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The Classic Bodybuilding Diet Program

In this article I’m going to show you how to create a bodybuilding diet meal plan based on a typical classic bodybuilding diet program.

This classic bodybuilding diet program has a moderate distribution of the macronutrients which according to science is sufficient to build muscle as long as the total daily calorie requirement is met.

Step 1: Estimate your daily calorie needs

Start out by using the Harris-Benedict equation below to establish your energy requirements.

The Harris-Benedict Equation
Men: BMR = 66.473 + (13.7516 x weight in kg) + (5.0033 x height in cm) - (6.7550 x age in years)
Women: BMR = 655.0955 + (9.5634 x weight in kg) + (1.8496 x height in cm) - (4.6756 x age in years)

When you have your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) multiply it with your level of exercise activity.

Little to no exercise: BMR x 1.2
Light exercise: BMR x 1.375
Moderate exercise: BMR x 1.55
Heavy exercise: BMR x 1.725
Very heavy exercise: BMR x 1.9
Total Kcal = BMR x Exercise level

Please, remember the initial calculation is simply a starting point. Every week you should make adjustments. You simply increase or decrease your total calorie intake in increments of 5-10% accordingly to how your body responds.

Step 2: Divide your macronutrient

Once you know your energy requirements to either maintain, lose or gain weight, depending on your objective, you need to divide your calories into the three macronutrients; protein, carbohydrate and fat.

In this particular bodybuilding diet system we are going to use the 25/60/15 ratios. This means that 25% of the total energy will come from protein. Sixty percent (60%) of total energy will come from carbohydrates. And finally the remaining 15% of energy will come from fat.

Since proteins and carbohydrates contain roughly 4 kcal per gram we divide with 4. Fats contain approximately 9 kcal per gram, therefor we divide fat with 9 to calculate total grams.

Here are the formulas:
Protein g = Total Kcal * 0.25 / 4
Carbohydrate g = Total Kcal * 0.60 / 4
Fat g = Total Kcal * 0.15 / 9

For this example let’s assume that you need 2000 Kcal per day. Thus, your macro intake will be the following:

2000 * 0.25 / 4 = 125g protein
2000 * 0.60 / 4 = 300g carbohydrate
2000 * 0.15 / 9 = 33g fat

Step 3: Create your meal plan

Now we are going to create a bodybuilding diet meal plan, based on your calculated amounts of protein, carbohydrate and fat.

This is the diet we’ve created based on the Classic bodybuilding diet program:

Meal 1: 150 egg whites + 100g oatmeal
Meal 2: 30g whey isolate + 80g maltodextrin
Meal 3: 75g chicken breast + 100g rice + 100g broccoli
Meal 4: 75g chicken breast + 75g rice
Meal 5: 30g casein + 200g green salat + 20ml flaxseed oil
* Food weight is based on pre cooking measurements!

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