•

uccess UI e

Dr. John M. Berardi, PH.D.

Precision Nutrition

Success Guide John M. Berardi , PhD, CSCS

C 2000 2009, PrecISIOO NUUltion Inc. All nghts reserved You may not copy. share Of dislnbute this work In any format Of media w,thout the elI:PI'e5S wnnen DJnSenI of PrecisIOn Nutntlon Inc. For InqUires. contact mfo@Pfec'SIOIlnutnhon,com

Table of Contents

Welcome to the Precision Nutrition System It's Not Another Diet Book Enter Precision Nutrition Precision Nutrition - What You 'll Learn Beyond the Nutrition Beyond the Binder 10 Precision Nutrition Success Tips

Tip 1· Maybe You Don't Know Tip 2: Match Your Behaviors and Goals Tip 3, Understand That You'll See Peaks and Valleys Tip 4, Start Small and Slow if Necessary Tip 5: Start Basic, Then Individualize Tip 6, If You Have Specific Goals, Measure Them Tip 7: Measurement and Expectations Tip 8: The Numbers Paradox Tip 9: Reasonable Progress Tip 10: Maintain Your Rate of Progress

1 2 4 6 8

10 11 11 12

13 14 14

15 16 16 17 18

Welcome to the Precision Nutrition System

Welcome to the Precision Nutrition System. You 've taken a great first step toward a better body, and the Precision Nutrition team and I are proud to help you get there.

You may be new to this whole Precision Nutrition thing, but you're in good hands. We've been applying these principles for over a decade now - testing them, experimenting with them, and modifying them unti l we had a system that could guarantee results in any client who uses it fa ithfu lIy.

The thousands of clients we've worked w ith over the years are proof that Precision Nutrition works. If you do the work, you too can be a success story.

Precision Nutrition Success Guide

It's not another diet book

Let's get one thing clear right from the start: Precision Nutrition is not another diet book.

I hate diet books. Diet books promise simple, short and sweet. They claim you can eat all the foods you want, in whatever amount you want and in four weeks you'll have the body of your dreams and all your problems will be solved. Read this book, they claim, and the pounds will just melt away.

Uh huh. Sure they will. Just ask all the people that have had long-term success following these types of diets - if you can find them.

Those books do you no favors. It takes some work to improve your health, get into shape and improve your performance. Yes, it's possible. And yes, you can do it. But just so that we're on the S<lme page: it's not as simple as the big diet books will have you believe. The first step in creating the body you want is to accept that truth.

PASSIVE LEARNING WON'T DO

Another problem with diet books is that, well, they're just books. Think about it. What do you do when you buy a diet book? You sit on your butt and read it.

And when you're done reading it, you close it, leaving any valuable information between the covers. That kind of passive learning is useless when it comes to changing your body.

Think of it another way. How often does merely reading a book cause someone to change a lifetime of habits?

My opinion: rarely.

I'm not trying to get you to swear off books entirely. I do believe in the written word; that's why you're holding Precision Nutrition in your hands right now. But I also believe that people need more than a few tips in a diet book or fitness magazine to change their habits. So what do people really need to get the body they want?

They need action-based strategies, because reading is not enough; you don't really know something until you've actually done it.

They need thought exercises to perform actively, because body composition change is as much about rewiring your brain as it is about changing your diet.

They need worksheets, audio lessons, video lessons, multimedia support and alternate ways of learning, because not everyone learns best by reading, and even

Precision Nutrition Success Guide

those who do can benefit by reinforcing key lessons in new and interesting ways.

They need what we call "social support" - access to other people doing what they're doing, people to bounce ideas off of, places to vent frustrations and places to shout out their successes. People often try to tough it out on their own, but I can tell you from experience that almost nothing worth achieving can be done alone. The sooner you build a social circle that supports you, the sooner you'll reach your goals.

The average diet book doesn't include any of those things, and it's precisely those things that will determine your success or failure. A book may stimulate new ideas and ways of thinking. But it's largely what happens once you've got a new idea that decides your fate, and that's what we focus on in Precision Nutrition.

YOU NEED A PLAN DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU.

There's one other reason I think diet books fall short. Whether you're big or small, short or tall, eat fresh foods or canned goods, diet books often give you one template, one message, one eating strategy. Individual differences aren't taken into account; everyone gets the same old plan.

And regardless of the different diet phi losophies these books push, they have one thing in common, they all underfeed you. Because most popular diet books give a one-size-fits-all plan, the only way to make sure that everyone gets results is to make sure the diet is very low in calories. If you're eating very poorly now, it's certainly better than doing nothing. But I'm assuming you didn't come here for Better Than Nothing Nutrition.

This is Precision Nutrition, and we call it that for good reason. For optimal body composition, health and performance (i.e. an ass-kicking physique) you'll need strategies designed specifically for your body type, size, shape and lifestyle. A cookie-cutter plan won't do.

You'll also need strategies that change as your body changes; as you get leaner or gain muscle (whatever your goals may be), you'll have a different body, and therefore different requirements. You'll also need strategies to counter life's obstacles, so that no matter what challenges you face, such as a demanding job or a busy travel schedule, you're prepared to succeed.

Enter Precision Nutrition

Precision Nutrition succeeds where diet books fail.

For starters, we make sure that you have realistic expectations for what you can achieve.

12 weeks to the body of your dreams? I think not. Well, not unless you're only about six to 10 pounds away from the body of your dreams. Or if you're content with seeing that body for about 30 seconds before you begin to put the weight back on.

12 weeks to significant progress and 52 weeks to massive improvements in health, body composition and performance? Now you're talking.

Plus, we include all the essential components that the bookstore diet books lack. Precision Nutri tion contains workbooks, multimedia courses and built-in social support and accountability. Wait until you see we've got for you.

For example, Precision Nutrition comes wi th a membership to our private, members-only forum, called the Member Zone. Many of our members feel the Member Zone is the best part of Precision Nutri tion, and we work hard to make it that way. See for yourself - it's the best nutrition-related support forum anywhere on the web. In the Member Zone, you'll find tens of thousands of fellow members and coaches from all over the world who are ready to help. You'll find a database of additional resources designed to address specific goals and situations. Chances are if you need it, we've got it. And if we don't, we'll create it.

And finally, Precision Nutrition contains an excellent individualization program.

Want to customize your diet for your own body type? You'll learn how to do that.

Want to customize your diet for endurance sport? You'll learn how to do that.

Want to reduce your blood cholesterol? You'll learn how to do that.

Want to get really lean for summer? You'll learn that too.

Some peeple reading this are just getting started and don't need customization information just yet, so we'll outline the basics first and leave the individualization for later. Even those who consider themselves advanced would do well to review the basics first, even if it's just for a refresher.

A Typical Precision Nutrition Experience FOR MANY PEOPLE, THE PRECISION NUTRITION EXPERIENCE GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS: They buy the Precision Nutrition System, give it a look and get a bit overwhelmed by how much there is to learn. So they go through the manuals and tryout as much as they think they can handle at once. They complete the worksheets and start to see where this is heading.

Then they go online and start reading the online resources - the training programs, the diet plans, etc.

Around that time, they'll probably have a moment of clarity. They realize that the program is perfect for them , but they wonder if they can stick with it. They get started anyway, hoping that they have what it takes.

Once they jump on the Member Zone, they're pleased to discover that there are people like them with similar goals and challenges, posting pictures and diet logs from their own transformations.

They may pick up a few strategies and some motivation, and perhaps even post a question or start a discussion in the forums. Heck, the Precision Nutrition team chimes in too. And before they know it, they start to see an amazing body transformation in the mirror, with their fellow members on the forum providing the wake-up calls and positive feedback they need.

The point is that Precision Nutrition goes far beyond what you have in your hands. Your experience with us will take you from reading to doing.

A FINAL WARNING

If you're looking for a cheap diet book that you can breeze through, close and forget about, this isn't the one.

If you're looking to read something that teaches you what's necessary to reach your goals but doesn't hold you accountable for doing those things, then this isn't for you.

If you're looking for a diet designed to sell 10 million copies, something destined to fail and send you looking for the next book, then this isn't for you.

However, if you're ready to learn and apply a proven success system - one that works both in the short-term and in the long-term - then Precision Nutrition is for you.

If you're ready to use the information you find in this binder, the online resources and the Member Zone to make improvements in your exercise and nutrition strategies once and for all, then Precision Nutrition is for you.

With Precision Nutrition, we hope to inspire you to go one step beyond your own success. We want you to become an amazing example of health and fitness for those around you.

Precision Nutrition what you'll learn

As you may have guessed, the Precision Nutrition program is a complete start-to-finish eating system designed to teach you everything you'll ever need to know about eating right for the following goals:

I. Looking better. We call this improved body composition.

2 . Feeling better. We call this improved health.

3 . Playing better. We call this improved athletic and everyday performance. For you it may mean getting stronger in the gym, having more energy to play with your kids or competing at the highest levels of sport. It's up to you.

I've spent a lifetime studying nutrition. I've logged thousands of hours learning and teaching in the classroom and experimenting in the research lab , and thousands more applying it all in the real world - from the highest levels of elite athletics down to the trenches in the local gym.

I've tried everything known to man to get better results out of my clients. I've made more errors than I care to remember. In fact, I know more about what doesn't work than anyone else I've ever met. And the funny thing about knowing what doesn't work is that it's the surest way to figuring out what does.

And guess what' You're the beneficiary of all this research , all of this trial and error. And as a result, you'll learn exactly,

How much to eat (calorie intake and food portions)

What to eat (which foods are best for your goals)

When to eat (the principles of workout nutrition and nutrient timing)

Although Precision Nutrition deals with theory to a certain extent, the program focuses primarily on results - your results. Theory is great, and without new theories the science never advances. But I see lots of experts debating lots of theories and focusing attention on those debates rather than on what we know to be true.

Precision Nutrition Success Guide

.. ...

That's because it's often much easier to talk about things than it is to actually do them.

Forget about talking the talk. You're not trying out for the debate team here, you're trying to build a body you've never had before. And you can't read or talk your way to a better body. You have to work your way to it. Just follow the program, and let your abs do the talking.

You'll see that as a recurring theme here. Precision Nutrition goes beyond theory and focuses on what works. We begin by teaching you what has worked in thousands of others before you. Then we move on to teaching you how to tweak the program to fit your own lifestyle, body type and individual needs. You'll learn exactly what works for you along the way, including a nutrition plan built precisely for you .

Precision Nutrition Success Guide 1

Beyond the nutrition

Precision Nutrition goes far beyond the food,

The practice of good nutrition has a lot more to do with action than it has to do with knowledge. You can know exactly what to eat to drop body fat, build muscle, and lower your cholesterol or control your blood sugars, but you'll still fall short of your goals if you don't actually eat those things.

I hate to belabor this point, but I really can't move on until you're nodding your head in agreement, until you realize that inactivity is your biggest hurdle to change. Are you nodding your head? If so, you can proceed. If not, come on and give me a nod.

You probably see this happen every single day, just like I do: people losing weight and then gaining it back. You see people reading the popular diet books and never changing their bodies, not even a litlle. You see people hiring professionals at gyms and health clubs but not improving and sometimes even getting worse.

So what's the deal with all this failure? Is it that the advice just isn't very good? Sometimes, maybe. There's certainly plenty of bad advice out there. But nine times out of 10 it's because people are just learning without doing. They're seeking knowledge but aren't applying that knowledge, and that's why they're failing. They aren't doing what it takes to succeed and then they give up, cursing the advice, cursing their genetics, cursing the system.

I always loved the analogy of a baby learning to walk. What happens when a baby first tries to walk? The baby falls down. And not only does the baby fall down; it falls down a lot. If you were the child's parent, how many falls would it take before you would give up on your child? How many falls before you just assume that the child will never be able to walk?

You're probably thinking that you wouldn't give up at all. You'd keep encouraging that baby until he or she walked and you'd do whatever it took to ensure success. You wouldn't blame the carpet for being too bumpy, you wouldn't blame the baby for being too clumsy and you wouldn't blame yourself for not having a degree in biomechanics. You'd just keep trying until your baby walked.

So why don't we do this with ourselves? Why don't we stick to our health and fitness goals until we succeed? Why don't we commit to doing whatever it takes to see change? Maybe because we've learned that we can take the easy way out. We have excuses. We blame our genetics, the system, a lack of knowledge, a lack of time. And these things are all excuses for not sticking to our goals, for not believing in them enough to continue until we can "walk."

So our goal is to go beyond the nutrition, beyond the "how much," the "what" and the "when" to eat. It's my goal to ensure that no Precision Nutrition member makes the mistake of thinking that it's OK to just bailout, to stop trying, to blame the system, the heavens or the world for conspiring against them. It's my goal to help each and every Precision Nutrition member achieve the results they're looking for.

People of all shapes, sizes and goals have benefited from the Precision Nutrition principles. I guarantee that by applying the lessons you'll learn herein, you'll have a brilliant success story too. Like these individuals, not only will you learn how much, what, and when to eat, you'll also learn,

How to put the principles of how much, what and when to eat into action

How to save time and money eating the Precision Nutrition way

• How to reconcile the Precision Nutrition Program with your busy life

How to make healthy meals taste great

How to stay committed while others around you fall short

How to establish realistic goals and stick with them

How to tighten or loosen your discipline as required

And much more.

Precision Nutrition Success Guide

Beyond the binder

As mentioned above, the Precision Nutrition System is more than the binder you're holding in your hands right now. This binder is just the tip of the iceberg. Many things are delivered better online these days, where they can easily be kept up-to-date and made interactive. Precision Nutrition is really more of a membership than a book; it's something you're a part of, not just something you read.

Here's a brief summary of what else you ' ll find online:

THE PRECISION NUTRITION 'NLINI RESOURCES

Our Precision Nutrition Online Resources contain additional nutrition and exercise manuals, audio interviews, video seminars, multimedia courses, our amazing Results Tracker body composition measurement software and our industry-leading exercise video database - all designed to facilitate your body transformation.

THE PRECISION NUTRITION F I1BER ZONE

Success comes from having the right plan and putting it into action, even when the going gets tough. For that, you need a team in your corner. And with Precision Nutrition, you've got the best in the business. Come interact with tens of thousands of coaches and peers in our Member Zone.

Be sure that you take advantage of these important Precision Nutrition components. For some of you, these resources will be as important as the information in this binder. For the rest of you, the online resources may even be more important.

Just log on to www.precisionnutrition.com using your username and password. Once you're there, you'll find other individuals like you who are following the program and are hungry for results. Network with other members and support each other through the Precision Nutrition process. You won't be sorry.

10 Precision Nutrition success tips

I've paid close attention to the areas that most people have difficulty with , the areas of life that present challenges and obstacles. I n doing so, I know where people have problems, get frustrated or angry, or even throw in the towel. I also know how to help you avoid these challenges and focus on your success. To help you get on the right track from the start, here are 10 Precision Nutrition Success Tips that I know will prove useful:

TIP

1 Maybe You Don't now

One of the biggest pitfalls people falter over when they start a new nutrition system is what I call the " I know" syndrome. The best way to describe it is with examples.

Let's say you're teaching a beginner how to cook a meal. And that beginner keeps turning up the heat too high, burning and ruining the meal. They keep asserting that they're just not a good cook and you suggest that they'll do better if they turn down the heat. What do they say? "I know, 1 know. "

Take a skinny guy who's complaining about being so skinny. You tell him he's got to lift heavier weights and eat more. What does he say? "I know, 1 know."

Take an obese woman who needs to lose weight. Her doctor tells her she needs to exercise more and eat less. What does she say? "I know, 1 know. "

We've all heard "I know, I know" so many times that we just block the words out. But if you really think about it, even though these people think they know to turn down the heat, to lift heavier and eat more, or to exercise more and eat less, maybe they don't know.

Maybe they've heard this stuff before. but, the truth is, they don't really know until they've done it successfully and then repeated it. They might not even know something well enough until they've done it, repeated it and taught it to others.

Precision Nutrition Success Guide

"I know, I know" is a mental shortcut that enables us to shut off our brains, to stop thinking about the application of information and to avoid action. So keep this in mind when you're as you're moving through the Precision Nutrition process.

If you've got room for improvement, maybe you don't know - not yet, anyway. If you really knew, you'd be doing it. And if you were doing it, you wouldn't need Precision Nutrition in the first place.

T IP Match Your 2 Behaviors and Goals. Another pitfall I encourage you to avoid is the problem of not matching up your behaviors and goals.

People fall short in this area all the time. A guy wants to lose 100 pounds. He joins the gym and exercises two times per week. He completely ignores proper eating habits. His goals: massive, life-changing weight loss. His behaviors: small, inconsequential lifestyle change. The behaviors don't match the goal, so how can he possibly succeed?

In life, it's easy to set lofty goals. You want to lose 100 pounds of fat, gain 50 pounds of muscle, earn $120K per year and meet and marry a beautiful spouse. But those things aren't going to come to us simply because we want them and think about them all the time. They only come to us when we engage in the right behaviors, when we match our behaviors and our goals.

With respect to Precision Nutrition, if you follow the Precision Nutrition principles 90% of the time and make sure to individual ize them for your specific body type and goals, you' ll see the results you're looking for. However, it's not enough just to think about the goal. You have to do the math. If you're eating six meals and snacks per day over the course of seven days per week, you should be following the Precision Nutrition principles for about 37 to 38 meals out of every 42.

When it comes to exercise, if it's recommended that you workout five times per week, that means you're only allowed one missed workout every two weeks, which is 90% adherence.

If the goal is changing your body in the fastest possible timeframe, yet you're only following the Precision Nutrition eating principles for 25 out of 42 meals per week and skipping one to two exercise sessions per week, you're not exactly matching your goals wi th your behaviors, so you should expect that you won't reach your goal of rapid body composition change.

Be honest with yourself as you're following Precision Nutrition. Ask yourself regularly if your goals and behaviors are matching. If so, keep going. If not, then adjust something. Either bring your behaviors up to match your lofty goals, so that your behaviors reflect a big commitment, or bring your goals down to match your moderate commitment.

Of course, in the beginning, you may not exactly know which behaviors should be in place to match your goals. That's what Precision Nutrition is here for.

T31P Understand That You'll See Peaks and Valleys.

You may be surprised to hear this, but we encourage you to relax your goals and behaviors from time to time. It's necessary and it's healthy.

For starters, not everyone has a "big" goal when it comes to health and fitness, so not everyone needs 90% compliance. We won't judge you if your goals are more modest.

After all, it's your respcnsibility to pick your own level of commitment and we encourage any and all steps that will improve on where you're at today. But once you pick your level of commitment, it's also up to you to realistically set your expectations.

To help you stick to your goals, consider using this strategy: just as you might periodize your training, you can also periodize your commitment.

Periodiziation is an exercise principle based on changing your workouts over time to achieve different goals. For example, one eight-week training phase might be devoted to getting stronger while the next eight-week phase might be devoted to getting faster. And in between these eight-week phases, two weeks might be devoted to recovery and rest.

What works for exercise can also work for nutrition. Instead of killing yourself by pursuing hard-core fat loss for 52 weeks straight, why not periodize your commitment? You might try eight weeks of hard-core fat loss followed by two weeks of a more relaxed dietary commitment. And then, based on how your body has changed, you may decide to return to the fat loss plan or follow a maintenance plan.

This is a much better approach, both psychologically and physiologically. And the beauty of it is that you can plan your nutrition commitment around big events in your life. Let's say you travel extensively in June and July of every year. Well, why not ramp up your commitment during March, April and May so that during June and July you can relax things?

My good friend and success coach Jeff Smith once said that reaching goals is like summiting a mountain. "What we often forget, though, is that every mountain is surrounded by two valleys. In the journey of life we have to come back down off the mountaintops to move forward. This means that we spend much of our lives in the valleys. The secret is in knowing that it's OK and normal to spend some time in the valleys."

Understand that when following the Precision Nutrition plan, there is flexibility built in. It's OK to relax a little and make incremental Improvements without putting huge pressure on yourself to be perfect.

Precision Nutrition Success Guide

TIP Start Small and 4 Slow if Necessary. Recently a Precision Nutrition member shared the following idea in the Member Zone, and it's one that bears repeating:

"I've been experimenting with a new way to use the PN system. Instead of making people change their entire way of eating (and maybe even living) from one day to the other, I smooth things a little bit for them and start changing some things only.

Let's say Mr. Jones only makes two meals a day right now. Well , I tell him to start making four. And let's say he doesn't eat veggies at all. Well, maybe I'll start with just one serving a day - after all , one is better than none.

And then I go through all the habits and use a similar approach. Over the course of a few weekS/months, this allows me to take this person from old habits to new ones without scaring them off. I think that unless you've got a very committed person, this way is easier and I think it will stick longer."

If your diet is far from optimal right now, if you're slightly overwhelmed by all of this or if you're the type of person who does better with small, slow change, you'd be well served to take the advice above. Here's how:

Start by eating a bit more frequently. Then add in some additional fruits and veggies. Then add in a bit more protein. Then start using good fats. And so on. Making one or a few changes at a time, with the goal of implementing all the PN strategies, is a great way to eventually reach your goal if you are overwhelmed at first.

But remember, as mentioned above in Tip 2, if you start small and slow, you have to adjust your goals and expectations to match. If you start slow but set big goals with tight deadlines, you 're setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration. Starting slow means setting modest goals.

TIP

5 Start Basic, then Individualize.

The Precision Nutrition system has become synonymous with individualization because we've prioritized matching our clients' plans with their unique goals and needs. To this end, we've included the Precision Nutrition Individualization Guide in your binder, as well as the individualization resources online.

As we discuss in the No Nonsense Nutrition video files, which you'll find online, the first few Precision Nutrition steps should be simple and basic. Following the 10 Habits, outlined later in Precision Nutrition, until they're routine and built into your schedule is the best place to start.

However, that's not where Precision Nutrition ends. Once you 've complied with the 10 Habits for a couple of weeks, you can begin to individualize your own plan based on the following:

1) Your sport or exercise activity. If you're more physically active, you may require a different carb/protein/fat distribution than if you're less physically active. We'll teach you how to alter your nutrition based on your activity later in Precision Nutrition.

2) Your body type. Your body type determines how you handle things like carbohydrates, proteins and fats. We'll teach you how to determine your type and how to adjust your diet accordingly as you progress throughout the program.

3) Your response to the habits. With our bi-weekly measurement system and Results Tracker, you'll be able to measure things and see both what's working and what's not. Measure regularly and if things are working, keep doing it. If they aren't, it's time for change. We'll be there along the way to help you tweak the things that aren't.

As you can see from the list above, Precision Nutrition isn't a single diet. It isn't high-carb or low-carb. It isn't high-fat or low-fat. It's a set of principles based on how the human body works and it is customizable for your unique needs.

If you are truly interested in improving your body composition, health or performance, then Precision Nutrition is 100% for you. And I mean that literally. Using the PN resources will allow you to customize your very own plan, no matter who you are.

TIP

6 If You Have Specific Goals, Measure Them,

Changing our bodies and our health can take some time. And when we' re really pressuring ourselves to see these changes quickly, we can get impatient.

So it's easy to convince yourself that you're making no progress at all. And it's even easier if you don't have a good way of measuring the results of your efforts. You'll have no idea whether a program is working for you unless you measure the Important variables and keep track of what's happening.

In the Precision Nutrition System, we've included many different sections on measuring and on tweaking your plan based on those measurements.

Here are some of the measurements we recommend you keep,

1) Body composition (body weight, body fat percentage, lean body mass)

2) Body part girths (thigh, waist, upper arm, etc.)

3) Athletic performance measures (strength, speed, power, endurance, etc.)

4) Blood variables (cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, etc.)

I encourage you to consider the idea of tracking key measurement variables. Doing so will help you in three distinct ways. First, it'll help you see where progress is happening, if it's happening. Second, it'll help you decide whether or not you should keep going as planned or whether changes are in order. And finally, it'll help you stay in the driver's seat with respect to your body.

Staying in the driver's seat is the most important. After all, if you get a measurement back and it's moved in the right direction, you'll likely be very happy and feel in control of Ihings. Good news.

And if you get a measurement back and it's moved In the wrong direction, that's good news, too.

That sounds counterintuitive, but look at it this way, if you get a measurement

back and it's gone in the wrong direction, you've just received valuable feedback about what hasn't worked. Now you can weed that approach out before it becomes a habit, and try something else. Even a "bad measurement" produces something good. That's the scientific method in action.

TIP

7 Measurement and Expectations.

Assuming you've got a specific goal and you've gotten the individualization process right, you ' ll likely see good progress over a reasonable amount of time. In fact , you may even see weekly progress. However, weekly progress doesn't go on indefinitely, not even with our personal coaching clients.

The body doesn't always function in a linear manner. Successful bursts can be followed by stagnation. You may lose three pounds the first three weeks, then nothing. Then, three weeks later lose another pound. Then nothing. And so on. This is nothing to get discouraged about.

Consider, for example, a fertile chicken egg. If you look at a fertile egg and watch it over time, you won't see anything happen. You expect to see something - anything - but nothing changes. Then, one day, seemingly out of the blue, the egg begins to shake and a chick pops out. While the egg sat idle, things were changing under the surface.

We all spend too much time looking at the outside of the egg when we should stop and think about what's going on inside. We all get frustrated with lack of progress and that's fine, but, often times, things are changing - just not what we can see or what we happen to be looking at.

Spread out your attention, measure different things, look to a number of different areas of progress and make sure you're not missing important changes. We'll help you with that later on in the Measurement Guide.

But if you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing (and that's a big if - be honest with yourself!) and you still see nothing happening, keep in mind the story of the egg. From the outside, for a while anyway, you may not see change. But if you keep working hard, the internal changes will eventually add up and what you've been waiting for will emerge.

TIP The Numbers 8 Paradox. Although I've stressed the importance of measuring results, here's the Precision Nutrition paradox: Numbers aren't everything. Time and time again, I've seen people live and die by the numbers. And that's a mistake.

People often judge their happiness based on their numbers. They're happy if they lose a pound on the scale or a percentage pOint of body fat in a given day or week, and they're sad if they don't.

Remember that this isn't just a numbers game. You're also doing this to improve your health, longevity, performance, energy level and any number of other

qualitative measures. Keep in mind that sometimes the numbers lie. For example, you can radically change your body without gaining or losing a pound; this happens when you lose a lot of fat and gain a lot of lean mass simultaneously, something that happens to many people when they start eating right and training seriously.

If your goals are more modest, you may not need to rely on the numbers at all. You may simply want to enjoy the process and check the mirror from time to time to see how things are going.

After all, I'm assuming you're following PN to improve the way you look and feel. And in doing so, you're expecting happiness with your body as a reward. So, instead of waiting until you reach a certain number to be happy, which never works out like that anyway, it's important to find ways to be happy with your body right now.

Are you stronger? Do your clothes fit better? Can you see muscles you couldn't see before? Do you like your reflection more when you look in the mirror? Do you feel more athletic, more energetic? Have any other problems, such as headaches or dry skin, subsided?

These are all things that will likely improve while following Precision Nutrition, so make sure you're looking for these improvements too. I guarantee you'll be happier than if you just watch the scale, like a hawk scouring the field for mice, waiting for the needle to tip.

TIP Reasonable 9 Progress. Every day, PN users come to me having lost 3% fat in three months or six pounds in seven weeks and ask why things aren't working for them. This blows me away because those are tangible results. What exactly are these people expecting? Perhaps they neec to do the math.

If you're a woman at 30% fat and you're losing I % fat a month, by the end of a year you'll be at 18% fat. That's defined as "athletic." You'll have gone from obese to athletic in just one year.

And if you're gaining one pound of lean mass every three weeks, you can expect to gain 17 pounds of quality lean body mass over one year.

When you're waiting for these changes to happen, progress may seem slow and non-existent. But, over the long haul, both outcomes represent amazing progress. Understand what reasonable progress is and don't get impatient if things seem to be moving slowly.

One way to stay true to thiS is by acknowledging our "daily wins." As my good friend Jeff Smith says:

"Most of us miss out on making a lot of progress, as well as enjoying much of the progress we are making, by failing to fully acknowledge the 'daily wins' in our lives. These may seem small and inconsequential in and of themselves, but they add up to ]) a rich, rewarding, happy life; and 2) the momentum necessary to continue to grow and move forward in an easy, stress-free way.

"Generally, all that is required to take advantage of this powerful success factor is to begin writing down your 'daily wins' so that you become aware of them, as well as acknowledge them for the progress, and the gifts, that they truly are."

With that in mind, we encourage you to track your "daily wins." Review them often. Celebrate them. They will keep you motivated when progress seems slow.

TIP

10 Maintain Your Rate of Progress.

For all those seeing quick results out of the starting gates, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's unlikely that you'll be able to maintain this indefinitely. If fat loss is your goal and you've lost 3% fat in six weeks, that rate will slow down. No one can continue to lose body fat forever. After all, you can't be at -3% body fat.

As your body gets leaner, it'll fight more to keep the fat, so you 'll have to outwit your physiology. To do this, you 'll eventually have to start monitoring your intake more closely. That doesn't mean you'll have to count calories strictly, but you will have to establish a solid baseline of what you eat daily. Then , if progress stagnates, you 'll decrease your intake a bit every two weeks or increase your exercise volume, duration or intensity a bit every two weeks. This is all laid out in the Individualization Guide.

Following the same program without adapting it to your body is a recipe for stagnation. Even if you respond well at first to Precision Nutrition, make sure you're prepared to make changes that will ensure your progress keeps moving in the right direction.

WO'd As you go forward with Precision Nutrition, keep these 10 tips in mind and refer back to them every few weeks. If you want to succeed where others fail, you need to adopt the mindset and the strategies that lead to success. If you ever feel yourself wavering, come online and talk it through in the Member Zone. And while you 're there, take a look at the additional tips we've posted in the Online Resources section.

Precision Nutrition Success Guide