Your first month: what to eat

A concrete first-month eating plan: how many calories and grams of protein, a sample day, what to eat around training, and when to see a doctor.

The first month of training usually comes with the first attempt to fix your diet, and that is where most people overshoot: they cut everything at once, last ten days, and go back to how they ate before. Your food in month one does not need to be perfect, it needs to be boring and simple enough that you can repeat it for months. Here is a plan with numbers, no detoxes and no banned foods.

First: find out what you actually eat

Before changing anything, log everything you eat for three days, including one weekend day. Do not adjust anything during those days, just record. Most people underestimate their intake by 400 to 700 kcal a day, usually from cooking oil, drinks and standing-up snacking.

Rough maintenance estimate: bodyweight in kilograms times 30 kcal, if you train 3 to 4 times a week and mostly sit the rest of the day. For an 80 kg person that is around 2,400 kcal.

Losing fat: subtract 300 to 500 kcal a day. A realistic rate is 0.3 to 0.7 kg per week, or 0.5 to 1% of bodyweight.
Gaining muscle: add 200 to 300 kcal a day and aim for 0.2 to 0.3 kg per week. Faster than that is mostly fat.
New to lifting and carrying extra weight: stay at maintenance for the first month. Strength and body composition will improve anyway.

Protein is the only thing worth counting in month one

Target 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. For 80 kg that is 130 to 175 g a day. Split it across 3 to 4 meals of 35 to 45 g each, which is far easier to hit than one huge dinner.

What 30 g of protein actually looks like:

100 g chicken breast or turkey (about 31 g)
110 g beef (about 28 g)
130 g white fish or 120 g tuna (about 27 g)
4 to 5 whole eggs (one egg is about 6.5 g)
300 g Greek yogurt or 250 g cottage cheese (about 28 g)
300 g cooked lentils or chickpeas plus 30 g cheese (about 30 g)

Carbs, fats and vegetables

Keep fat at 0.8 to 1 g per kilogram, so 65 to 80 g for an 80 kg person, and never below 0.6 g/kg. Whatever calories are left go to carbs, usually 3 to 5 g/kg, meaning 240 to 400 g a day. Carbs are not the enemy here; they are the fuel for the sets you are currently doing.

Aim for 25 to 35 g of fibre daily. That is roughly 400 to 500 g of vegetables and 2 pieces of fruit, plus wholegrain versions of bread, rice or pasta. If you currently eat almost no fibre, add it gradually over two weeks or your gut will make you regret it.

If every meal has one protein source and some vegetables, you have handled about 80 percent of the job. The rest is fine-tuning.

What a normal day looks like (about 2,200 kcal, 150 g protein)

Breakfast: 3 eggs, 60 g oats with 200 ml milk, one banana. About 32 g protein.
Lunch: 150 g chicken breast, 200 g cooked rice, a large salad with a tablespoon of olive oil. About 48 g protein.
Snack: 250 g Greek yogurt and 30 g almonds. About 30 g protein.
Dinner: 150 g fish or beef, 300 g potatoes or beans, 200 g roasted vegetables. About 42 g protein.

Eating around training

60 to 90 minutes before training: a meal with 40 to 60 g of carbs and 20 to 30 g of protein.
Training early in the morning: a banana and 200 ml of milk or yogurt 20 minutes before is enough.
After training: 25 to 40 g of protein within two hours. The 30-minute window is a myth, but skipping the meal is still a bad idea.
Water: 30 to 35 ml per kilogram of bodyweight daily, plus 500 to 700 ml per hour of training. If you sweat heavily, salt your food normally instead of avoiding salt.

What not to do in month one

Do not go below 1,500 kcal (men) or 1,200 kcal (women) without professional supervision.
Do not cut entire food groups without a medical reason. It works short term and falls apart long term.
Do not buy supplements yet. Fix meals, sleep and training first; supplements handle the last few percent.
Do not react to daily scale swings. Two kilograms overnight is water, salt and gut content.

How to tell if it is working

Weigh yourself 3 to 4 mornings a week, always after the bathroom and before breakfast, then look at the weekly average rather than any single number. Once a week measure your waist at navel height. Third, watch your strength: if over four weeks you add 2.5 to 5 kg to your main lifts for 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps, your intake is probably adequate.

If after three to four weeks the weekly average has not moved in the direction you want at all, change intake by 200 to 300 kcal. One change, then another four weeks of measuring.

When to see a doctor

You have diabetes, kidney or liver disease, or take thyroid, blood pressure or blood-thinning medication. With kidney disease and warfarin, protein and vitamin K intake should not be changed on your own.
You are pregnant or breastfeeding.
You are losing weight without changing anything, or losing more than 1% of bodyweight per week over a longer period.
You get dizziness, fainting, a racing heartbeat, missed periods or constant fatigue.
You have a history of disordered eating, or you notice that counting calories triggers strong anxiety.

The short version

Estimate maintenance as bodyweight in kg times 30, then add or subtract at most 300 to 500 kcal.
Protein 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg per day, spread across 3 to 4 meals of 35 to 45 g.
Fat 0.8 to 1 g/kg, the rest carbs, plus 400 to 500 g of vegetables for 25 to 35 g of fibre.
Track the weekly scale average, your waist and the weight on the bar, not the daily number.
No supplements and no cutting food groups in month one; with chronic illness or pregnancy, talk to a doctor first.