Here is my average meal prep for 2 days, I just wanted to show you its not fancy secret food which chisel's that physique!
So on days I like to consume what I find is sufficent carbs for my energy levels in the gym are as follows, 150g of sweet potato with each meal around 10am, 1pm and 4pm. my breakfast usually consists of 50g ultra fine oats in a protein smoothie, then later in the evening I have an omelette or maybe greens and poultry/fish. occaionally I will have white potato (150g no skin) or white basmatti rice (120g) as an alternative to sweet potato. So why only poultry and fish? Personally for me I know it sits better on my stomach and without the boring facts its lean meat which means, low in cals, high in protein and low in fats. Perfect for my goals. I might have one day in my off season over a weekend where I'd have red meat, this day I'd class as a cheat day. I always make sure i'm in a calorie deficit no matter what day it is and it's not a full day of cheating but only one meal!
So a calorie deficit, basically means you expend more calories than you eat, personally I live each day as a day where I try to balance my intake or be in a deficit. I never burn all that hard work away by going overboard on the weekend! why? Well personally I have the thought your body doesnt live in a weekly cycle, so why put it in one for calories? If you want to relax a little on the weekend then do so. The two main things you need to consider is, 1. Am I still in a calorie deficit and If your not then stop! 2. If you know you want to let yourself relax further then get some more cardio in before hand. It's that simple. Persoanlly I know I need to be in a deficit between 500 and 1000 per day to achieve what I want, once I find I am happy I will try to maintain an even balance. Finding "the right food" at the right time is a hard thing to do, but once you've put in the work to build that routine...it's easy! I'm not a nutritionist but I can help with guidance and always happy to share what I eat and explain why.