A cost effective diet plan for hostelers

Imagine this:

You are caught in a maze right now trying to reach towards your goal. At first, you try to figure out by yourself which way to go. Then you ask people and google for the directions (no google maps here brother). You finally learn from them that you have to head North. But after reaching a point you see hundreds of roads emerging to the north from the point where you are standing. Now the dilemma is which one is the right one?

 

You actually are in the same scenario if you are looking for a diet plan. There aren’t many specific diet plans available on the internet. Even if there are some, they are next to impossible for a hosteler to follow.

After double-clicking your mouse for about 3 million times all you get to know is “eat more proteins” and “cut your carbs”. You ask your trainers for diet and they ask you to buy supplements that you can’t afford. Even after smashing through these obstacles you again get stuck in the dilemma of how and when to eat.

The biggest problem hostelers face in achieving their fitness goal is lack of money and resources. Confusion on how to eat makes it even worse and finally, they end up giving up on their goal.

This blog is specifically dedicated to such people because I have been in this situation for two years. I had a budget of 5000 for my diet but I didn’t know how to spend these for maximum results. So finally I decided to study health and nutrition from the scratch and solve this dilemma myself.

So let’s dive into it.

A Perfect Diet

A perfect diet consists of a balanced amount of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Not one without others can give you your desired physique.

for a general body type and a general goal of getting a moderately lean physique, your per day minimum nutrition needs are :

proteins = (2* your weight in kgs) grams
carbs = (5*body weight in kgs) grams
fats = (body weight in kgs) grams
*It varies with your goals and body type

*If you want to put on more muscle mass you can increase your carb consumption and decrease fat consumption if you want to get some fat off your body you can increase fat consumption and decrease carb consumption. (see here to understand why)

A sample diet

By this point, you have gotten an idea of how much proteins, carbs, and fats you need.

So assuming a hosteler of weight 65 kgs, height 5’7”, with a budget of 5000₹ and a goal of reaching a body fat of less than 15% keeping his overall weight constant, he is gonna need roughly 120-130 gm proteins a day, 320-330 gm carbs and 60-65 gm fats. His diet for a day would be split into 6 individual meals with slight variations in carb, protein and fat ratio.

So here we go:

meal 1(6:00 am) :  4 egg whites + 4 slices of bread + 1 scoop peanut butter(15 gm)

nutrition: (50 gm carbs, 20 gm proteins, 8 gm fats)

meal 2(9:00 am) : mess food ( 6 breads with 20 gm butter in mess) + 500 ml milk

nutrition: (60 gm carbs, 20 gm proteins, 12 gm fat)

meal 3(12:30 pm): 4 egg whites + brown rice(mess food) + 20 gm flax seeds

nutrition: (50 gm carbs, 20 gm proteins, 10 gm fat)

meal 4 (4:30 pm) : 30 gm boiled soya chunks + 4 bread slices + 20 gm peanut butter

nutrition: (50 gm carbs, 20 gm proteins, 10 gm fats)

meal 5( 7:00 pm):  30 gm chickpea, 2 banana, 2 egg whites, 2 whole eggs

nutrition: 40 gm carbs, 25 gm proteins, 5 gm fats

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AT THE GYM

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meal 6 (10:00 pm) : 100 gm grilled chicken + 150 gm boiled cabbage or cauliflower

nutrition : 45 gm carbs, 25 gm proteins , 14 gm fat

*amazon links for electric kettle , griller and flax seeds

That probably looks like money dragon but let’s see how much this diet actually costs.

Price Table:

Item	Price for one day (in ₹ )
12 eggs	50
30 gms  chickpea	3
100 gms chicken (breast)	20
20 gms flax seeds	8
150 gms cabbage or cauliflower	8
2 banana	6
30 gms soybean chunks	3
8 bread slices	12
1 milk packet(500 ml)	20
2 scoops peanut butter	15
Total	142

*might vary according to the city

What if I have a lower budget than this?

• You can increase soy consumption as it is the cheapest protein available (skinny fat guys, please avoid soy ).
• You can use peanuts in place of peanut butter.
• You should still follow the same pattern, just reduce the number of proteins and fats you were taking in each meal. Keep your diet consistent throughout the day. You will see fewer gains than you would have otherwise but something is always better than nothing.

What if I have a bigger budget than this?

You have all the options if you have money. Still here are some that you should be focusing first:

• You can include whey protein supplements in your diet. Whey is an easily absorb-able protein so you can include this just after your workout.
• You can replace soya chunks with whey protein as soy protein is well known for its side effects.

* People who are overweight, its better if you give preference to fat loss before you get into this plan. You might want to check this out:

• Lose fat in your sleep
• Eat fat, get lean

*If you are not tight on budget, you can try these out according to your body type :

• Sample Diet Plan for Skinny Fat(2200 cal)
• Sample Muscle Diet plan for skinny people(4000 cal)

You can connect with me on my facebook page for upcoming posts.

Remember, fitness is a journey so you gotta enjoy every inch of it.

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