When it comes to building a diet plan that actually works, most people overcomplicate it. The truth is, the best diet is the one you can stick to. That means no starving yourself, no force-feeding meals you hate, and definitely no crash diets that leave you exhausted. Whether you're an off-season hockey player, someone in active rehab, or a member in one of our small group or personal training programs, the effectiveness of your nutrition comes down to consistency and balance. And it all starts with understanding energy. Calories are not something you eat, they are a unit of measurement for heat. What we’re really talking about here is energy balance.
The first step is figuring out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE. This is the number of calories your body burns in a day from everything including movement, exercise, digestion, and simply being alive. You can find lots of free calculators online, but a simple place to start is multiplying your body weight in kilograms by 40. I weigh 200 pounds, which is about 91 kilograms, so my estimated TDEE is 91 times 40, which gives me 3636 calories per day. This example is based on a maintenance goal, meaning I am trying to balance what I take in with what I burn. If your goal is fat loss, you might aim to reduce your intake by 10 to 15 percent of your TDEE. For me, that would mean cutting roughly 360 to 545 calories per day. If you are trying to gain weight or build muscle, you may need to overshoot your TDEE by 200 to 500 calories. In either case, do not reduce your protein intake. Instead, adjust carbs or fats depending on what your day-to-day activity levels require.
Protein is always my first priority, especially for athletes and anyone working on body composition goals. Most of the recommended daily amounts are too low for the kind of training we do here at AIM. I recommend 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. For me, that is 200 grams per day, which equals 800 calories, since protein contains 4 calories per gram. People often ask whether they should base this number on goal weight instead, but research shows that eating more protein is safe and beneficial. Since 200 grams still only makes up less than a third of my TDEE, aiming for your current weight is a reliable and simple target.
Once protein is set, the remaining calories come from fats and carbohydrates. This is where you can personalize your plan. Depending on your training style, daily activities, and preferences, you can adjust how many carbs or fats you eat. Hockey players burn through a lot of carbohydrates during practices and games, so I tend to skew their intake higher. A good range is 4 to 6 grams of carbs per kilogram of body weight. On the low end for me, that is 364 grams or 1456 calories from carbs. With 800 calories already coming from protein, that brings me to 2256 calories, leaving 1380 for fats.
Fats are essential to the human body. They support hormone production, brain function, joint health, and help with the absorption of vitamins like A, D, E, and K. Because fats contain 9 calories per gram, I would be allowed up to 153 grams of fat in this example. This gives you room to decide what makes the most sense for your lifestyle. If you do better on high carb meals and your sport depends on them, great. If you feel better eating more fat, that works too. What matters is staying within your TDEE target and making adjustments based on how you feel and what your goals are.
This might sound like a lot of food, but it is not more than what you are already burning. When people say eating healthy is hard, it usually just means they do not have a plan. If you are trying to lose fat, reduce your total calories by 10 to 15 percent, but keep your protein intake high. If you are trying to build muscle or recover from training, you may need a slight surplus. The key is knowing your numbers and then tracking your progress. Weigh yourself once per week and make adjustments based on the trend. It does not have to be perfect. If you follow your plan 90 percent of the time, that still gives you space to enjoy life and go off plan every now and then.
A common question I get is about supplements. Where do they fit in? The answer is right in the name. They supplement your diet. If your protein goal is 200 grams per day, that might seem like a lot. But when you break it down it becomes manageable. You could hit that with one or two chicken breasts, a few eggs in the morning, a can of tuna at lunch, some yogurt or cottage cheese in the afternoon, a steak at dinner, and two protein shakes during the day. Now you are at your goal without ever needing to force down seven chicken breasts.
Some people also ask about intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating. These are great tools if you enjoy them or they help you reduce mindless eating. But they are not magic. You still need to manage your energy intake. One thing to keep in mind is that if your goal is to put on size or build muscle, it can be more difficult to get your total calorie and protein targets in when you're only eating in a six or eight hour window. It is not impossible, but it takes more planning. If you struggle to eat large meals, spreading your intake over the whole day may be a better fit.
At AIM Athletic, we apply the same principles to our training and nutrition. Whether you are here for active rehab, strength training, or off-season hockey training, your results come from structure and consistency. This simple plan is a starting point. From here, it is all about testing, adjusting, and staying consistent.
You've got the info, now it's time to take AIM!
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