Precision Nutrition Individualization Guide

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in d iv id u a liza tio n

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p re c i

sio n n utritio n

.. - . . --.--. ' . . - . . - . .

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The Pre c isio p N utritio n

In d iv id u a li

za tio n

G u id e

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D r.

Jo hn M .

Bera rd i,

Ph.D .

@ 2005, Science Link, Inc. AII rights reserved. You m ay not copy, share or distribute

this work in any form at or m edia with the express written consent of Science Link, Incorporated. For inquires, contact sales@ iohnberardi.com

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Tabl

e

of

Cont

ent

s

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lndividualization Guide 1

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Part

1:

One

Si

ze Fi

ts

AI

I

The Tailor'

s C ontinuum : From O ne-size-Fits-A ll to Bespoke

During m y recent trip to Europe, I had the opportunity to visit a m aster tailor in a

sm all town in northern Italy. A distant cousin of m ine was in the m arket for a new

suit, and eager to dem onstrate the renowned Italian craftsm anship, he brought m e to the shop of Signor Caruso.

Signor Caruso has spent his entire Iife m aking and fitting suits. His shop is sm all and

overstuffed with m aterial and equipm ent. In it Iie swatches and bolts of the finest fabrics, from which the finest suits in the world are crafted by hand; every inch

perfectly fit to the client, every cut perfectly m ade, every seam perfectly sewn.

Caruso's suits are breathtaking to behold; they seem able to transform the average into the elegant.

I m ust say that I've never been m uch of a suit guy. In fact, for m ost of my adult Iife,

I've been the tailor's worst nightm are, the weightlifting student - too oddly shaped to

fit, too poor to pay. Furthermore, apart from a few weddings here and there, I've

never had m uch of a need.

But watching Caruso work was alm ost inspirational. You see, Caruso makes what are

called bespoke suits. Bespoke suits are the finest m oney can buy; com pletely

custom , they are handm ade and perfectly tailored b0th to the custom er's desires and

to his m easurements. M aterials, style, fit - everything is custom , right dow n to the pocket type and style of stitching. Am ong connoisseurs, they are held in higher esteem than any 'ëol-the-rack'' suits, higher even than the idm ade-to-m easure'' Iabels,

versions of the designer suits custom ized at the factory. A bespoke suit can cost

upwards of $4000, and can require 3-5 fittings and months to com plete. Seeing the

m aster in action, I understood why: the workm anship and attention to detail that go

into this one garment is truly astounding. He jokes that you needn't have an

occasion to wear one of his suits - with suits Iike these, the occasions find you.

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Tailor M ade N utrition

Guess what? If you want the perfect body, and you want it drug free, your nutrition had better be m ore bespoke than off-the-rack. You need to tailor your nutritional plan to your own precise and individual specifications. You need m ore than a diet

copped off a website or out of a m agazine - or at the very Ieast, you need to know exactly how to m odify those diets to suit your needs and help you reach your goals.

(You do have goals, don't you?)

The purpose of this guide is to teach you how to do just that, to make your own

nutrition m ore Caruso than JC Penny. To do that, you'll need to m odify your

expectations right now : this isn't a diet guide, but rather what I would call a process

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2 lndividualization Guide

You won't find biochem istry. W hat you'll find is the m ethod behind nutritional optim ization and individualization; that is, the m ethod you'll need to find the perfect diet for you.

A warning: this m ethod is sim ple to use, but very dem anding in term s of discipline.

M ost of you will never use it in its entirety. But those of you who do w ill get as close

to perfect nutrition as you can possibly get on your own. My suggestion is that you read over the entire process, and try it as a com plete system before you begin to pick

and choose w hat parts of it you will and will not use.

Again, this isn't for everyone. M ost will never have a perfectly tailored nutrition plan,

just as very few will ever own a bespoke suit. But then again, those who do will Iook

dam n good.

As Iong as this is understood, we can proceed.

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W here'

s Your Tem plate?

There was one thing in particular about Caruso's m ethod that struck a note with m e. There is no question that the process of creating a bespoke suit is extrem ely

com plex, requiring a skilled, experienced tailor, a repeatable m ethod, and a

painstaking attention to detail. Yet despite aII this, Caruso's m ethod cam e across as

alm ost sim ple. In fact, every one of his custom suits starts from a single tem plate. This tem plate or pattern is then m odified for each custom er over the course of m any

fittings, eventually becoming the exquisitely tailored suit for which they pay $4000.

In other words, the bespoke suit - the perfect garm ent - begins as nothing m ore

than a one-size-fits-all tem plate.

Rightly so, I'd say. Nutritional perfection, just Iike the sartorial variety, is an iterative

process. That is, it requires m any iterations or repetitions of the design process to

arrive at the destination. The m aster tailor doesn't expect to turn out a perfect suit

by reading his custom ers palms or by som e sort of divine revelation. Rather he calls

his custom er in for a fitting, m odifying the suit to for a better fit. Then he does it again and again.

He brings the custom er back as often as necessary, fitting and m odifying until he has

created the perfect suit.

W ith nutrition, you m ust do the sam e. You m ust take a sim ple, basic nutritional

tem plate and test it out; m odifying it according the results it brings you, and only you.

Only by doing so can you arrive at the destination - the pedect plan.

As it stands now, there is no magic test, no ''eat right for your DNA'' kind of

prescriptive aid. Currently, the best we can do is em ploy a procedure that m ixes

informed trial-and-error with the scientific method. We begin with a hypothesis (i.e., a

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Individualization Guide

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In other words, getting to the pedect plan will take tim e, effort, discipline and attention to detail. But first you need a point of origin from which to depart, a basic

tem plate that you can start with, test out, and m odify as necessary. In this guide, 1'11

show you how to build just such a template. 1'11 show you the individualization

process, provide som e exam ple cases, and direct you to som e great tools and

resources that will aid the proceu . '

Initially, Everyone H as The Sam e N eeds

So Iet's discuss this tem plate, the m eal plan you'll begin with. W hile it's true that

you'll eventually need a special plan designed to meet your individual needs (both physiological and Iogistical), you don't need one just yet. In the beginning of your nutritional journey your individual needs are Iikely the same as everyone else in your

position. You need:

A sim ple nutritional plan that you can im plem ent im m ediately,

com plete w ith correct food choices and correct habits.

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next m eal, and continue it with every m eal thereafter until the habits that w ill sustain

your progress are in place.

Com plex form ulas, supplem ents, m acronutrient ratios, m icronutrient content or even

- _{gasp - calories are aII things that you need not concern yourself with initially. Don't}

get m e wrong; you'll eventually concern yourself with aIl of those things. They will

becom e the variables that you can m odify Iater. For now, however, it's best if you accept that the rules I'm about to give you are the best place to start. If you w ish to start with a different tem plate, feel free to do so - the process described in these

articles will help you correct your initial m istakes.

Stad N t& 1

0 Sim ple R ules

You will start out with a plan based on the 10 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional

Programs. Clever name, no? Possibly illegal, too, I imagine. Oh well. E-rhe 10 Habits

of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey, is a great book which I recom m end highly

- _{perhaps that and the extra 3 habits will stave off the Iawsuit). If you've forgotten}

the rules, here's a sum m ary:

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Habit 1: Eat every 2-3 hours.

Habit 2: Eat com plete, Iean protein with each feeding opportunity. Habit 3: Eat vegetables w ith each feeding opportunity.

4 Individualization Guide

Habit 5: Eat healthy fats daily.

Habit 6: Don't drink beverages with m ore than O calories.

Habit 7: Eat w hole foods instead of supplem ents whenever possible. Habit 8: Plan ahead and prepare feedings in advance.

Habit 9: Eat as wide a variety of good foods as possible.

Habit 10: Plan to break the rules 10% of the tim e.

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So far, the Precision Nutrition m aterials have discussed exactly how to use these 10

Habits to form your nutrition plan.

ê

Let's be really clear here. Like Senior Caruso's first steps in m aking a bespoke suit, the program begins with a one-size-fits aII plan. W ell, two sizes - we've got m en's

and wom en's portion sizes to account for. However, m en and wom en don't need to

be told to eat m ore or Iess based on their gender - they already typically do that. Each one-size-fits aII plan, in the beginning, is equally well-suited to both the 150 Ib, 7% body fat zdhardgainer'' and the 250 Ib 22% heavyweight.

In fact, as l've taught you so far, m ost of m y dietary advice begins with this basic set

of rules (the 10 Habits) and a basic tem plate,just Iike Senior Caruso's. Remember,

despite the m yriad differences between individuals, everyone that com es to Senior Caruso's shop starts w ith a basic tem plate and then, after a few visits, and a bit of

additional m easurem ent, he individualizes. Likew ise, alm ost everyone who com es to

Senior Berardi's shop begins with a basic tem plate and then, after a few visits, and a bit of additional m easurem ent, gets individualized.

So here's m y advice to you. If you're currently dissatisfied with your body

com position, your health, your energy Ievels, or your Ievels of daily and/or athletic performance, regardless of how novice or advanced you are (we'II determ ine that in a minute), start with the 10 Habits above. Build a meal plan that is based exclusively

on the 10 Habits and follow the tem plate that you build. Follow that tem plate, without m odification, for about 3 - 5 weeks.

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D etailsw.wA nd S0 Fo4 h...

I know it's a tough sell. That's Iargely because you've been conditioned to believe that you need som ething different from everyone else. You're right! However, the

best way to build a custom diet is to begin with a basic plan and individualize based

on your ow n personal physiological responses. You can't get m ore perfectly

individualized than that!

People tend to worry too m uch about calories, m acronutrient ratios, and other details

in the beginning, which in my opinion is just misplaced mental energy. W orrying

about caloric intake or m acronutrient ratios while m issing m eals, m aking gross errors

in food selection and timing is just straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic. In

the short term , in this case the 3 weeks to 5 weeks that I want you to follow a

one-size-fits-all plan, nearly any sane caloric intake will at worst have negligible negative

Individualization Guide 5

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Of course, such a plan m ay prom ote som e great physical changes right up front. However, as suggested above, it m ay not. Your body m ay not change at aII during the first 3-5 weeks. Since I'm assum ing that physical change is exactly what m ost people

are Iooking for from their nutrition programs (a Ieaner and/or more m uscular physique), 1'11 share a basic principle with you here:

To im prove body com position in the Iongterm , you m ust forget about

body com position in the short term .

Rem em ber, what I'm proposing here is a Iong-term procedure for nutritional

optim ization, and in turn, optim al body com position, health and perform ance. To

m ake it work, you'll have to adopt the m indset of the Iong-term thinker, who

understands that success in any endeavor com es not from fads and schem es but from the continuous application of sim ple, correct principles. So, unless you're

following the 10 Habits above 90% of the tim e or m ore, put away the scales, calipers and calorie-counting software for the tim e being. Get out your pen and paper and

com e up with those 6 m eals. If you don't have the food for those m eals, m ake a

grocery Iist and go shopping.

Oh, but l can hear the cries now (from some of you).

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I'm A dvanced, D am m itl

Up until now, I've talked about what is useful and necessary in the Hinitial phase'' or

the K'initial stager'' w ithout really defining what I m ean by Hinitial-''

It's sim ple, really. lf your goal is to im prove your body com position and physical

appearance, l have a sim ple test to determ ine w here you are in your nutritional

career, so to speak. You are in the initial phase of your nutritional career if you

answer no to the following two questions:

1. W hen you Iook in the m irror, are you satisfied with your Ievel of m uscularity

and Ieanness? That is, have you reached your body com position goals? 2. If no, have you followed a nutritional plan conform ing to the 10 Habits, day in

and day out for at Ieast 5 weeks, with no m ore than 10% of your meals falling outside of those criteria? Think about that before you answer. At an average

of 6 m eals per day, or 42 m eals per week, that m eans no m ore than 4 m eals were m iu ed or broke the rules each week for 5 weeks.

The first question is an exam ple of outcom e-based decision m aking. If you are to succeed in any endeavor, you m ust be able to m easure your progress and the

outcome of your efforts. In this case, you subjectively assessed your appearance; if

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6 Individualization Guide

fat m ass. The bottom Iine is that if you aren't m easuring results, you're wasting tim e. And if you are m easuring results, but don't Iike what the m easurem ents are telling you - say, that despite your current training and nutritional programs, you aren't as m uscular and lean as you'd Iike - you need to change som ething.

The second question exam ines your efforts (or Iack thereof). If you want to im prove

your body com p but aren't consîstently following a nutritional program conform ing to

the 10 Habits, either start im m ediately or Iearn to accept your physical shortcom ings, because they'll be yours for a long tim e. Hope that works out for you.

M ost people, if they're honest, w ill answer no to those questions - even som e

advanced trainees. Let m e be clear on this: there is no direct relationship between

what som e refer to as i'training age'' and what we'll call Hnutritional age,'' which begins on your nutritional birth date: the day you com plete your 3-5 week, 90% 10

Habits com pliant, one-size-fits-all nutrition program . Until then, you m y friend are a

nutritional novice.

If you answered no to the first question (i.e., you still have not reached your body comp goals) but answered yes to the second question (i.e., ytxl have truly passed the novice stage), then you are on your way. You're ready for the next step!

Now, if you answered yes to the first question, God bless. You've done whatever you

needed to do to get to your goal, and far be it for m e to criticize your m ethods. They

worked for you, and that's what counts. I'm not here to teach Picasso how to paint.

For the rest, go over the follow ing checklist, and make sure you've done everything

you need to do before proceeding.

S um m ary O f Part 1

1. Use outcom e-based decision m aking.

If you've reached your goals, great. If not, exam ine and change your m ethods.

It never ceases to am aze m e when over-fat people say HBut I already eat

great.'' Uh, are you sure about that? 2. Determ ine your nutritional age.

If you have been following a 90% 10 Habits com pliant nutrition plan for at

Ieast 3-5 weeks without fail, you have passed the initial phase and can m ove

On .

3. Construct a nutrition plan.

Ignore concerns about calories, m acronutrients, m icronutrients, antinutrients, and everything else. Just m ake sure that aII your m eals conform to the rules. The Diet Guide should have set you up in this regard.

Individualization Guide

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4.

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5. Com m it to eating according to the plan for at Ieast 3 weeks.

After the three weeks, you m ay change m eals as long as they still satisfy the criteria. From that m eal plan, build a grocery Iist and purchase aII the food

you will need for one week.

6. Prepare as m uch of the m eals in advance as possible.

Don't m iss m eals because of inadequate preparation and planning.

#

Eat every m eal.

8.

Count your mi

sses (m i

sses = meals that break the rul

es,

or missed meal

s).

Better yet, plan your m iu es at Ieast a day in advance and turn them into

cheat m eals. You get 4 m isses per week.

9. Proceed to The Next Step.

W hen you have followed your plan consistently (i.e., no more than 4 misses per week) for at Ieast 3-5 consecutive weeks, proceed to the next step,

individualization.

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8 Individualization Guide

Part

2:

Measurement

and Method

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The W rong A pproach

M ost trainees never reach their goals because they are waiting for the m agic bullet, the one tip or trick that will finally get them the body they've been Iooking for.

People want to m ake sim ple, tiny, easy additions or subtractions to their current

'ëplansy'' knowing full well that negligible m odifiœ tions will probably yield negligible results. Adding a d'superfoodr'' m agic soup, supplem ent or drug w ill not com pensate for gross m isunderstanding and m isapplication of key principles. Subtracting a single food or rem oving aII carbs from your diet will not rem ove the real stum bling block.

Often people just want to be validated for what they are currently doing. They want to

read an article on nutrition or training and say, ë:W eII, I do som e of that, so I'm

probably OK,'' despite the fact that doing only 'Jsom e of that'' has Ieft them far short

of the body they could have.

W ell, I'm not here to validate you. l'm not going to sugarcoat this, or dum b it down, or

tell you what you want to hear. I'm here to tell you the truth, to the extent that I've

ascertained it. Here's that truth:

1. If you want a drastically better body than the one you have now, you need to

m ake a wholesale change to your nutrition plan.

2. The m agnitude of that change will seem daunting and possibly intim idating.

You will question whether aIl this is truly necessary, and you will be tem pted to

m ake do with Iess m uch Ieu .

3. The process will require a significant dose of that forgotten ingredient:

discipline. Discipline is a by-product of purpose and desire, so you'll need

those too - you will need to remind yourself why you're eating this way (how Iean and muscular you will eventually be, for instance) and how much you want to reach your goals (or how it will feel to fail yet again).

But there is m ore:

1. The system works. If you do it in its entirety, you will reach your goals. 2. Though perhaps overwhelm ing at first, w ith practice it will quickly becom e

sim ple and effortless.

So what is this system , this right m ethod? W ell in Part 1, you designed a starter plan

on whi

ch to build,

just Ii

ke the tail

or bui

lds a pattern or tem pl

ate for hi

s custom sui

ts.

Now it's tim e to Iearn the art of fitting - bringing that starter plan ever closer to the

perfect plan for you.

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Individualization Guide 9

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You've G ot To M easure Som ething

I get hundred of em ails each week from people asking m e very specific nutrition questions. Just yesterday som eone asked m e if they should cut 100 gram s of carbs

from their diet in order to Iose m ore fat. To be honest, unless it's blatantly obvious

that the person is advanced enough to m ake use of this inform ation, I don't answer.

Instead,

I

just di

rect them to comprehensi

ve arti

cles and resources so that

they can

Iearn to answer them selves.

W hy? Because even if I answered in detail they would have no way to m ake use of m y

advice. M ost have no way of quantifying w hat they're doing nutritionally, and no way of m aking a m inute change and holding that variable constant. Unless you can tell m e exactly how m any grams of carbs you've been getting every day for the Iast m onth or so, and unless you have a way of controlling how m any grams of carbs you'll eat for the next m onth - alI to a reasonably high degree of accuracy - then answering such a question is a waste of tim e for m e, and asking it is a waste of tim e for you.

Bottom Iine: many people have no idea w hat they're eating. They m ay try to eat m ore

protein, or have certain m eals that they eat regularly, and they m ay even have a vague idea of how m any calories they consum e on a good day. If you're getting the

results you want, this isn't a problem . If you aren't, however, it is. Vague ideas are of

no use in the process of optim ization. You need to m anipulate your nutrition plan

and aII the variables contained in it - and you can't m anipulate som ething you've

never m easured.

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ln The B eginning, Keep A Food Log

So the first step is to know and quantify what you're eating. Com m only, this is done by keeping a food Iog.

A food Iog is analytical; that is, it's a tool used to analyze what you've done, after you've done it. It has its place, and that's prior to beginning a solid nutritional program . I have my clients do a three-day diet record, in which they choose three

typical days representative of their general eating habits (one work day, one training day and one weekend day, for example) and on those days record everything they

eat. I have them do this as soon as they sign up with m e, for two reasons.

One, I want to see how bad their nutrition is. Two, I want them to see how bad their nutrition is. Even if they don't record their diets accurately, they w ill have to m ake a

conscious choice to fudge or omit - which is an adm ission to themselves (though not to me) that their nutrition is poor.

Of course, som e are sim ply Iazy and forget to record their diets, while still others are so deeply in denial that they'll Iie outright and feel nothing doing so. For both types, sticking to a good nutrition program will be either extrem ely difficult or im possible

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10

diet records and food Iogs are excellent m otivational tools, and w ill help them com m it to the new diet and the changes it necessitates.

Individualization Guide

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So before you begin to m anipulate your diet in earnest, do a diet record. Record

everything you eat for three days, and eat as you norm ally would. If for som e reason on one of the recording days you have to eat abnorm ally, scrap that day. Record again until you have three days of food records that represent your typical diet.

Com pare these records to the 10 Habits outlined in part l and see how well you're

really doing.

B eyond Food Logs

W hile food Iogs do allow you to know w hat you're eating, they don't directly help you

to m anipulate your diet to accom m odate change. As food Iogs only analyze what we've eaten, they're not helpful in dietary m anipulation.

W ould you enter the gym, without a plan, and just write down what Iifts you felt Iike

doing that day, com plete with your sets, reps, Ioads? And then, the next day, enter the gym in a sim ilar m anner, continuing to record useless, system -less inform ation?

Probably not.

That's why I don't prefer recom m ending food Iogs as a way to m onitor your intake. W hy try to keep a record of previous habits - good or bad? In scientific term s, your

nutritional intake is the main independent variable (a variable you m ust have control over) in your body comp experiment. So m easuring an ever-changing independent

variable is the best way to get nowhere fast.

Instead of recording what you did, you should be planning what you should be doing and sticking to that. Scientifically speaking, to m ake progress you've gotta fix your

independent variables and m easure your dependent variables. W hen it com es to

your eating plan, fix this variable by m aking a plan and m aking sure you follow the

plan. Then m easure your dependent variables, your results.

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Eat The Sam e Things Every D ay?

As I've recom m ended ''fixing'' your nutritional intake above, I know m any of you will get confused and think I'm suggesting that you have to eat the sam e things every

single day. I'm not.

Rem em ber, in part 1, l recom m ended com ing up with a variety of m eals built around

the 10 Habits; the m eals from Gourm et Nutrition, 5 M inute M eals, etc. There are over 135 recipes in the Precision Nutrition m aterials. If that's not variety, I don't

know what is.

However, keep this one thing in m ind before you get carried away with the variety thing. M ost of the people with the absolute best physiques tend to eat very sim ilar

Individualization Guide 11

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ed

N utritional Planning

You know now that you have to plan in advance and how to hold that plan constant. But how? And why?

As I said in Part 1, optim izing nutrition requires a m ix of inform ed trial and error and the scientific m ethod. Let m e explain w hat I m ean by that.

Inform ed trial and error m eans:

1. That your trials should be inform ed. You need to gather the best inform ation

you can about nutrition and use it to inform the nutritional choices you m ake.

That's why you're holding the Precision Nutrition m aterials and that's that's why in Part 1 we built a plan based on the 10 Habits - to replace random

manipulation with inform ed choices based on the best nutritional knowledge

we have available to us. The nutritional plan you start with, and every

subsequent change you m ake to that plan, m ust be based on the best

possible nutritional inform ation you can get a hold of.

2. That you should be perform ing trials. You m ust not only im plem ent what you

learn about nutrition into your daily Iife, but im plem ent it such that you can

judge whether or not it's working for you. Don'tjust try things - try and

evaluate the results! This requires that you're trials be perform ed in a certain way, and 1'11 describe that way in detail in the rem ainder of this section.

@

That you should be prepared to err, and that you should have a plan to deal with errors when they are m ade. You m ust anticipate that not aII of the

nutritional changes and m anipulations you make will work for you - even

som e of the ones that work for your friends, even som e that work for m y

clients, even som e that worked for your grandparents back when they Iived in

the oId country. The whole point of this exercise is to determ ine what works for you, so be prepared to find that you m ay be different from those around

you. You m ay add 400 calories to your daily diet and see no increase in Iean

body m ass in two weeks; I m ay do it and put on 2 lbs over that sam e period.

W hat do you plan to do at that point? Shake your fist at the heavens and

abandon the plan? Or have another change waiting to be made just in case? And what is this talk of the ''scientific methodF'? W ell, it's just a fancy way of saying

that you need to control your diet and m easure the results that that diet brings you. You understand the principle of inform ed trial and error, but how exactly should your trials be perform ed? And how can you dilerentiate between success and errof

That's where the scientific m ethod com es in. Here's w hat it is, and how it applies to

nu

t

r

i

t

i

on'

.

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12 lndividualization Guide

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1

. Observe the phenom ena: Gather aII the inform ation about nutrition you can.

Think about your ultim ate goals, in terms of body com position, health and perform ance. Do you want to get Ieaner or m ore m usculaf Am eliorate digestive problem s? Still be able to run the floor in the fourth quarter of a basketball gam e?

2. Form a hypothesis: Build a diet plan that will get the results you want and bring you closer to your goals.

3. Predict outcom es on the basis of that hypothesis: Set a goal for the results of

your nutrition plan. I usually work in two week blocks, so if I wanted to Iose fat

I might set a goal of Iosing 2 pound: of fat in two weeks.

4. Test the prediction using a controlled experiment: W ith nutrition plan in hand,

follow it with at Ieast 90% accuracy for the predeterm ined period of tim e. That m eans controlling aII the nutrition variables - you m ust eat exactly as you had

planned.

5. Record results and com pare to hypothesis: M easure the results of the past

two weeks of planned eating (i.e., the controlled experiment). Using the fat

Ioss exam ple, after two weeks of eating according to m y plan, I would weigh

m yself and do a body fat m easurem ent with skinfold calipers. lf my

m easurem ent showed that I Iost 2 or m ore Ibs of body fat, I would consider

m y hypothesis validated - eating according to m y plan allowed m e to Iose the

body fat I wanted to Iose. If I wanted to Iose m ore body fat, I would continue

with the plan until it no Ionger worked.

6. If results don't m atch the hypothesis, m odify or elaborate on your hypothesis: If on the other hand I Iost only 1 pound of body fat, Iost no body fat at all, or

God forbid, actuallygafned body fat, then I need a better hypothesis and/or a

better experim ent. Here are the possibilities:

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a. Hypothesis was insufficient: Often the plan you cam e up with will be

too Iow or too high in calories, protein, carbs, fat, etc. to get the results you wanted. You will need to use your best, m ost inform ed guess to m ake a change; the general principles of your plan, however, will

remain intact.

b. Hypothesis is false: The nutritional plan you cam e up with didn't work

because it was just plain wrong, either for you or in general. lf you

started with a good plan based on good inform ation and proven results

with others, you should assum e that this is not the case until you have

no other choice. That is, don't abandon a good plan entirely unless

you're pretty sure that it's useless for you; often you just need to

m odify it. lf you started with a plan you had Iittle confidence in and

Individualization Guide 13

@

was

compl

et

el

y

unpr

o

ven,

t

hen

y

ou

c

an

c

on

si

der

scr

appi

n

g

i

t

en

t

i

r

el

y

.

c. Hypothesis was true, but experim ent was faulty: Your ability to com e up

with a great nutritional plan is one thing; your ability to execute that plan by adhering to it consistently is quite another. If you didn't get results, but only ate 60% of your m eals according to plan, you had better work on your adherence before you change the plan itself -there is no sense in changing a plan you won't bother to execute

anyway.

7. Repeat steps 2 to 6 until your experim ents yield the expected results: You

must continue to adjust your plan on the basis of the results you're getting from it. You make changes, try them out (holding your diet constant for two week blocks), measure the results and am end the plan as necessary.

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So W hat D oes This M ean In Practice?

These are notjust abstract principles l wbnt you to understand. They drive at a very

specific m ethod you need to use if you want to tailor your nutrition to your ow n

individual needs. In nutritional practice, using the principle of inform ed trial and error and the scientific m ethod m eans doing things a Iittle differently than m ost.

Instead of having m y clients eat random ly, or telling them sim ply to x:eat betterr'' or

giving them vague nutritional principles to act on (then figuring out whether they did or not by doing a post-mortem on their food Iog), I have clients follow very specific

plans.

On the basis of questionnaires, tests, m edical history, etc., along with my own

nutritional expertise and m y previous experience w ith clients, I com e up with a

hypothetical plan that l think will get the client the results that he or she wants. 1'11 choose the foods, the caloric content, the m acronutrient ratios, the nutrient tim ing, everything.

Tw o G eeks A t A Tim e

These plans cover two-week periods. W hy two weeks? W ell, it'sjust a num ber I've found to work best. It's difficult to plan for Ionger periods (say, one month), and such

plans become either unwieldy or oversim plified; shorter periods (say, one week)

require you to plan m ore often and aren't quite Iong enough to give any changes you

make a fair evaluation. Two weeks, I've found, is just right.

To prepare for those two weeks, the client and I com e up with the exact m eals,

grocery Iists and food preparation instructions they'll need in order to execute my

hypothetical plan. I m ake sure that the plan conform s exactly to the nutritional

variables I've set. It will have the exact caloric content, m acronutrient ratios,

m icronutrient content, etc. As Iong as the plan is follow ed consistently, I can perform

precisely the type of controlled experim ent necessary to determ ine whether m y

h

y

p

o

t

h

e

s

i

s

wa

s

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14 Individualization Guide

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I

n

bui

l

di

ng

t

he

pl

an

, we take into consideration their goals, their current status

relative to those goals, their Iogistical obstacles (work or school com mitm ents, travel, appointments, etc.) and anything else that the client or I think is relevant. AII the

potential problem s are worked out in advance. Upon receipt of the program , aII the client has to do is eat at Ieast 90% of the m eals we agreed he would eat. There is no need for food Iogs - aII I want to know is whether the plan was followed or not, which requires nothing m ore than a few checkm arks on a page. Day 1, M eal 1 . . . check.

That's it.

M ost people try to m easure the variables. They count calories, gram s of carbs, etc.

-alI of which is Iargely a waste of tim e. Rather, you should hold the variables constant, and instead, m easure the results!

The First M easurem ent Standard

It never ceases to am aze m e how few people regularly measure the results of the choices they m ake. Optim ization requires constant m onitoring; nutritionally, if you

hope to get great results and keep therp coming, you m ust continually measure the

outcom e of your efforts.

So what exactly should you m easure? W ell, it depends on your goal. For each type of

goal, there are specific m etrics you can choose to Iook at. I consîder there to be

three categories of nutrition goals: perform ance goals, health goals, and body com position goals.

However, before m easuring results, it's im portant to m easure adherence. Make no m istake, eating 6 or 7 well-designed and well-planned m eals a day for 3 weeks with 90% adherence is a serious, discipline-requiring endeavor. It's oh so easy to fool

yourself into thinking you're doing a greatjob while dem onstrating only 65%

adherence.

So, step one, before m easuring anything else, is m easuring adherence. Below is an

exam ple adherence chart from a client of m ine. Here's how it works:

1) Each time the client eats a meal designated for that time slot, he gets to put

ux'' in the box.

an

Each tim e the client m isses a m eal, he puts a 0 in the box.

3) Each time the client eats a non-com pliant meal, he puts a * in the box.

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Individualization Guide 15

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@

Week 1 Meal 1 Meal 2 Meal 3 Meal 4 Meal 5 Meal 6 (W orkout

Adherence

Dri

nk)

Day 1 X X X X * X X Training Day

Day 2

X

0

X

0

X

X

N/A

Non-Training Day Day 3 X X X X X X X Training Day

Day 4

X

X

X

0

X

X

N/A

Non-Training Day Day 5 X X X X X X X Training Day Day 6 X X X 0 X * X Training Day

Day 7

*

X

X

X

X

X

N/A

Non-Training Day

To evaluate this client's success, sim ply tally up the total m eals scheduled for the

week (46) and subtract the boxes that are either blank or contain a star (7). As this

client m issed 4 m eals and Rcheated'' at 3 m eals, they've achieved about 85%

(39/46) adherence.

That's not bad. It's better than m ost folks would do.

Iooking for 90% adherence from our clients.

But it ain't good enough. W e're

So, try this exercise out yourself. Print off 2 weeks of adherence sheets and m onitor

how well you're adhering to your plan. If, at the end of 2 weeks, you don't find at Ieast 90% of those boxes w ith an x in them , there's absolutely no point in m easuring anything else. Since you can't even control the independent variable of this

experiment (the variable you have control over), why would you measure the results

Iike body com p, body weight, etc? Seriously, why bother? You can't do anything

about them anyway.

Think I'm joking? W ell Iet's say you try out a new nutritional plan and only adhere to

it 80% of the tim e. And Iet's say you gained body fat after the first m onth. W ell

16

surely you'll have to try a new nutritional plan, right? Maybe you need to eat a Iow

carb diet instead? At Ieast you hàve to cut calories, right?

lndividualization Guide

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W ell how the heck are you going to do either? How m any calories did you eat this

week? How m any carbs? How m any will you eat next week?

You don't know because you're not adhering to the plan - to any plan. So unless next week is better than this week, you have no way of controlling what will happen.

W hen you don't even have the basic skill (following a plan) required to rem edy the

problem s you'll face, THAT IS THE PROBLEM .

You either need to suck it up and learn som e discipline, Iearn som e food preparation

strategies, or attack the fundam ental belief system that's keeping you from even

following a basic plan for a mere two weeks. Orjust give up trying to individualize.

It sounds harsh, I know. But there com es a tim e where you have to realize that

there's a difference between eating better than m ost people and eating perfectly for

you. There's no sham e in adm itting that you're unwilling to do what it takes to tailor the perfect plan. The only sham e Iies in trying to convince yourself that you're doing everything it takes when you're not evdn com ing close.

If you're unwilling, great - just continue eating better than most - you won't get any judgment from me. As Iong as you follow the basic 10 Habits, you'll be way better off

in the Iong run anyway. If you are willing, continue on.

The N ext M etrics

As m entioned above, l consider there to be three categories of nutrition goals:

1. Perform ance Goals:

M ainly relevant to athletes, these m ight include faster 40 yard dash tim es, increased powerlifting totals, faster tim e trials for cyclists, etc. Generally, nutrition for hum an

perform ance has three parts: pre-event nutrition, post-event recovery nutrition and

Iong-term general preparation nutrition.

M etrics for perform ance goals are determ ined by the event itself. For individual

sports, ultimately the succeu of the program as a whole isjudged by the performance as judged in the event: for sprinters and cyclists, their times; for

powerlifters, their totals; and so on. However, often it's difficult or im possible to

separate the causes for both failure and success. For instance, if a powerlifter

m isses a Iift, or a sprinter perform s poorly, do you blam e the nutrition program , the training program , or som ething else entirely? lt's often hard to say.

The problem is com pounded in team sports where the player m ay perform well

without any objective im pact on team performance. For instance, a hockey player

m ay be in great shape and following a great nutrition program , but be on a poorly perform ing team or be unlucky not to score m ore goals. Do you have him abandon the chicken salads for Big Macs?

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Individualization Guide 17

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Per

f

or

manc

e

nut

r

i

t

i

on

, therefore, is often geared toward:

Supporting recovery from the type of training the athlete w ill need to do to

achieve success

2. Getting the athlete the body com position that correlates m ost highly with

success in their sport

In other words, w hile ideally you want to see a direct im provem ent in perform ance

from your im proved nutrition (and you should certainly measure that performance),

you m ay have to settle on im proved body com position. Now that doesn't m ean that you should train or eat Iike a bodybuilder; rather, you should train and eat first until

you have the sam e body com position as the best athletes in your sport, then train

and eat until you peform Iike they do.

In short, if you're trying to increase perform ance, m easure both the perform ance

itself (tim es, scores, etc.) and your body composition (see below).

2. HeaIth Goals:

W hile everyone touts general health, few have it as an explicit goal, even fewer follow programs that w ill im prove it, and fewer still m easure their progress toward it. This is a huge m istake.

Part of the problem is that health is b0th dilicult to subjectively assess, even m ore dilicult to quantify objectively - and almost impossible to sell as an im portant goal to

those who are in a position to Iearn to m aintain it for Iife, nam ely the young. Try telling an 18 year oId kid that he should worry about heart disease, and if you're Iucky you'll get a blank stare in return. Tell him that with good nutrition he could put on 20 Ibs of Iean body mass and get down to 7% body fat, however, and he'll have

dream s of aII the Iadies he'll be able to score dancing through his head. Hey,

whatever works, but at som e point in everyone's Iife, health becom es a critical issue

- and the tim e to build the required nutritional habits for good health is early on.

But there are both plenty of reasons to m easure the im pact of nutrition on your health, and plenty of ways to do it. For exam ple, you could m easure any or aII of the following:

* Skin condition: Good nutrition can often have a m arked im pact on your skin.

I

s your ski

n dry and scalf Acne or bl

em i

sh ri

dden? You could record thi

s and

track it over tim e.

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* Gastrointestinal health and quality of bowel m ovem ent: W e often have clients

com e to us to help us work through GI issues, and though the process is often

Iong and involved, for som e people it is absolutely necessary. M easurem ents

can

r

ange

f

r

om

si

mpl

e

r

ecor

di

ng

of

mal

di

g

es

t

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on

i

uue

s

t

o

mo

t

i

l

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o,

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that's right, bowel m ovem ent m easurem ent. Exercise and nutrition specialist Paul Chek recently shared with m e his standard: according to Paul, one should be m oving 12 inches of feces twice per day. So you m ight want to

carry a ruler w ith you on the road. And if you're Iike m e and your bowl

m ovem ents curve into a perfect circle, you m ight need this handy form ula:

Circumference = Pi * Diam eter. (Kidding, folks).

@ Blood values: Another way to track general health is to have regular blood work done, tracking the values over tim e. Your doctor can help you to choose the right m etrics for you, but things to consider are:

Individualization Guide

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o Cholesterol (HDL, LDL, and HDL:LDL ratio)

o Triglycerides

o Horm onal tests: testosterone, cortisol

o Liver enzym es

o Fasted glucose and insulin o Oral glucose tolerance test

3. Body Com position Goals:

This is the bïg one for m ost people. You either want to Iose fat or gain m uscle, or

both. Or m ore to the point, you want to Iook better naked. So what should you

m easure?

There are a num ber of possibilities'.

* Body weight: This should be obvious. Every two weeks, step on a scale and write your body weight down. There are a few things to note, however. One,

body weight scales tell you just that - your body weight. They give you no information as to your initial body composition (i.e., how much of that weight

is Iean body m ass, how m uch is fat m ass, and what your body fat percentage

is), and they are no help in determining how m uch of the weight you gain or

Iose is fat or m uscle. Sulice it to say that those are im portant things to know , particularly when fine-tuning an already advanced nutrition plan.

Furtherm ore, not aII scales are created equal. M ost bathroom scales

available on the m arket today are of decent quality and w ill probably do; your m om 's pink scale from her W eight W atchers days in the i70's should probably be replaced. Better yet, use a calibrated beam scale, the type found in good

gym s and in your doctor's office. W eigh yourself at the sam e time and on the

same day if pou ible, just to be consistent - but don't be too anal about this.

* Body Fat Percentage: M easuring body weight is the first part of determ ining body com position; m easuring body fat is the second part. Once body fat percentage is determ ined, you can find out your fat m ass and Iean body m ass using a few sim ple equations. I won't go into the various techniques, but I w ill

outline the three ways in which this is norm ally done:

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Individualization Guide 19

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l

Ski

oc

at

nf

i

ol

on

d

s.

cal

I

i

us

per

e

s:

t

hi

Measur

s

met

hod

e

s

t

wi

he

t

h

t

hi

cl

ckne

i

ent

s

ss

aI

of

I

t

he

ski

t

n

i

f

me

ol

ds

, not because i

at

v

ar

i

ous

t's

the m ost accurate at m easuring body fat percentage, but because it

allows me to measure subcutaneous fat (fat below the skin) and track

the fat distribution at the various specific locations. Most people plug

the thickness m easurem ents, usually in m illim eters, into equations to

find body fat; often 1'11 just track the thickness itself. I'm not always interested in body fat percentage - often I just want to know that I'm

Iosing body fat over m y abs, and even a one-site skinfold m easurem ent

can tell m e that.

Bioelectrical Im pedance: Measures the speed that of a sm all-current through the body, and uses the differences in electrical resistance of

various tissue types to determ ine body fat percentage. W hile this m ethod is very popular, it's not very useful: depending on your

hydration Ievels, you can get very different results even when your body com position hasn't actually changed; even with controlled hydration,

these devices aren't aII that accurate.

Underwater W ei

ghi

ng/ Bodpod:

Measures body fat by placing the

subject in either a water tank or an air-pressure controlled chamber

and using displacem ent form ulas to determ ine body fat percentage.

These m ethods are considered accurate enough to be used in

research studies (we used a Bodpod at the University of Western Ontario Human Pedormance Lab), but they're not without their

drawbacks. They're expensive to use and difficult to find, so unless

you have easy access to one, you should probably use another

m ethod.

@

@ Girlh: Using a tape m easure to take girth m easurem ents of your arm s, chest, waist, etc. can be a great way to track progress - though again, it gives you no

direct inform ation about body com position change. That is, a two inch

increase in the circumference of your upper Iegs could be equally a result of m uscle gain or fat gain, or som e com bination of the two. Never the Iess,

these m easurem ents can be very helpful and inform ative. You could do a

com prehensive girth m easurem ent every two weeks, or even select a single

trouble area (waist, for instance) and monitor that alone. l have aII my clients

track girth m easurem ents regularly, although not always every two weeks. * Appearance: It stands to reason that if you are training to Iook better, or if you

are a bodybuilder or fitness com petitor, your perceived physical appearance

itself is a valid 'xmeasurement'' or indicator of progress. Subjectivity, however, is often a major problem here: people Iook at themselves in the m irror and are

either too critical or not critical enough - or worse, they're one way today and

the other way tom orrow. Consistent and honest appraisal is difficult for som e,

and unbearable for others. Som e people are better off working with the

pr

e

vi

ou

s

t

hr

ee

ob

j

ec

t

i

v

e

mea

sur

emen

t

s

(

body

wei

gh

t

,

body

f

at

%

and

gi

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t

h)

.

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20 Individualization Guide

Others benefit from having a friend do the assessm ent, or having digital

photos taken (although Iens type, subject-to-cam era distance and Iighting

conditions can affect one's appearance in photos, so consistency is an issue

here as well).

lt's worth noting that m any advanced trainees rely on perceived appearance alone to gauge progress. I'm one of them : after years of training and nutrition

experience, including a few years of serious com petitive bodybuilding, I can determ ine m y body weight and body fat % to a relatively high degree of

accuracyjust by Iooking in the mirror (it might also be because I've had more skinfold and Bodpod tests than I care to remember). Either way, you m ight

find that this is aII you need to m ake informed changes to your nutrition.

@

If aII you do is weight yourself on a bathroom scale and Iook at yourself in the m irror, then at Ieast do so with a purpose. W eigh yourself on the sam e scale at the sam e tim e every two weeks, and when Iooking in the m irror, try to notice subtle changes in

your physique. For the first few m onths, you should write it aII down.

If you can com mit to recording more, do so. W ith just a few bucks, a set of

Accumeasure cal

ibers,

you can do more.

I

f gour

ve got a di

gi

tal

camera,

use that too.

But unless you're a hot chick, sending m e photos of you in a skim py bathing suit will

force m e to alert the proper authorities.

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Individualization Guide 21

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Par

t

3:

One

Si

ze

Fi

t

s

You

From G eneral D ecision-M aking to Specific Solutions

W ith your full nutritional plan in hand and a selection of relevant m etrics to track, you set out to eat at 9O% adherence for two weeks. After those two weeks, you m easure

your progress. Run a 40, get som e blood work done or step on the scale, depending on your goals. lf you Iike w hat you see, continue with the plan unchanged. lf you don't, you need to exam ine why and change your plan accordingly.

So, there are two possible outcom es:

1. You got the results you wanted. Your 40 yard tim es im proved, your blood Iipid

profile im proved, and you dropped two pounds of fat m ass over the two

weeks.

2. You didn't get the results you wanted. Your m easurem ents show Iess than

expected, negligible or no results.

If your controlled experiment (i.e., your nutritional plan) yielded the first outcome, the

desired results, congratulations. If you wish to m aintain or im prove any of those results, you can sim ply continue the plan as is until you get the second outcom e.

If your plan yielded the second outcom e, Iess than expected results, then you m ust

change som ething im m ediately. There are three possible explanations for Iess than

expected results:

1. The results you wanted were unrealistic.

2. The results you wanted were realistic, but your execution was not up to the

task.

3. The results you wanted were realistic, and your execution was up to the task,

but your plan was inadequate.

*

Each of these explanations has its own cause, and its ow n solution. Let's Iook at

each separately.

Unrealistic expectations

M ost people would readily adm it that expecting to Iose 10 Ibs of fat or gain 10 Ibs of

m uscle, correct serious blood Iipid issues or cut their 40 yard tim e from 5.5 to 4.4 in two weeks is unrealistic. Yet oddly, on the subconscious Ievel, m any want to believe that these results are not only possible, that they're Iikely.

22

Blam e 7 m inute ab com m ercials, blam e the cabbage diet, and blam e w hom ever you want. But once you stop blam ing, start accepting reality. Often things are Iess

difficult than we think they'll be but take m uch longer than we think they'll take. That's the reality. So accept it.

Individualization Guide

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However, rem em ber this; not achieving things you could not possibly have achieved, no m atter how good your nutrition, tells you nothing about how to optim ize your plan.

If your nutrition plan has produced Iess than your expected results, take a Iook and

see if they were realistic first.

How? You need to determ ine two things about your goals:

1. Upper Iim it of achievem ent. How m uch can you truly hope to achieve,

assum ing you do everything right, and do it consistently for as long as it

takes? W ill you be able to run a 4.4? Do you have aII the other resources in

place to do so, Iike a great running coach, a great training program , etc? Or

with respect to body com position, can you really be 225 Ibs at 5% body fat,

and if so, are you willing to do everything it takes to get there? Does your

Iifestyle afford you the ability to achieve the upper Iim it? If not, are you willing

to change it? W hat, realistically, do you hope to achieve?

2. Rate of achievement. How Iong should it take to reach your upper Iim it of

achievem ent? W ill you im prove at a consistent rate, or w ill im provem ent

com e faster at som e tim es than at others? lf consistent, how m uch im provem ent should you expect every two weeks? If variable, how Iittle

im provem ent should you be w illing to accept during periods of slow returns, and how Iong should you expect those periods to Iast?

These are not sim ple questions to answer, and in som e cases you will sim ply not

have the expertise to answer them . But if want to have a standard by which to judge

your progress, you need those answers. So how do you go about getting them ? For specific goals, consult an expert or som eone who has achieved what you want to achieve. Consult as m any people Iike this as you can find, and take an average of their responses. Find people who have direct experience achieving the goals you seek. Generally, knowledgeable coaches will help you out with this for free or for a

Iow cost.

But if you're at a com plete Ioss, you can do what I do. Ever heard of the Kaizen

Principle? It's a Japanese concept (or at Ieast, a Japanese word for a universal concept) that was popularized in North America by Dr. Edwards Deming, and later touted by Anthony Robbins, Charles Poliquin and a num ber of others).

The basic prem ise is that you should m ake continual progress, even if only in very sm all increm ents, and that by doing so you can achieve goals thought beyond your

reach. So for instance, Tony Robbins used the principle to convince people to m ake sm all strides towards personal developm ent goals, and Poliquin used it to support or

*

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Individualization Guide 23

('

explain the co ept of K'm icroloading'' - using Ioad increases of as Iittle as half a

pound to ensure cohtinual strength gains. 1'11 Iet you judge the merits of aII that

yourself.

For our purposes, we'll use it to give us a guideline by w hich to m easure our progress.

W hen you can't settle on an expected result for your two week m easurem ent, choose

the sm allest increm ent that you can m easure and m ake sure that you im prove by

that increm ent every two weeks.

Here's an exam ple. Let's say you're trying to put on m uscle m ass, but aII you have at your disposal to m easure your progress is a bathroom scale. A sim ple but effective

tactic is to sim ply m ake sure that every tim e you step on the scale, your m easured

weight increases by at Ieast the sm allest m easurable increm ent - probably 1-2

pounds. Every two weeks, your goal is to see that needle m ove one notch to the

right. That's it.

Certainly, you could do a m uch m ore detailed m easurem ent than that, but if that's aII

you do, you're already ahead of the gam e as you're at Ieast m oving in the right

direction.

In essence, you sim ply m easure in order to ensure that you're progressing in the right

direction. The magnitude of that change (i.e., how much actual progress you make)

is im portant, but secondary.

Bottom Iine? Make sure you:

Choose a goal.

2. Select a m etric to track your progress toward that goal.

3. Set your expectations, in term s of both upper Iim it and rate of achievem ent.

4. If you can't determ ine a realistic rate of achievem ent for your goal, try to

progress by the m inim um m easurable increm ent every two weeks.

Once you've done aII that, you can get back to executing the plan.

@

Inadequate execution

If your expectations are realistic, but you were unable to m eet them , take a Iook at your execution. Did you adhere to the plan itself? Did you violate the 90% rule?

90% adherence is the standard I set for execution. W hat this m eans is that you m ust

eat at Ieast 90% of the m eals on your plan, and that no m ore than 10% of your meals m ay be unplanned, m issed or cheat m eals. I want to be very clear that this isn't

som e vague or arbitrary num ber. Rather, it's specific and well-chosen.

24 Individualization Guide

It's specific, in that it Ieaves no room for error. It gives us a sim ple way to m easure adherence. Count up the total num ber of m eals you are supposed to eat each week,

and m ultiply by 0.1 to give you the total num ber of unplanned, m issed or cheat m eals allowed each week. So an average plan that indicates 6 m eals per day, m ultiplied by 7 days, gives m e a total of 42 m eals per week; 42 m ultiplied by O.l gives m e 4.2 unplanned, m issed or cheat m eals per week. Round down to give you the m agic

num ber 4 - the num ber of tim es you can violate your plan each week.

It's well-chosen, in that 90% adherence is just right for Iong term success. Certainly,

100% adherence would be best, but we're dealing with hum an beings here. In aII but

the most extreme cases (for example, bodybuilding contest preparation), 100% is

neither feasible nor necessary. W e want to account for spontaneity, the inevitable

m issed m eal, and my desire to get m y weekly pizza fix. 90% adherence allows for aII that. You can eat your favorite foods guilt free, you can m iss a m eal, you can eat in a

restaurant - just not more than 1O% of the time. So take your 4 chances per week

and m ake the best of them .

But keep in mind that 90% is 90%. It's a real, objective num ber. It's not 80% or 67%

or 50% or 15%. It's high, and it requires discipline. Yes, its true that you m ay still be able to see som e results by adhering only 80% of the tim e, assum ing that you have a great plan. However, it's a slippery slope. M ost of the tim e, 80% adherence will get

you Iess than 80% of the results you could have had, and 50% adherence will get you

far Iess, possibly even nothing. I have no data on this, it's just my own experience

with m yself and m y clients - so take it for w hat it's worth.

Another problem with adhering Iess than 90% is that you start to Iose control over the

nutritional variables. Rem em ber, the whole point of this article series is to teach you

how to m anipulate and optim ize your plan - how to tailor your nutrition. That

requires tight control of what you're eating, at the very Ieast. Poor execution m eans

that:

You no Ionger have accurate data on your nutritional intake. W hen you start

eating too m any unplanned, m issed or cheat m eals, the nutritional analysis you have of the plan itself no Ionger correlates well w ith your actual intake. To

get that info, you would have to keep a food Iog again - and we've already discussed the drawbacks of doing that.

* You no Ionger have control over the variables. Too m uch variation from the plan can m ean that you're getting too m any calories, too Iittle, too m uch or too

Iittle of a m acronutrient, etc. W hatever the case m ay be, consistency is no

Ionger assured, and the controlled experim ent you sought to pedorm on

yourself is com prom ised.

* You can no Ionger m anipulate the variables with any degree of accuracy. Say you want to increase calories, cut carbs or im plem ent som e new cutting edge strategy. W ithout control over these variables, how do you plan to m ake those

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@

Individualization Gu e 25

@

changes

?

* You can no longer accurately correlate the m inute changes you m ake w ith the

resul

ts

you'

r

e

getti

ng

(

or

not

get

ti

ng).

Say

yoq di

d

tweak

your

pl

an

sl

i

ghtl

y

i

n

the hopes of optim izing your results, and theh went out and followed the plan

only 70% of the tim e. You m easure your results and see that - surprise -there are none. W as the tweak unsuccessful? I have no idea, and neither do you - because you never tried it! Unless you com e reasonably close to

isolating the change you m ade - that is, m aking sure that it's the only change, and that the rest of your diet was Iargely held constant - you can have no idea

whether it would have worked or not.

lt com es down to this: you need to m eet the 90% adherence rule, week in, week out.

I can't m ake you do it, but I can help you track it. ln part 2 of this guide I gave you a chart for doing so.

Now, that's not to say that you should m ake no changes to the plan itself. But the

changes I want you to make at this point are Ioglstlcal changes - that is, changes

that help you work the plan into your daily Iife. If you m issed m eals, prepare m ore in advance, or have a backup plan; if you don't Iike the taste of certain m eals, spice

them up or replace them with meals of equal nutritional value. Do whatever you

have to do in order to reach 9O% adherence. There is always a way.

Inadequate plan

So, you m easured your results, and they're sub-optim al. Once you're certain that

your expectations are reasonable and that your execution was excellent, you're

justified in Iooking at the plan itself. Remem ber, though, that you're not starting with just any oId plan. If you walked through the process with me in Part 1, you built a

plan based on the 10 Habits - and for good reason. Those rules are derived from scientific study, m y own data from my clients and m y own personal experience over the years, so l'm very confident that they work. Nevertheless, if nothing positive is

happening, som ething has to change. This principle is the foundation of outcom e-based decision m aking.

W e're not, however, going to abandon the plan entirely. Rather, we're going to assum e that the plan is largely sound, and that it will serve as the foundation for our

future plans. That assum ption is valid in this case, because I said so. You don't

need to believe m e, but believing m e w ill save you a great deal of tim e and energy. If

you do wish to abandon the plan as l've Iaid it out, I bid you Godspeed. For the rest,

Iet's tweak what we've got.

@

Before I move on to describe what to change and in what order (which will reveal my nutritional biases), Iet me state that this process can be used equally well with

nutritional advice other than my own. W ant to tweak your Atkins or Zone diet? You

can do that. Heard that eating grapefruit for breakfast will help you m aintain an

erection? W ell, hold your grapefruit diet constant for two weeks - and when