Most nutrition plans fail for one reason: they hand you a meal plan with someone else's calorie target and expect it to work for your body.

Here's the fix I use with every client:

1. Calculate YOUR maintenance calories first. Mifflin-St Jeor is the most accurate formula for most people:

• Men: (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) + 5

• Women: (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) − 161

2. Apply an activity multiplier (1.2 sedentary → 1.9 elite athlete) to get your TDEE.

3. Set protein FIRST, not calories. 1.6–2.4g per kg bodyweight depending on your goal (higher when cutting, to protect muscle). Fat and carbs fill in the rest.

4. Adjust in small steps. ±10-20% from maintenance for cutting/bulking — aggressive deficits torch muscle along with fat.

That's the whole system. Everything else — recipes, meal timing, supplements — is secondary to getting steps 1-3 right.

I just built out a complete version of this (calculators, 100 recipes, trackers, the works) if anyone wants the full breakdown — happy to share more in the comments.