To start learning the basics about nutrition, please read the relevant stickies at the top of the nutrition

forum as well as this:

COMPOSING A RATIONAL DIET
Advice on diet and nutrition is often based on myths and, even more so, on the marketing message of
supplement companies and self-proclaimed diet gurus with agendas contrary to your interests. Please
don't allow yourself, your health, your fitness goals or your wallet to be compromised by the prevalent
misinformation. Learn the basics of nutrition and start engaging in healthy, rational dietary habits that
can last a lifetime.
The first step is to discard biased advice on nutrition and diet, and, in its place, embrace simple logic:
Compose a diet that ensures micronutrient and macronutrient sufficiency, derived
predominantly from whole and minimally processed foods if possible, with remaining caloric
intake being largely discretionary within the bounds of common sense.
Caloric Intake
Energy balance is the primary dietary driver of body weight and it also impacts body composition. A
chronic surplus of calories will result in increased body weight and a chronic deficit of calories will result
in a loss of body weight.
In other words, in order to gain about one pound of tissue weight (as opposed to transient flux in water
weight), you need to consume a total of about 3,500 calories more than you expend. And to lose about
one pound of tissue weight, you have to do the opposite -- consume about 3,500 calories less than you
expend.
Thus, the first step in constructing any rational diet is to get a sense of how many calories per day, on
average, you should consume in order to progress towards your goals.
The average number of calories you expend per day -- called total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) -is a function of your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and your average weekly activity level.
To estimate your BMR, it's important to have a sense of how much lean body mass (LBM) you carry. If
you're not sure, post a photo or two and we can estimate your percentage body fat and, from this
number and your total body weight, it's easy to estimate LBM by using the following formula:
LBM = body weight * (1 - percentage body fat)
To estimate BMR, use the the Katch-McArdle formula:
BMR = 370 + (9.8 * LBM in pounds)
or
BMR = 370 + (21.6 * LBM in kg)
The next step is to estimate average weekly activity using the following guidelines to calculate an
activity factor (AF):

1.1 - 1.2 = Sedentary (desk job, and little formal exercise, this will be most of you students)
1.3 - 1.4 = Lightly Active (light daily activity and light exercise 1-3 days a week)
1.5 - 1.6 = Moderately Active (moderately daily Activity & moderate exercise 3-5 days a week)
1.7 - 1.8 = Very Active (physically demanding lifestyle & hard exercise 6-7 days a week)
1.9 - 2.2 = Extremely Active (athletes in endurance training or very hard physical job)

To estimate TDEE (the calories at which you will neither gain nor lose tissue weight), use the following
formula:
TDEE = BMR * AF
Now that you've estimated your TDEE, it's important to refine that estimate empirically. To do so,
consume an average amount of calories equal to estimated TDEE for two weeks, monitoring weight
change. The results will confirm your actual TDEE.
Once you know your actually TDEE, set your caloric intake to match your goals as follows:
To maintain weight, consume an amount of calories equal to TDEE.
To lose weight, consume 10% to 20% less than TDEE.
To gain weight, consume 10% to 20% more than TDEE.
Monitor weight change via the scale and also body composition via the mirror and how clothing fits,
making adjustments as needed biweekly.
Macronutrient Intake
Ensure that your intake of macronutrients meets sufficiency (as defined below), with remaining
macronutrient composition of the diet being largely a function of personal preference.
Ideally, ensure macronutrient sufficiency predominantly or, ideally, entirely from whole and minimally
processed foods.
Protein: ~0.6 to ~0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight (or target/ideal weight in the obese) -- the
highest amount justified by research.
Fat: ~0.45 grams per pound of bodyweight (or target/ideal weight in the obese) -- the lowest amount
implied by clinical observation.
Remaining caloric budget: whatever mix of macronutrients you prefer -- as implied by research.
Micronutrient Intake
Take care and use good judgement in food selection and portioning to ensure that micronutrient
sufficiency is reached without excessive intake from dietary sources and/or supplements.
As with macronutrient sufficiency, one should ensure micronutrient sufficiency predominantly or,
ideally, entirely from whole and minimally processed foods.
To get a good sense of recommended intake of vitamins and minerals, please review this USDA
guidelines webpage.
You'll find the following information particularly helpful:

Intakes: Recommended Intakes for Individuals

RDA and Adequate Intake for Vitamins and Elements
Upper Limit for Vitamins and Elements
Electrolytes and Water

Meal Timing, Composition & Frequency

The number of meals you consume, the timing of those meals and the macro/micronutrient
composition of each meal is largely a function of personal preference.
While it might be "optimal" to consume more than one meal per day and less than 5 meals per day, the
simple truth is that any difference that directly results from such fine tuning is likely too small to notice
even after years of training.
Thus, base your meal timing, composition and frequency on your subjective preference such as to
optimize your sense of energy, performance, satiety, palatability, convenience, social/business life and
sustainability.
Do not hesitate to very all three factors from day to day as circumstance dictates. In other words, do
not become a slave to routine, with inflexibility compromising your quality of life.

Pre & Post Workout Nutrition

What (if anything) you consume before and after your workout does not play a significant direct role in
the outcome of your diet, beyond personal preference.
Why? Because what matters in terms of direct impact on outcomes is total daily intake of all nutrients.
Thus, you should optimize based on how you respond to training in a fed or fasted state, and based on
your hungry after exercise. In other words, use common sense.

Supplements
Supplements are just that, products that are intended to supplement deficiencies in your diet. If your
diet is properly composed then there's no need or unique benefit to using supplements.
If your diet isn't properly composed and, thus, you have deficiencies, try to fix your diet to cure such
deficiencies though the consumption of whole and minimally processed foods. If you can't fix your diet,
then use the lowest dose supplement(a) needed to cure any remaining deficiencies.