Renaissance Periodization Diet Template

[AlecLeamas]

I trust Feigenbaums claim that there are no benefits of casein compared to whey, and just replace the casein with whey.

[simonrest]

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.

To get to 55g protein from Chobani it's 550g of plain yoghurt. I'm not sure that's better

[damufunman]

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.

To get to 55g protein from Chobani it's 550g of plain yoghurt. I'm not sure that's better

Shit, is that 4 meals/day? I'm doing 5 just to break up the protein a bit more.

[simonrest]

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.

To get to 55g protein from Chobani it's 550g of plain yoghurt. I'm not sure that's better

Shit, is that 4 meals/day? I'm doing 5 just to break up the protein a bit more.

5 X 55 on non training days, 6 X 45 on training days.
TBF it seems to be working. I was eating about 1800-2000 calories a day and weight was stable for months, now I'm eating between 2500 and 2800 and losing weight *touch wood*

[damufunman]

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.

To get to 55g protein from Chobani it's 550g of plain yoghurt. I'm not sure that's better

Shit, is that 4 meals/day? I'm doing 5 just to break up the protein a bit more.

5 X 55 on non training days, 6 X 45 on training days.
TBF it seems to be working. I was eating about 1800-2000 calories a day and weight was stable for months, now I'm eating between 2500 and 2800 and losing weight *touch wood*

Wow that's impressive. That's a lot of food and still losing!

[simonrest]

Wow that's impressive. That's a lot of food and still losing!

I never really believed in the thermogenic power of protein, but I can't find another explanation. initially I figured it was the mountain of vegetables just cleaning me out, but that would only account for an initial drop.

[ahpowerlifts]

I bought this template awhile ago, and I can't bring myself to using it. The main reason is that I have no idea what the heck I would eat at each meal. However, I know that this template absolutely works. Thus, I'm curious as to how those who have successfully used RP have made it work. What specifically did you eat for each of your meals? How did you fit in all those vegetables? Other secrets to your success? Comments/reviews in general?

@dcw @ahpowerlifts, I know you guys have done well on the template. Maybe you could share your tips here. Thank you in advance.

sorry for the late reply John. Keep in mind 2 of the meals each day are just shakes so there is really breakfast and then 3 meals to prep. For me what works is cooking 2 to 3 day batches of food at a time. I cook the batches of each macro, and then i just eat the same meal 3 times a day for the 2 or 3 days. I rotate foods every 2 or 3 days but have staples. Here is an example:

I'll cook a few lbs of lean 93/7 ground turkey, a pot of white rice, and a bunch of green beans. I'll make about 6 meals. Golden for 2 days. I use G-Hughes bbq sauce or salsa/hot sauce for flavor. Havent gotten tired of it yet.

next batch i might do lean steak, sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. Boom. 6 meals, good for 2 days.

If i get fats, i add some avocado to the meals. I found these guacamole cups at Costco that have 8g of fat each. They are perfect.

For breakfast i do a egg white omelet (25g of protein), i put a few wedges of laughing cow cheese, and i wilt down a few handfuls of spinach. I'll suplement one serving of whey usually, so i dont have to eat such a large amount of egg whites. If I get carbs i use oatmeal.

Another note is as you move through the fat loss phases, meals get easier to prep. One of the only good things about getting calorie deprived

Regarding vegetables, dont sweat the amount, just add some to each meal. Isnt gonna have a huge effect one way or the other. The only time when i actually ate the entire servings was FL3 because i was so damn hungry.

[ahpowerlifts]

I trust Feigenbaums claim that there are no benefits of casein compared to whey, and just replace the casein with whey.

For me there is a benefit of satiety. I feel the casien will take the edge off hunger at night where whey is like drinking a glass of water

[ahpowerlifts]

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

I started to appreciate the casein a lot more when i got to FL3. I make it like a pudding. I use the ON chocolate. Its been a savior

[simonrest]

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

I started to appreciate the casein a lot more when i got to FL3. I make it like a pudding. I use the ON chocolate. Its been a savior

I think my issue is I got some Muscle tech crap that the guy in the store told me was the best tasting, but even in half a lite of water it's thick as custard (I need to choke down 2 whole scoops). I started adding half a scoop to 2 serves of high protein greek yoghurt and that's not bad (especially with some desiccated coconut and chopped almonds)

[simonrest]

so I'm just finishing week 5 of FL1. I'm still slowly losing weight, and I've dropped a bit over an inch off my waist. the template and FAQ imply you should only stay on each phase about 4 weeks, and a few responses above said that's how long it worked for them, but if it's still working do I stay on FL1 another week and see how it goes?

[JaJL]

so I'm just finishing week 5 of FL1. I'm still slowly losing weight, and I've dropped a bit over an inch off my waist. the template and FAQ imply you should only stay on each phase about 4 weeks, and a few responses above said that's how long it worked for them, but if it's still working do I stay on FL1 another week and see how it goes?

RP typically recommends that if you are still losing at the rate you want to stay on your current phase (FL1 in your case).

[dcw]

so I'm just finishing week 5 of FL1. I'm still slowly losing weight, and I've dropped a bit over an inch off my waist. the template and FAQ imply you should only stay on each phase about 4 weeks, and a few responses above said that's how long it worked for them, but if it's still working do I stay on FL1 another week and see how it goes?

Stay as long as you can!!!!

[simonrest]

that's an excellent use of a film clip

[AlecLeamas]

so I'm just finishing week 5 of FL1. I'm still slowly losing weight, and I've dropped a bit over an inch off my waist. the template and FAQ imply you should only stay on each phase about 4 weeks, and a few responses above said that's how long it worked for them, but if it's still working do I stay on FL1 another week and see how it goes?

How much weight are you losing per week?

[simonrest]

Not lots, only like half a kilo. But after 6 months of not losing anything I figure progress is progress

[AlecLeamas]

Not lots, only like half a kilo. But after 6 months of not losing anything I figure progress is progress

I think the instructions are quite clear - if you are losing 0.5 kg per week, stay on the same template. You don't want to lose much more than that per week anyway, according to the How-to.

[simonrest]

I'm currently in FL3 and was wondering about other peoples' experience with coming out of FL and through to maintenance and new base. If you've done it can you post an account of what happened? did maintenance work? Did you rebound in weight? Did you stay on then new base permanently or go back to more regular eating? Did anyone go back for round 2, and if so how long between rounds? I'd be grateful for any info

[dcw]

I'm currently in FL3 and was wondering about other peoples' experience with coming out of FL and through to maintenance and new base. If you've done it can you post an account of what happened? did maintenance work? Did you rebound in weight? Did you stay on then new base permanently or go back to more regular eating? Did anyone go back for round 2, and if so how long between rounds? I'd be grateful for any info

I did about a 9 week fat loss phase, ending with two weeks in FL 3 with average daily calories around 1800/day. I then spent two weeks each in maintenance 1, 2, and 3, with average daily calories of ~2250, ~2800, and ~3400 respectively. My "new base" (and how i still eat now) was then the same foods as M3, but I would add a little or subtract a little food here and there depending on how hungry I was or what type of training day it was.

RP recommends that you maintain for as long as you cut to successfully come out of the diet. I had intended to spend ~3 weeks in each maintenance phase to gradually bump calories back up, but I actually lost another 3lb or so during M1 (first world problems, I guess) so I bumped calories up early both for M2 and then M3. RP says to expect a little bit of a rebound in weight from water, etc, but I didn't gain much. My lowest recorded weight was 171.4, and I currently sit somewhere between 174-178. I finished maintenance around the end of Nov 2018.

I've basically stayed on "new base" since the diet, sort of. Once I was done with maintenance I stopped counting everything, but I still eat the same foods on the same meal schedule about 80% of the time so it makes tracking everything meticulously kind of pointless since I have a rough estimate of how many calories i'm getting just by "eyeballing" what i'm eating (I hope that makes sense). I still weigh myself every morning, and if things start to trend up or down over the course of a few days then I'll add or subtract as needed for a few days to let my weight normalize again.

I deviate from the norm (so, something like a cheat meal, I guess) on average probably 4-6x/month. It's almost always a big dinner or a big breakfast, and I don't hold back. We don't eat out often, so when we do, we splurge. When this happens, I know it's going to happen (meaning it's planned), so I just reduce my calories for all other meals during that day and it pretty much evens out over time. For those smaller meals on those days my goals are to get enough protein for MPS, some fiber, and some "healthy stuff" in the least amount of calories I can. In practice this is pretty much always 25-40g whey, a 12oz can of V8, and one serving of fruit. I eat no less than three and no more than six meals a day, even on "cheat days".

That's what has worked for me for maintaining my current weight post cut. Staying on the same meal schedule and eating the same boring, single macro dense foods ~80% of the time has been the key to making it work practically.

I didn't have any need (or desire) to do another round of fat loss. If you are, RP recommends maintaining for as long as your previous cut before you begin another fat loss phase. So if you cut for 12 weeks, you need to maintain for 12 weeks before beginning another cut. I wouldn't ignore this; the proof for me was doubling my daily calorie intake over the course of my maintenance phases without gaining any weight. If I were going to start another fat loss phase, I would want to start from the highest daily calorie level I could.

I didn't expect to write that much. My bad.

[simonrest]

Cheers for the detailed write up, @dcw .

I'm struggling in FL3, I never had cravings in the first 2 stages but now I am finding it really hard to stick to, but I'm determined to get and stay under 120 so I need to stick it out a few more weeks. Given your experience I need to get a couple of kilos under to allow for rebound