Having a proper weightlifting meal plan is crucial if you wish to get noticeable results. Your main goal is to find the right combination of proteins, omega-3, and essential amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and water. More importantly, a good weightlifter meal plan tells you what kind of food you need to avoid.
While it’s not always easy to maintain the right strength training diet, most of this nutrition is quite healthy for your body. Once you get used to the new regimen, you’ll feel much more energetic and ready for any exercise challenge.
A proper weightlifting meal plan combines a balanced amount of minerals, proteins, vitamins, omega-3, and essential amino acids. As for specific foods, your main focus should be on red meat, turkey, tuna, wholemeal cereals, nuts, berries, and various fruits and vegetables.

Why Proper Meal Is Important for Weightlifters?
No matter what kind of sport you’re in, diet is a vital ingredient for improving your body and achieving elite results. Not only does it provide fuel, but it also helps prevent loss of muscle mass. On top of that, eating the right stuff will make sure you're only gaining lean muscles without too much emphasis on fats.
People who are a part of weight lifting culture are considered some of the most meticulous athletes when it comes to calories and nutrients. This makes sense, given that one of the major emphasis of lifting is achieving that perfect, lean but bulky body.
So, whether you’re a male or a female, you'll need to implement a proper diet with the right balance of nutrients. Here are some of the main benefits of having the right weightlifting meal plan:
- Nutrients provide enough energy for executing arduous workouts
- Eating after workouts helps with muscle recovery and repair
- Staying hydrated when exercising helps you train harder
- Using the right plan helps you increase bulk without significantly increasing the fat percentage in your body
- Lastly, a balanced meal plan is healthy for you
While some people might think these plans are restrictive, you have much more leeway than you might think. For example, you can create a tasty and healthy vegetarian weightlifting meal plan without having to sacrifice food that you otherwise eat.
For the most part, these plans eliminate things that you otherwise shouldn’t consume, such as alcohol, added sugar, and deep-fried foods. That being said, there are also lots of indirect benefits of implementing this type of diet besides improving your physical appearance.

Distribution of Proteins, Fats, and Carbs in the Diet of Weightlifters
While you might think that proteins are the basis of a weight training diet, we're actually much more reliant on carbohydrates. This substance is crucial for muscle recovery while also ensuring we don't lose any muscle fibers along the way.
An adult male that weighs 80 kilograms has to consume 2,800 calories each day. That is if we presume he works out 4 times a week and wants to maintain the same weight. Here’s a perfect distribution of proteins, fats, and carbs for his weightlifters diet plan:
Keep in mind that these are rough estimates, and the numbers might vary with your weight. The most important thing when implementing any weight training meal plan is not to stress too much. It's not the end of the world, even if you miss by a few grams. Instead, focus on your goals and have fun during the process.
As you get more used to a specific strength training meal plan, it will become easier to assess the daily requirements, even without measuring.
PR vs 1 RM
Let’s define the terms:
What is a PR in lifting? The result you have by far done that is designated as a "PR" is the top weight ever lifted. The term "personal best" or PB, which is frequently used, both imply the same thing. The term "1 RM" refers to the maximum weight you can now lift for a single rep.
Both lower or heavier than your gym PR are possible for your 1 RM. And on the contrary your PR is independent of your actual PB in any specific exercise.
Let's clarify using two cases where your actual 1 RM is heavier than your PR and another where it is lower.

Case #1 - 1 RM lower than PR
Let's assume that you have previously snatched not more than 92 kg. That is, unless you have a fantastic session and perform a 95 kg snatch for a personal record. You're sure that you couldn't have lifted one more kg since it was so heavy. Your PR and 1 RM in this context & on this workout are both 95 kg.
Then, suppose you stop exercising for half a year and your power declines. In the first session, you make the foolish decision to once more reach your snatch maximum. You gradually snatch bigger weights until you can finally complete one rep of 75 kg, but at 80 kg you collapse. Despite the fact that your weightlifting PR still seems to be 95 kg, your 1 RM today is 75 kg.
Planning your workouts going ahead should be done with 75 kg rather than your 1 RM.
Case # 2: 1 Rep Max higher than PR
Let's use the identical scenario as before.
Your training is smart and stable in snatch for a number of months. But, you never lift a weight more than 92 kg throughout any of your training.
You continue working out till you can complete 6 reps of 92 kg in a single set. So, how big is your personal record and 1 RM?
Your personal record (for 1 rep) has remained the same. It still - 92 kg. You still hold the record for never having snatched anything bigger in your whole life.
But definitely, now you can snatch for one rep significantly more than 92 kg. Similar to how your body has a weight and a temperature even though you'd never measure them.
You might be able to snatch roughly 105 kg for a one rep if you tested your 1 RM today. If you succeeded in doing so, 105 kg would become your new PR, and you would be aware of your 1 RM for that day.

Gym PR vs Competition PR

Why is PR Important?
How to Measure Your Weightlifting PR
The right way to measure your weightlifting PR is to set it up in the competition. There are few more ways to assume how big it is. Maxout training sessions will definitely give you certain numbers, but as we discussed before it is just a gym record and no one cares about it.
In Olympic weightlifting coaches use a specific auxiliary exercises models which shows the ratio between snatch, C&J and some auxiliary exercises. This approach can be used as a rough guide for understanding an athlete's potential shape.
You can use our PR calculator to see what is you potential according to your auxiliary exercise’s achievements - GeneraTOR.
How to Set New PRs
If we speak about competing, you will definitely need a coach and to dive deeper in a full competition routine. By the way a lot of useful information you will find in my book Competition DAY – X.
If you decide to do a PR session in your gym, here are my few tips on how to make it more productive.
Decide to Split Snatch and C&J or Not
From my national team experience we had BIG training PR sessions, when in one training we had Snatch, C&J and Back Squats in a row. This is too killing for normal people and I don't advise you this.
If you choose to lift on separate days, the C&J is usually far more challenging than the Snatch. If you break up your days, you should recover for at least two whole days following C&J before attempting Snatch. On the other hand, following Snatch, 1 day of recovery is probably appropriate.

Warm Up Approach
Picking Kilos
FAQ
What Does Pr Mean In Squats?
What Is Good PR For Deadlift?
What Does PB Mean In The Gym?
Sergii is a professional weightlifter and National team member in the past. Competed in 94 kg w/c, won multiple medals on national competitions.
Nowadays Sergii is responsible for designing training programs, writing blog articles, doing live commentary of international weightlifting competitions, running different sport & fitness educational seminars, including Olympic weightlifting together with Oleksiy Torokhtiy all around the globe.