the weights that suit you initially. Pick the workout style that you love. Be it yoga, strength training, Zumba, gymnastics, crossfit or MMA and keep progressing!

The Bottom Line

So, this is how you can design your own diet and workout plan by taking care of these factors as this will help you follow your own plan for life, which you can also sustain with forever. Following someone else’s plan will never work for you as shortcuts do not give the desired results. We have to look for right approaches instead.

Here’s something amazing for you and your team members, which can help make everyone’s fitness journey fun and even easier! That is, Onsurity’s healthcare plan.

Since Onsurity’s healthcare plans offer fitness webinars, these sessions not only make your team enjoy their exercise to get an active lifestyle, but also encourage them to stay healthy.

After all, the healthier your team is, the better their productivity is.

If you look forward to motivating your team members to exercise and educating them more about health and fitness, also get multiple benefits like group health insurance, discounted medicines and health checkups at the same time, subscribe to Onsurity’s healthcare plan today – a complete health package for your employees safety and health.

Contact us to get an instant quote. 

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