Renaissance Periodization Diet Template

[Manveer]

I think I didn't work my question quite right, how do you know the daily caloric intake if all you track is protein? maybe I'm misunderstanding...

I don’t only track protein. I also track total calories.

How?

Are you guys fucking with me or something?

I use MyFitnessPal. I guess technically I’m “tracking” everything but I only pay attention to total calories and protein.

Also I’m on day two of an ice-storm induced power outage that looks like it will last for three more days and I’m typing this from a chinese buffet and definitely not hitting my targets for the day, so feel free to disregard anything I say.

Not fucking with you. I was genuinely confused.

So, you have the ability to track C/F, but you don't care what those numbers are as long as P is acceptable and total calories are acceptable.

[TimK]

I think I didn't work my question quite right, how do you know the daily caloric intake if all you track is protein? maybe I'm misunderstanding...

I don’t only track protein. I also track total calories.

How?

Are you guys fucking with me or something?

I use MyFitnessPal. I guess technically I’m “tracking” everything but I only pay attention to total calories and protein.

Also I’m on day two of an ice-storm induced power outage that looks like it will last for three more days and I’m typing this from a chinese buffet and definitely not hitting my targets for the day, so feel free to disregard anything I say.

Not fucking with you. I was genuinely confused.

So, you have the ability to track C/F, but you don't care what those numbers are as long as P is acceptable and total calories are acceptable.

Yeah. Those are the only two numbers I have targets for.

[Sumo]

@TimK same as Manveer, I was genuinley confused how you track.

[michael]

I don’t only track protein. I also track total calories.

+1

This is the easiest way.

[quark]

I don’t only track protein. I also track total calories.

Another way to put it is that for you the mix of carbs and fats isn't important, just the total calories from these.

[TimK]

I don’t only track protein. I also track total calories.

Another way to put it is that for you the mix of carbs and fats isn't important, just the total calories from these.

Yes... although I’m honestly baffled as to why this seems to be such a hangup for so many people. I thought it was obvious what I meant and as far as I know it’s a very common way to diet among lifters...

[perman]

I don’t only track protein. I also track total calories.

Another way to put it is that for you the mix of carbs and fats isn't important, just the total calories from these.

Yes... although I’m honestly baffled as to why this seems to be such a hangup for so many people. I thought it was obvious what I meant and as far as I know it’s a very common way to diet among lifters...

I just wound up there when counting macros imperfectly. Everything I've read about carbs and fat have made me think it doesn't matter much unless you want try to eat very little of one of them.

[simonrest]

Maybe I need an RP diet cookbook, because I have no idea how to combine such an unsavory mix of food. Most specifically, I'm stumped by breakfast. Chicken with vegetables and oats in the morning sounds awful. Egg whites are disgusting. Certainly, people have figured out hacks to make these restrictions work better than my unimaginative brain can envision. And maybe everyone just abandons what I would consider a traditional breakfast. I don't know.

I'm in the fat loss 1 phase

Breakfast is 2 scoops of whey and enough pasta to hit the carb requirement into a blender, plus carrot, cucumber and capsicum.

I use whey and maltidextrose in a shaker during training

If I trained mid morning my lunch will be chicken breast, Brown rice, and either salad or steamed veggies.

Late afternoon I'll eat a salad of leaves and tuna plus a banana.

Dinner is a based on what the family is having. It's usually some kind of meat or fish, veggies and/or salad. Someone's it's not a lean meat (lamb, chicken thighs) but I try not to stress about it. Before bed I have a handful of nuts and a shake off casien which I dislike.

It's not easy, and is at times unpleasant, but nothing else has worked so I figure I should try to see it through.

[JohnHelton]

It's not easy, and is at times unpleasant, but nothing else has worked so I figure I should try to see it through.

If you can tolerate it, then it seems like it always works.

[AlecLeamas]

I am on the Fat Loss template since early January. Now entering FL 2.

This is the first time I follow any diet in my life (except a lame attempt at GOMAD while doing SS). I find it quite easy and really appreciate the simple structure of the RP Protocol. However, that is probably due to finding it perfectly ok to eat the same, dry stuff for three meals per day: oats, fried egg whites and a bowl of vegetables (chopped carrots, peppers, cucumber) for breakfast; and then two identical meals of chicken breast, white rice and chopped vegetables. Now on FL 2, the oats and rice will disappear from some meals, and maybe I won't find the diet so easy to follow in a couple of days.

I prepare the chicken breast in a sous vide which makes it juicy and delicious. Also, I kind of like the chopped vegetables, even though my jaw gets a bit tired of all the chewing.

Also, to be perfectly honest - compliance is probably 80-90% (how can you measure?) - the three first meals are measured perfectly, but dinner is more approximate so that I can eat at least part of the family dinner. As the diet allows for some fat in the evening I think it evens out quite well though.

[DrHades]

Sorry for the noob question. But I assume that the different Fat Loss phases consist of lowering the overall caloric intake. Is that right? And by how much do they decrease that? My guess would be from 2300 up to 1800. Or does it go lower that that?

[dcw]

Sorry for the noob question. But I assume that the different Fat Loss phases consist of lowering the overall caloric intake. Is that right? And by how much do they decrease that? My guess would be from 2300 up to 1800. Or does it go lower that that?

Looking at my templates it breaks down like this:
From Base to Fat Loss 1 - Drop in calories via significant reduction Fat.
From Fat Loss 1 to Fat Loss 2 - Further drop in calories via slight reduction in Carbs.
From Fat Loss 2 to Fat Loss 3 (aka Hell) - Further drop in calories via reduction in Fat (to essentially zero) and slight reduction in Carbs.

The templates provide suggested amounts of each macronutrient in grams for each meal that change with each phase (described above), and don't give calorie recommendations specifically. The increasing calorie deficit between each phases is obviously what is driving weight loss, but what the user is manipulating is grams of certain macronutrients and not calories directly. I hope that makes sense.

[damufunman]

How much time are ya'll spending in Fat Loss 1 before having to drop to Fat Loss 2?

[dcw]

How much time are ya'll spending in Fat Loss 1 before having to drop to Fat Loss 2?

I think I spent 3-4 weeks before needing to transition.

[OrderInChaos]

I've read RP's eBook I got on a sale before, and the template seems like an effective way for disciplined people to succeed without room to screw it up by overthinking. The idea of purely macro-tizing seems like it could be useful for me in my more neurotic dieting moments, instead of having to plan a week's food out highly precisely... "needs 50g C more with dinner tonight, eats xxg+ of rice/potato/fruit". It sounds like the way @Wilhelm eats like a machine, choosing food almost solely for its fuel value (you're an inspiration bro), rather than convenience or what traditionally is served together.

A question about some of the diets I've seen ITT as samples of what people implemented during FL1. If 80% of your success is total calories, and the next 10% is macros spread, and everything else is nearly trivial there outside of extreme populations (from the RP priorities list), why the emphasis on timing carbs/simple sugars, whey, and only having certain carb foods on high-effort days? Wouldn't averaged calorie intakes with modest carb increases on all of your non-training days, modest decreases from the "high carb/heavy workout days", produce near-identical outcomes?

IOW, does anyone using these techniques actually feel "glycogen depleted" (as if that's a feeling lol) without those timed glucose hits? Wouldn't generally slightly higher glycogen stores by not starving carbs on any days accomplish similar?

[simonrest]

Because they're also trying to preserve your muscle mass. It's probably not the most efficient way to lose weight if you don't lift.

[Wilhelm]

Wilhelm eats like a machine,

Hahaha!

I actually had a nice treat for lunch today.
Smoked salmon scramble.

[simonrest]

The hardest part of this diet is choking down a casien shake just before bed

[BenM]

The hardest part of this diet is choking down a casien shake just before bed

Have some Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese instead.

Also I have found the Max's casein actually tastes pretty good. And it's even nicer it's almond milk instead of water.

[vm]

I couldn't handle casein and water straight up, but if you have fats in your template, you can make casein cookies or casein bowl-of-slop. I'm lazy so I do the latter. Casein + peanut butter + water mixed up in a bowl, microwaved on 80% for 2m15s, then stirred up again and left to cool for 3-4 minutes. The main thing to play with is the amount of water you use. I use as little water as I can to make it cookie-dough like and have everything sticking together, which works out to around 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup for my macros. If you use too much, it gets really mushy.

If you have more time and aren't as lazy, you can mold the same mixture into a big cookie and put it in the oven for 20-30 mins at 350 degrees. I used to do that, but the microwave is just too convenient.