Coachway gives you everything you need to build meal plans that fit each client without starting from scratch every time. You get access to a library of 1,000+ recipes, a drag & drop builder, and live macro tracking that updates as you make changes, and more!
Creating a Meal Plan Template
Go to Nutrition → Mealplans in the sidebar
Click + New Meal Plan
Fill in the template settings:
Title: what the client sees, for example "1800 kcal Fat Loss Plan"
Calories: total daily calorie target
Recipes per meal: how many recipe options to generate per meal slot
Macro split: choose from presets like Default 30/40/30 or Low Carb P50/C25/F25.
Or click + Custom macro split to define your own and save it as a preset for future use. The daily targets update automatically based on your calorie and macro settings - for example 2000 kcal at 30/40/30 gives you 150g protein, 200g carbs, 67g fat.
Use my own recipes only (optional): toggle this on to make sure the meal plan pulls exclusively from recipes you have created yourself, instead of the full 1,000+ Coachway library. Useful if you want clients to only ever see your recipes.
Recipe matching: by default, Coachway scales recipes to fit your calorie and macro targets. Change this to pull recipes in at their original calorie amounts instead. Then you can manually adjust macros and calories yourself, with full control over every recipe in the plan.
Click Save Template and you have now created a meal plan template.
Setting Up Meals
Toggle on the meals you want to include:
Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack, Dinner, Evening Snack
For each meal, set the percentage of total daily calories. The percentages must add up to 100%.
You can also click + Add custom meal if you need something outside the standard options.
Click Save when done. The system generates recipe suggestions for each meal that match your calorie and macro targets.
The Meal Plan View
Once created, you see your plan with each meal as a section. For each meal you can see:
Target kcal and how the current recipes compare
Macro breakdown: protein, carbs, and fat with progress bars showing how close you are to target
Recipe cards: each with a photo, name, calorie count, and macro breakdown
Diet tags: Vegetarian, Pescetarian, High Protein, PCOS, Halal, etc.
At the top, a summary bar shows your total plan kcal range and overall macro distribution.
Swapping Recipes
If a client does not like a recipe, click the ✕ on the recipe card to remove it, then click + Add a meal to browse and pick a replacement. The system suggests recipes that fit the macro targets for that meal slot.
Locking Individual Recipes
You can lock individual recipes within a meal plan so they stay exactly as they are when calorie targets change. Click the lock icon on the recipe to lock or unlock it.
This is useful when:
A specific recipe scales in a way you do not prefer (for example odd ingredient amounts)
You want to update calories on most recipes but keep certain ones untouched
You have fixed-portion recipes (like protein shakes or pre-packaged items) that should not change
Locked recipes hold their original calorie and macro values. Unlocked recipes continue to scale as normal when you change the client's calorie target.
Editing Ingredients
Click on any recipe to open the detail panel. Here you can:
See all ingredients with amounts and units
Add Ingredient to customize a recipe
Change amounts or units on existing ingredients (grams, cups, tbsp, etc.)
Remove ingredients with the ✕ button
View Nutrients for a full breakdown
Compare recipes side by side
Save recipe to your library
Show Steps for preparation instructions
Changes save automatically.
Can I assign only ingredients (not full recipes)?
Meal plans are built from recipes (and meals), not from standalone ingredients. You cannot assign a bare ingredient list as a meal plan item today.
Workaround: create simple single-ingredient recipes (one ingredient each), then add those recipes into the meal plan.
Editing the Template Settings
Click Edit in the top-right corner of a meal plan to reopen the template panel. Here you can change calories, macro split, recipes per meal, or meal distribution. Click Update to apply. Note: changes may take a moment to reflect in the recipe suggestions.
Assigning a Meal Plan to a Client
Go to the client's profile → Nutrition tab
The client can have multiple plans assigned: use the dropdown to switch between them
Click Edit Plan to adjust anything specific to this client
Plans follow the same status system as workouts: Draft (not visible to client), Local changes (edited but not pushed), and Live (visible in the client's app).
Unassigning a Meal Plan from a Client
Once a meal plan has been published, it can always be switched back to Draft. Meaning if you published a plan by mistake, or the client should no longer see it, you can unassign the plan instead:
Go to the client's profile → Nutrition
Select the plan in the dropdown (if the client has more than one)
Click Action
Unassign Plan
The plan is removed from the client's app immediately.
Recommendations
Build base templates, then customize. Create 3-4 templates at different calorie levels (1400, 1800, 2200) and duplicate them per client. Saves a lot of setup time.
Use macro split presets. If most of your clients follow the same split, save it as a custom preset so you don't have to set it manually every time.
Increase recipes per meal for picky eaters. Setting 10 recipes per meal gives the client maximum variety to choose from.
Check the tags. Recipe cards show diet tags (Vegetarian, PCOS, Halal, etc.) - use these to quickly verify the plan works for your client's dietary requirements.