Instant overview
- Nutrition is just as critical as exercise for achieving physical transformations, whether your goal is dropping body fat or packing on lean mass.
- To lose weight, you must establish a calorie deficit, whereas building muscle efficiently requires a mild to moderate calorie surplus of 250 to 450 kcal.
- Proteins and carbohydrates yield 4 calories per gram, while dietary fats contain 9 calories per gram.
- A successful nutrition strategy relies on an itemised, macro-balanced grocery list that prioritises high-volume, lean options for fat loss, or calorie-dense whole foods for muscle hypertrophy.
Whatever your aim, be it muscle gains or weight loss, one piece of advice guaranteed to help you achieve your goals is this: write a healthy shopping list. This article will advise you on exactly what you should put on your next weight loss shopping list or muscle gain agenda.
Nutrition plays an equally important part as exercise in both muscle building and weight loss, and one of the most effective ways you can ensure that you’re getting exactly what you need is by knowing what you’re putting in your body. By making a healthy shopping list, you’ll refine what you keep in your pantry and fridge so that you have what you need, when you need it.
- Essentials of a healthy shopping list
- Weight loss shopping list
- Shopping list for muscle gain
- Healthy shopping list on a budget
- Frequently asked questions
Essentials of a healthy shopping list
Your body needs protein, fats, and carbs for everything, from when you’re sitting still to when you’re running or lifting weights.
Calories are simply a unit measurement of energy. To lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit or negative energy balance. This is where you’re consuming fewer calories than you’re expending. If you’re looking to gain weight and muscle, a mild to moderate calorie surplus of around 250 to 450 kcal would be appropriate.1 By understanding the calorie content of your foods, you can make informed choices that fit your energy requirements. For example, protein and carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram, and fat has 9 calories per gram.
To work out how many calories you need, you need to calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
Your healthy shopping list needs to meet your calorie requirements. That means reading labels to understand their contents, and it also means identifying the best foods that provide what you need. But, it’s not as hard as it sounds!
There are several crossovers in shopping lists for people who are looking to build muscle, and those that are looking to lose fat. The difference is in the quantity that you consume and the kind of training that you do.
Looking for specific food items to write down on your list? First of all, decide your aim, and then take a look through our healthy shopping lists for muscle gain and fat loss.
Weight loss shopping list
When you’re aiming to cut your calories for weight loss, don’t think diet, think healthy shopping list.
The idea of a diet can be detrimental, and sound more like depriving yourself, when in fact it’s more about awareness and management of your needs.
The wrong food for weight loss fuel includes refined carbohydrates, which digest at a fast rate and aren’t filling. These include takeaway, processed, and junk food. The answer is simply to find alternatives.
Food sources that will help make you feel full but are low in calories are the best options. These include lean protein foods such as chicken and tuna and high-fibre carbohydrate sources like wholegrain rice. Adding plenty of vegetables or salads to your meals will also help increase the volume of your meals – you’ll still be eating plenty of food but the calorie content of your meal will still be low.
Here’s a healthy shopping list that will help with weight loss:
- Bread and cereals
- Wholegrain bread
- Wholegrain cereal
- Oats
- Lean meat and fish
- Brown rice
- Wholegrain pasta
- Quinoa, barley, and other whole grains
- Dried beans and lentils
- Dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, silverbeet)
- Colourful vegetables
- ‘Mixer’ veggies that you can use in salads and other recipes (lettuce, red onions, carrots, celery, cucumber)
- Fruits, nuts, and berries for snacking
- Yoghurt
- Low-fat dairy
- Eggs
Shopping list for muscle gain
Muscle gain requires consuming a higher amount of protein and carbs to achieve a surplus of calories. A calorie deficit, or in other words more physical activity than calorie intake, will result in weight loss.
But it’s not just about cultivating mass. You should increase your dietary and supplementary intake as you increase your workload in the gym, otherwise you’ll face the task of cutting fat while developing muscle – this is something many argue is done best simultaneously from the ground up.
This is where identifying your nutritional needs is helped by a healthy shopping list.
Here’s a healthy protein shopping list:
- Lean beef mince
- Chicken breasts
- Eggs
- Greek yoghurt
- Oily fish
- Cottage cheese
- Whey protein supplements
- BCAA supplements
- Nuts and seeds
- Plant-based protein sources like tofu, soy, tempeh, and seitan
Here’s a healthy carb shopping list:
- Brown rice
- Wholemeal bread
- Quinoa
- High-fibre wholemeal cereal
- Oats
- Beans
- Fast-digesting carbohydrate supplements for after a workout
A healthy shopping list on a budget
Eating healthily can be made affordable. It isn’t about what you have to spend, it’s how you spend it.
First of all, pay attention to the protein, carbohydrates, and fat you need and identify the foods that provide those.
Another healthy tip is to bulk buy and invest in storage so that you can make meals in large batches, and then split them into separate meals that you can freeze for later in the week.
A list of healthy essentials that you can buy in bulk and make last might look something like this:
- Lean beef mince
- Chicken breast
- Eggs
- Greek yoghurt
- Tinned fish
- Fruit and nut mix
- Leafy greens
- Brown rice
- Wholemeal bread
- Wholegrain pasta
- High-fibre cereal
- Oats
- Beans
Take home message
Both cutting weight and building muscle require three important things: protein, carbs, and healthy fats. By creating an itemised shopping list with the intention to lose weight or build muscle, you can take control of exactly what you put in your body for fuel, and know exactly what you’re leaving out.
FAQs
How many calories do proteins, carbohydrates, and fats have per gram?
Protein and carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, while fat contains 9 calories per gram. Understanding these values helps you make more informed choices when reading nutritional labels.
What calorie adjustment is required for muscle gain versus weight loss?
To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories than you expend. To build muscle and gain weight, a mild to moderate calorie surplus of approximately 250 to 450 kcal is recommended.
Are grocery lists completely different for fat loss and muscle gain?
No, there are many crossovers between the two lists because both goals require protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. The main difference lies in the quantities you consume and the specific style of training you do.
How can I maintain a healthy shopping list while on a budget?
You can make healthy eating affordable by identifying your exact macronutrient needs, buying items like grains and meats in bulk, and batch-cooking large meals that can be divided and frozen for later in the week.
- Slater GJ, Dieter BP, Marsh DJ, Helms ER, Shaw G, Iraki J. Is an Energy Surplus Required to Maximize Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Associated With Resistance Training. Front Nutr. 2019;6:131. Published 2019 Aug 20. doi:10.3389/fnut.2019.00131
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