The 9 Step Diet Checklist

The 9-Step Diet Checklist

To Lose Fat and Build Muscle
An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation
Copyright © 2017
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 1

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& COPYRIGHT
DISCLAIMER
All content contained herein is for informational use only and is designed solely for healthy adults.
It is not medical or professional advice, it is not meant to be seen as medical or professional
advice, and it should not be used to take the place of medical or professional advice.
You should always consult your doctor before beginning any diet or workout program or making
any changes to your current diet or workout program.
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► INTRODUCTION
Hello there. I’m Jay.
Welcome to “The 9-Step Diet Checklist To Lose Fat and Build Muscle.”
What you’re about to see is a quick and simple guide to creating the diet that’s going to allow you
to reach your goal of losing fat or building muscle.
There will be no nonsense. No fluff. No excess.
This has been designed to be a short and straight-forward guide that will walk you through the 9
key steps you need to take to easily set up an effective diet for losing fat or building muscle.
Sound like fun?
Cool.
Let’s begin…

► STEP 1: SET CALORIES
WHY?
Above all else, your calorie intake is always going to be the most important part of your diet. This
is because…
To lose fat, you need a caloric deficit.

Losing fat requires consuming fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current
state. This is known as a caloric deficit. When this caloric deficit is present, your body will be
forced to find some alternative fuel source to burn for energy instead. Guess what that
alternative fuel source will be? Yup, your stored body fat.
To build muscle, you need a caloric surplus.

Building muscle requires providing your body with more calories than it needs to maintain its
current state. This is known as a caloric surplus. When this caloric surplus is present, your
body will have the extra calories it needs to actually create new muscle tissue as well as
support the overall training performance and recovery needed during this time.
DETERMINING YOUR DAILY MAINTENANCE LEVEL

Your daily “maintenance level” is the number of calories your body needs each day to maintain its
current state. To lose fat, you need to consume less than that (but not so much that you lose
muscle). To build muscle, you need to consume more than it (but not so much that you gain fat).
So, what is your maintenance level?

The quickest and easiest way to estimate it would be to take your current body weight in pounds
and multiply it by 13 and 17. Many people will find that their maintenance level falls somewhere
in between those two amounts.
For example, a 200 lb person would do 200 x 13 and 200 x 17 and get an estimated daily calorie
maintenance level of somewhere between 2600-3400 calories.
Those who are female, or older, or less active, or feel they have a “slow metabolism” should
usually stick more toward the lower half of their estimate. Those who are male, or younger, or
more active, or feel they have a “fast metabolism” should usually stick more toward the upper half
of their estimate. If you’re unsure, just pick a number somewhere in the middle.
Now let’s set your calorie intake based on your goal…
HOW MANY CALORIES PER DAY TO LOSE FAT…

Most people should aim to create a deficit that is about 20% below their maintenance level.
So, for example, if your estimated maintenance level is 2500, you’d determine 20% of that to be
500. You’d then subtract 500 from 2500 to get a daily calorie intake of 2000 calories. Simply
repeat this math using your own relevant numbers.
HOW MANY CALORIES PER DAY TO BUILD MUSCLE…

MEN: create a daily surplus of about 200 calories above your maintenance level.
WOMEN: create a daily surplus of about 100 calories above your maintenance level.
So, for example, if your estimated maintenance level is 2000, a guy would eat about 2200
calories per day, and a girl would eat about 2100 calories per day.
Got it? Good.
Now for step #2…

► STEP 2: SET YOUR RATE OF

PROGRESS
WHY?
Since losing fat will cause you to lose body weight, and building muscle will cause you to gain
body weight, the next step is to determine what your rate of weight loss or weight gain should be
to ensure your making the best progress possible. Specifically…
Losing Fat: You want to lose weight at a rate that’s fast enough to make good fat loss
progress, but not so fast that it causes you to lose muscle, feel overly hungry, or cause any
other related problem.
Building Muscle: You want to gain weight at a rate that’s fast enough to make good muscle
building progress, but not so fast that it causes you to gain excess body fat while you do it.
WHEN LOSING FAT…

The ideal rate of weight loss for most people is between 0.5-2lbs lost per week.
People with an above-average amount of fat to lose can aim to lose it at a rate of 2lbs per week
(potentially even more early on if the person is obese). People with an average amount of fat to
lose should typically lose it at a rate of 1-2lbs per week. People with a below-average amount of
fat to lose should typically lose it at a rate of 0.5-1lb per week.
WHEN BUILDING MUSCLE…

The ideal rate of weight gain for men is about 2lbs gained per month. (About 0.5lb per week.)

The ideal rate of weight gain for women is about 1lb gained per month. (About 0.25lb per week.)
THE KEY STEP: MONITOR PROGRESS AND ADJUST IF NEEDED

Keep in mind that the calorie intake you’ve just set up is only an estimate.
To ensure it’s as accurate as it needs to be, the most important step will be to consistently weigh
yourself – doing it daily (first thing in the morning) and taking the weekly average is the most
accurate way – and ensure that your weight is moving in the direction it should be at the ideal
rate it should be.
If it is, you’re all good.
If it’s not, adjust up or down in small increments (e.g. 100-300 calories at a time), wait a few
weeks and see what happens then. Are things moving in the right direction at the ideal rate it
should be? If so, you’re good. If not, adjust again and repeat this process until it is.
Now for step #3…

► STEP 3: SET PROTEIN
WHY?
A sufficient protein intake is crucial for the overall health and function of the human body, is the
second dietary requirement of building muscle (a caloric surplus is the first), is a requirement
for maintaining muscle while losing fat, and will play major roles in terms of hunger control,
increasing the thermic effect of food (aka the calories your body burns during digestion), and more.
HOW MUCH?
The ideal daily protein intake for most people is between 0.8-1.3 grams of protein per pound of
their current body weight. Whenever in doubt, an even 1g per pound is a fine place to start.
So, if you currently weigh 180lbs, you could aim for an even 180g of protein per day, or aim for
some degree higher or lower depending on your personal preferences (as long as you stay within
this range, you’ll be fine). Also note that those who are significantly overweight should use their
goal body weight rather than current body weight when doing this calculation.
FROM WHERE?
Try to get most of your daily protein intake from higher-quality sources you enjoy and don’t have
any issues digesting (e.g. chicken, turkey, eggs, beef, fish, dairy, protein powder, etc.).
Now for step #4…

► STEP 4: SET FAT
WHY?
A sufficient fat intake is also crucial for the overall health and function of the human body in a
variety of ways, including the absorption of fat soluble vitamins and optimal hormone production.
HOW MUCH?
The ideal daily fat intake for most people is between 20-30% of their total daily calorie intake.
Whenever in doubt, an even 25% of your total calorie intake is a fine place to start.
So, for example, let’s say someone will be eating 2000 calories per day. Let’s also say they decide
to go with an even 25% of their total calories from fat. First, they’d take 25% of 2000 and get
500. Then, since there are 9 calories per gram of fat, they’d simply divide 500 by 9 and get 56g
of fat per day. You’d simply repeat this with your own relevant numbers.
FROM WHERE?
Try to get most of your daily fat intake from higher-quality sources you enjoy and don’t have any
issues digesting (e.g. various nuts, seeds and nut butters, olive oil, coconut oil, fatty fish like
salmon, etc.). Aim for a good mix of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, with
an extra added emphasis on getting a sufficient amount of the omega-3 fatty acids (and avoiding
trans-fat).
Now for step #5…

► STEP 5: SET CARBS
WHY?
A sufficient carb intake – while less important for sustaining life and proper function compared to
protein and fat – will still be crucial for your training performance and recovery, as well as your
ability to generally be a happy person who doesn’t hate their diet and feel like crap all the time
because they restricted their carb intake unnecessarily low (like countless people tend to do).
HOW MUCH?
The ideal daily carb intake for most people is simply whatever calories are leftover in their diet
after their protein and fat intake have been factored in.
Here’s an example of how this would be done…
Let’s pretend we have a random example person who weighs 175lbs and has figured out that
they need to eat 2500 calories per day for their goal. (Again, these are just example numbers.)
Then let’s say they go with an even 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Since they
weigh 175lbs, that means they’ll eat about 175 grams of protein per day. Since 1 gram of
protein contains 4 calories, that means their protein intake will account for 700 calories each
day (175 x 4 = 700).
Next let’s say they decide to get an even 25% of their total calorie intake from fat. Since this
example person will be eating 2500 calories per day, they’d figure out that 25% of 2500 is

625 calories (2500 x 0.25 = 625). Then, since 1 gram of fat contains 9 calories, they’d
figure out that they’d need to eat about 69 grams of fat per day (625 ÷ 9 = 69).
At this point they have 700 calories worth of protein and 625 calories worth of fat, which
means a total of 1325 of their daily calorie intake is accounted for (700 + 625 = 1325).
But, since they need to be eating 2500 calories per day, they’d see they still have 1175
calories that are not yet accounted for (2500 – 1325 = 1175). So…
All of those leftover 1175 calories will come from carbs. Since 1 gram of carbs contains 4
calories, this person would need to eat about 294 grams of carbs per day (1175 ÷ 4 = 294).
You’d simply repeat these steps using your own relevant numbers.
FROM WHERE?
Try to get most of your daily carb intake from higher-quality sources you enjoy and don’t have any
issues digesting (e.g. fruits, vegetables, rice, potatoes, oats, beans, etc.).
Now for step #6…

► STEP 6: SET MICRONUTRIENTS
WHY?
Micronutrients (i.e. various vitamins and minerals) will play a seemingly infinite number of crucial
roles within the human body in terms of overall health and function, many of which can directly or
indirectly impact some aspect of the fat loss or muscle building process.
HOW MUCH? FROM WHERE?

Discussing each of the dozens of micronutrients and breaking down how much of each you should
eat per day and what food sources they should come from is well beyond the scope of this guide.
And even more importantly, attempting to actually track your consumption of each individual
micronutrient on a daily basis will drive most people insane.
That’s why I typically don’t get too specific with my recommendations, and instead prefer people
do what I personally do myself. Which is, eat a high-quality diet on a daily basis comprised of a
good balance of protein, fat and carbs that come primarily via higher quality nutrient-dense
foods with an extra added emphasis on fruit and vegetable consumption.
Do that (and use supplementation to fill in any nutrient deficiencies that you are unable to take
care of through diet alone), and all of your micronutrient bases will be covered.
Now for step #7…

► STEP 7: SET YOUR PRE AND

POST WORKOUT MEALS
WHY?
What you eat before and after your workout will play a meaningful role in your training
performance and recovery.
HOW MUCH? FROM WHERE? WHEN?

Most people make these meals a lot more complex than they truly need to be. I’m not going to do
that here.
Instead, I recommend simply eating a nice amount of protein and carbs within 1-2 hours before
your workout, and within 1-2 hours after your workout… from whatever food sources you prefer.
No need to make it any more complicated than that.
Now for step #8…

► STEP 8: SET YOUR ENJOYABILITY

AND SUSTAINABILITY
WHY?
The previous steps – specifically your calorie, protein, fat and carb intake – are the key to losing fat
and building muscle. No other dietary factor will play any meaningful direct role in that regard.
Having said that, there are still other factors of your diet that will play a direct role in your ability
to put those key dietary factors into action and actually stick to it on a consistent long-term basis.
This includes factors like meal timing (will you eat earlier in the day? later in the day? evenly
throughout the day? have breakfast? skip breakfast? etc.), meal frequency (will you eat 2-4 meals
per day? 5-7 meals per day? use some form of intermittent fasting? etc.), food choices and
combinations, the degree of strictness and flexibility within your diet (will you eat clean 100% of
the time, or maybe go by the 80/20 rule?), and so on.
With all else being equal, this stuff won’t affect your fat loss or muscle building results. However,
it WILL affect the enjoyability and sustainability of your diet. And that, as you can imagine, is the
final key component of your success. So, how do you get it all right? It’s quite easy…
HOW?
Design every single major and minor aspect of your overall diet and approach to eating in
whatever way is most preferable, enjoyable, convenient and sustainable for you so that the
important stuff (eating the proper amount of calories, protein, fat and carbs) consistently occurs.
Now for the 9th and final step…

► STEP 9: SET EVERYTHING ELSE
This whole thing was only meant to be a short and sweet guide to creating your fat loss or muscle
building diet. Everything was designed to be as quick, simple and easy as possible to allow you to
put together the most important parts of your diet.
But now you might be wondering… what about everything else?
For example…
What if you want to lose fat AND build muscle… at the same time?
What about weight training workouts?
What about cardio workouts?
What about weight loss plateaus? (Or weight gain plateaus?)
What about metabolic slowdown? Or controlling hunger?
What about how much water to drink? Or how much fiber to eat?
What about calorie cycling, refeeds and diet breaks?
What about supplements? Or alcohol? Or water retention? Or losing motivation?
What about adjusting every aspect of your diet and workout so that it’s custom-tailored to YOU
and YOUR body based on factors like your gender, age, genetics and other personal factors
and preferences that are specific to you?

Well, I have some good news and some bad news.
THE BAD NEWS

The bad news is that this guide is only The 9-Step Diet Checklist To Lose Fat and Build Muscle.
Nothing more, nothing less. Just a simple guide that covers the basics. Covering all of these other
topics, answering all of these other questions, and providing you with clear evidence-based
guidelines, examples and recommendations is unfortunately well beyond the scope of this guide.
THE GOOD NEWS

The good news, however, is that I’ve now created something to fix that. I’m talking about my
brand new fat loss and muscle building programs: Superior Fat Loss and Superior Muscle Growth
Here’s what you need to know…
SUPERIOR FAT LOSS
You know everything that sucks about losing fat? All of the problems that make it so hard and
complicated? You know… like losing muscle instead of fat, feeling hungry all the time, not being
able to eat the foods you love, being forced to follow annoying diet rules and restrictions, doing
tons of cardio, metabolic slowdown, hormonal issues, plateaus, and on and on and on.
Well, I created Superior Fat Loss for one very specific purpose: to allow you to lose fat, get lean
and reach your goals WHILE greatly minimizing or completely eliminating these types of problems.
If you’re interested, you can learn all about it right here: Superior Fat Loss
SUPERIOR MUSCLE GROWTH
If losing fat isn’t your goal, and you’re more interested in building lean muscle as quickly, easily
and effectively as (realistically) possible WITHOUT gaining excess body fat along the way, my
Superior Muscle Growth program is exactly what you’re looking for.
If you’re interested, you can learn all about it right here: Superior Muscle Gr owth
--
And that’s about it. I hope you enjoyed this guide. Be sure to keep an eye on your inbox, because
I’m going to have more awesome (free) content for you in the future. See ya soon.

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Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 1

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 2

Hello there. I’m Jay.

There will be no nonsense. No fluff. No excess.

Sound like fun?

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 3

► STEP 1: SET CALORIES

To lose fat, you need a caloric deficit.

To build muscle, you need a caloric surplus.

DETERMINING YOUR DAILY MAINTENANCE LEVEL

So, what is your maintenance level?

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 4

Now let’s set your calorie intake based on your goal…

HOW MANY CALORIES PER DAY TO LOSE FAT…

HOW MANY CALORIES PER DAY TO BUILD MUSCLE…

Got it? Good.

Now for step #2…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 5

► STEP 2: SET YOUR RATE OF

WHEN LOSING FAT…

WHEN BUILDING MUSCLE…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 6

THE KEY STEP: MONITOR PROGRESS AND ADJUST IF NEEDED

If it is, you’re all good.

Now for step #3…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 7

► STEP 3: SET PROTEIN

Now for step #4…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 8

► STEP 4: SET FAT

Now for step #5…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 9

► STEP 5: SET CARBS

Here’s an example of how this would be done…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 10

Now for step #6…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 11

► STEP 6: SET MICRONUTRIENTS

HOW MUCH? FROM WHERE?

Now for step #7…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 12

► STEP 7: SET YOUR PRE AND

HOW MUCH? FROM WHERE? WHEN?

No need to make it any more complicated than that.

Now for step #8…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 13

► STEP 8: SET YOUR ENJOYABILITY

Now for the 9th and final step…

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 14

► STEP 9: SET EVERYTHING ELSE

But now you might be wondering… what about everything else?

What about weight training workouts?

What about cardio workouts?

What about weight loss plateaus? (Or weight gain plateaus?)

What about metabolic slowdown? Or controlling hunger?

What about calorie cycling, refeeds and diet breaks?

What about supplements? Or alcohol? Or water retention? Or losing motivation?

Copyright © 2017 The 9-Step Diet Checklist An AWorkoutRoutine.com Creation 15

Well, I have some good news and some bad news.

THE BAD NEWS

THE GOOD NEWS

Here’s what you need to know…