CONTENTS

Introduction
First, a brief primer on ‘diets’
Step #1 - Start with a food log
Step #2 - Create An Intelligent Caloric
Deficit Step #3 - Eat Quality Meals
Protein
Vegetables
Water
Carbohydrates
Fats
What should a meal look
like? Meal Frequency
Nobody is Perfect
Step #4 - Strength Train
Step #5 - Consistency and Patience
Step #5 ½ - Assess, Adjust and Stay Accountable
INTRODUCTION
You’ve dieted before. You’ve tried fat loss ‘programs’ before. You’ve even tried what you used
to do (which used to work).

It’s not working and it’s frustrating.

Not only that, but your life is getting busier so you don’t have time to start your next diet,
your clothes aren’t fitting like they used to, and you just don’t feel great about your body.

Ultimately these are all just symptoms of much bigger problems that come from:

Not having the knowledge of how to put a complete program together

Not having a workable plan of action that integrates all components required for your
success Not having the support system required to make the lifestyle changes necessary to
not only achieve your goals, but also maintain them for life

This guide will help you solve these problems and provide you with an actionable plan for success.

This isn’t a ‘diet’ and it’s not the quick fix that has failed you before.

This is the combination of small, simple changes that will help you shift your lifestyle from
dieting and struggling, to losing fat and feeling great. It’s a combination of scientific evidence,
years of experience and what is practical for people like you. These 5 ½ steps work and by
keeping it simple, it gives you a plan you can easily follow and get exceptional results.

Most importantly, you will keep the weight you lost off for good.

To your success,

Benjamin Pickard
B.Sc. Kinesiology, CSCS
Owner, Lean Strong Fitness
FIRST, A BRIEF PRIMER ON ‘DIETS’
There are a lot of different diets and although they appear very different, in reality they share a
lot of common – and critical – traits.

The most common question is “which one is the best?” but that’s the first problem – it isn’t the
right question to begin with.

It’s not Paleo vs. Vegetarian, Zone vs. South Beach or Gluten-Free vs. Low Carb. Pitting diets
against each other makes nutrition out to be black and white, when really every diet falls on the
same spectrum as a different shade of grey.

Every diet shares the same common traits:

They put you in a caloric deficit

They focus on minimally processed, quality foods
They allow room for enjoyment and error
They keep you feeling full
They incorporate an exercise component
Most importantly, they bring awareness to what you are eating

This is why great coaches don’t limit their philosophy to a single diet. They understand all the
similarities these diets share and fit them to the needs of the client. That’s what we do at Lean
Strong Fitness – after determining your goal, we make your plan fit with your needs,
preferences and lifestyle.

We keep it as simple as possible so you can stick with it for a long time. This means you get
the best results with as close to effortless fat loss as possible.

Back to the question of “which diet is the best?” The question you should be asking is “what is
the best diet for me?”

The answer is the one you can consistently follow for the long run.

Here’s how you do it.

STEP #1 - START WITH A FOOD LOG
The first step is knowing where you are now. This tells you what changes will give you the
biggest return on your time. Without fail, every single person I have worked with has learned
something from their log that has helped them succeed. This applies to regular people, other
coaches and even myself.

Calorie tracking can sometimes get a negative connotation and that is because people who
aren’t sure what to do become obsessed with the numbers. They fail to see that this is just a tool
to help you better understand your eating habits.

This is exactly why we do a food log. The goal of a food log is to bring awareness to the
choices you are making and better understand the impact they have on your body.

You are going to do a seven-day log. You won’t be tracking forever – this is a temporary
venture and gives you the baseline to make informed changes from.

Here’s what to do:

Download MyFitnessPal on your smartphone (this is my favorite app, but you can also use Lose
It, Calorie King, or the tracker of your choosing). These all have web-based versions as well so
you can use them on your computer, if that is your preference.

Set up an account, but ignore all the recommendations the app gives you, including weight
loss expectations per week. We aren’t using this as a coaching tool, just as a tracking tool.

For seven days straight, track everything you eat and input it as you eat it – don’t wait until the
end of the day. You don’t need to weigh everything, but you should be as accurate as possible.
For instance, you don’t need to say ‘158.4g of chicken breast’, but saying ‘one medium chicken
breast’ is better than ‘chicken breast’.

NOTE: It’s very important that you don’t change how you eat because you are tracking it. If you
were going to have some chips or a cookie, have some chips or a cookie. The more accurate this
is, the better it will help you, so don’t intentionally eat ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than usual.
At the end of seven days, look at the nutrition information for each day and see what stands
out. A few examples of things to look for:
Were there ‘healthy’ foods that surprised you with the calorie content?
Did you get a serving of protein and vegetables at each meal?
Are you eating more, less or about the same amount of food you thought you were?

If you are concerned you don’t know what to look for yet, don’t worry. By the end of seven days
you will have a number of things that stand out. In many cases, clients message me after only two
or three days saying “wow, I can already see what I should change”.
STEP #2 - CREATE AN INTELLIGENT
CALORIC DEFICIT
This means you need to eat less food. Every single diet, no matter how they try to spin it,
requires you to consume less energy that you expend. There is no way around it and no magic
pill, powder or potion to use as a shortcut.

This doesn’t mean you have to starve yourself though. In fact, if done correctly, it can feel like
you are eating more than you are used to, but still dropping weight – that’s why we say
intelligent caloric deficit!

The easiest way to do this is to just substitute a higher calorie food for a lower calorie food on
each day. The food log will let you know where you get the most bang for your buck and you will
know what an intelligent choice to swap out is.

For instance, if you are eating a snack of trail mix and a piece of fruit as an afternoon snack, you
will see that you are getting a surprising amount of calories – 592 calories – from what is
generally considered a ‘healthy’ choice.

SNACKS

Swap the trail mix out for some mixed veggies (carrot, celery, cucumber and tomato) and you
can see that you are eating over 400 calories less than you were previously. That’s big.
SNACKS

Other examples are swapping out a starchy carb such as pasta or rice for steamed
vegetables, having fruit for dessert instead of cake, or drinking water instead of a calorie-
containing drink (looking at you, latte-concoction from Starbucks).

Swapping is preferred over simply removing, as eating also has a psychological component.

If you are used to having that snack every day at 3pm, removing it will be MUCH harder than
eating something else. The goal is to take the path of least resistance and keep things simple, so
stick with swapping choices.

It’s important that you don’t get carried away with this. Pick ONE thing to change, stick with it
for two weeks, then modify as needed. Do not try to do everything at once or you set yourself
up for failure.

The next steps explain how to progress from here.

STEP #3 - EAT QUALITY MEALS
Setting up quality meals is an important part of a fat loss diet. This step is actually a couple of
steps in one, but with it you will have the template that all your choices are built from.

Protein
Protein is essential for a number of bodily processes, but when pursuing a fat loss goal it
becomes increasingly more important.

When you are losing fat, and are therefore in a caloric deficit (eating less than you burn), the
difference in calories between your intake and your expenditure is met with stores in your body. In a
perfect world, the entire difference would come from fat, but that’s not a reality. Carbohydrate stores in
the muscle and liver contribute, as does protein, which is broken down from your muscles. Obviously
you don’t want to lose muscle as muscle provides us with shape, strength and health.

To counteract this, you need to add more protein as it can prevent the breakdown of muscle
tissue and even build some in the process. It also helps keep you full for longer, which is
important when you are eating less food than you are used to.

To add more protein, make your meals protein-centric.

When cooking a meal, center it around a quality source of protein and build it out from there; your
protein source should be the first step, not an afterthought. Options such as lean meats (chicken,
turkey, fish, lean cuts of beef), a protein supplement, eggs, Greek yogurt, or a vegetarian option
are all great choices.

For quantities, use the guidelines below from Precision Nutrition. For men, use two palm-
sized portions of protein at each meal, and for women use one palm-sized portion of protein
at each meal.
Vegetables
The next step is to get a vegetable at each meal.

Vegetables keep you full, provide fibre and have the multitude of essential vitamins and minerals
you need for health. They are also low in calories, so you can eat a lot of them without the risk of
excess calories. Be aware that the sauces and dressings that go on them can be high calorie
even if they are ‘healthy’ choices, so be reasonable with those.

Any green and/or fibrous vegetable is a great choice to add at each meal. Think broccoli, kale,
cau-liflower, bok choy, green beans, leafy greens, etc.

For quantities, use the guidelines below from Precision Nutrition. For men, use two fist-sized
portions of vegetables at each meal, and for women use one fist-sized portion of vegetables
at each meal.
Water
Make sure that with each meal, you have a large glass of water.

Proper hydration is important for health and workout performance, plus water is a calorie-free
choice. Having water with each meal means you won’t get dehydrated and you won’t be
consuming excess calories from sugary drinks.

A lot of my clients have actually found that they weren’t drinking much water at all and once
they increased it, they had more energy and didn’t hit that mid-afternoon slump.
Carbohydrates
On days you workout (see the next step) you can throw in some carbohydrate-rich foods, such
as fruit, grains or pasta with a couple of your meals.

For carbohydrate quantities, use the guidelines below from Precision Nutrition. For men, use
two cupped handfuls of carbohydrate at each meal, and for women use one cupped handful of
carbohydrate at each meal.

Fats
The question I normally get here is “what about fat?” and the answer is: it depends.

Contrary to popular belief, many fats are good for you, and they are actually necessary to keep
your body functioning properly. For most people, your fat intake will come naturally, which also
happens to be the best source of fats from a health-perspective.

You get fats from your protein choices, oil-based sauces on vegetables, dressing on salad, or
nuts and seeds, so if you are eating these your fat intake is probably just right.

If you don’t eat any of the above, consider adding a few nuts (a thumb-sized serving) at each
of your meals.
WHAT SHOULD A MEAL LOOK LIKE?
Each meal should be built off the same template and, although specific choices will vary,
meals should generally look the same.

Your template:

Every Meal:
1. Protein-centric - one or two palms of quality protein at every meal
2. Add a vegetable - one or two fist-sized portions of fibrous veggies at every meal
3. Lots of water - at least one large glass of water with every meal

Optional:
4. If it’s a training day, add a carb on a couple of the meals. If it’s a rest day, don’t.
5. Add a thumb-sized serving of nuts if required.

Meal Frequency
The number of meals you eat per day is completely personal preference. More isn’t better for
you than less and the myth of ‘fuelling the metabolic furnace’ has been debunked.

We recommend a minimum of two meals to prevent hunger and a maximum of five so you don’t
feel like you are eating constantly.

The guidelines for serving sizes above are built on the assumption that you are eating three to
four quality meals per day. If you are eating less meals, increase the size of each meal
accordingly. If you are eating more meals, decrease the size of each meal accordingly.

This makes sure you are getting enough, but not too much.

Nobody is Perfect
Lastly, every single meal you eat doesn’t have to look this way. There will be times when something
comes up, a meeting runs late, or you go to a friend’s place and they serve something off your plan.

You will eat it and that’s cool.

Really, it is!
If you can get 80-90% of your choices to fit this guideline, the other 10-20% just don’t really
matter that much. Don’t go crazy, but if you eat like a reasonable adult and indulge occasionally
and in moderation, you will be fine.

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

STEP #4 - STRENGTH TRAIN
Any well-constructed fat loss plan should include an exercise component. Although nutrition is
#1 for fat loss, exercise still has an impact and shouldn’t be neglected.

Like with nutrition, you want to keep it simple and focus on what will give you the biggest bang
for your buck. You don’t need to be in the gym for two hours, five days a week.

What can you do that will help burn fat, make you feel great and won’t require a
ridiculous investment of time?

The answer is strength training and there are a couple things to consider.

First, strength training will help build muscle, prevent muscle loss (like we mentioned with
protein), burn calories (i.e. from fat) and – not surprisingly – make you stronger.

Getting stronger is important because it helps you build what is known as work capacity. You can
think of work capacity as a gas tank, and everything you do – work, life, training and play – is
using some of that gas. If you can increase the size of your gas tank, it means you have more
gas for exercise and activity, and more energy for everyday life.

This means that strength training gives you immediate benefits, such as burning calories and
building muscle, but by increasing the size of that gas tank, it gives you the ability to burn more
fat down the road because you are able to do more work.

Strength training is a win-win.

Second, you also want to put exercise in the right perspective. Think of exercise as ‘training’
not ‘working out’.

The common trend in fitness is to see single, standalone, ball-busting workouts that leave you
collapsed in a sweaty heap and unable to walk for three days after. Once you do recover, you
do another standalone workout and end up in the same place. Simply put, this isn’t good.
You don’t want to kill yourself working out. In fact, the only reason you workout is to get
better, and it should be making you better, not leaving you crippled.

This is why you train. Training is the pursuit of building skills, qualities and abilities that help
you excel. You train to get better. You train to get stronger. You train to build the body and life
you desire.

Sessions build on each other and your success is an accumulation of all the previous sessions
you have done, not how tired you are after 60 minutes of sweating.

When you step into the gym, remember you are training with a bigger goal than getting tired.
You are training to change your life.

Third, to maximize your investment of time, you want to have short (approximately 45
minutes) training sessions that work the entire body.

By breaking down all the movements of the body into five patterns, it makes the process of
selecting the exercises you need simple. Each training session should include all five
movement patterns – squat, hinge, push, pull and carry – plus a core exercise.

Your exercises:
Squat - Goblet Squat
Hinge - Deadlift
Push – Push-up
Pull - Inverted Row
Carry - Farmer Carry
Core - Ab Wheel Rollout

You will be doing the same thing every session, performed on three non-consecutive days
per week (i.e. Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Your program is as follows:
Warm-up: Three to five minutes of light, aerobic activity, such as jogging or skipping.

Program Notes:
A1 and A2 mean those exercises are done back to back, i.e. do a set of A1, rest as indicated,
do a set of A2, rest as indicated, then repeat for the indicated sets.

For the A and B exercises:

Perform a warm-up set of each (not listed) followed by a heavier set of five reps. Focus on
adding weight each week on these sets.

For the second and third sets, reduce the weight and do eight reps.

Ab wheel rollouts and farmer’s carry are only one set:

For the ab wheel do a single set of five to ten reps, as you are able.

For the carry do 30 single steps per leg. Try to add weight each week.

For all exercises, form is paramount and should never be sacrificed.

Don’t take any sets to failure. The last rep should be a challenge, but you should have gas in
the tank to do one or two more if you had to.

This program is simple, but don’t let that lead you to believe it is ineffective. Remember that
more isn’t better – better is better.

Combined with the nutrition habits from above, you have an incredible foundation to work off of
as you progress towards your goals.

But there is one more thing you need...

STEP #5 - CONSISTENCY AND PATIENCE
I am going to give you the secret to success.

This is what everyone needs, but nobody wants to sell because they can’t make boat-loads
of money from it. It isn’t sexy and you won’t see it on the cover of a magazine at the grocery
store checkout.

You need to do the basics really, really well, over time.

This requires consistency, and consistency requires patience.

The reason this guide is so simple is because we know you need to be consistent to see change.
A more complex plan has more moving parts and a greater likelihood of ‘something coming up’
and you never getting back on track.

Sure, a 30-day challenge might see a few pounds dropped right away (most of which is
water, anyway), but what happens afterwards?

How many people do you know that have said “I’m doing this fitness plan…” and then a few
weeks later say “it just wasn’t working for me”?

A year down the road, they have tried a handful of ‘diets’ but haven’t really made any progress.
This might even be you.

But this time, it’s different.

To borrow from one of my favorite coaches, Dan John, “have the courage to be reasonable”.

You have tried the quick fix. It didn’t work. Now it’s time to be reasonable to get results.

With this plan you are setting yourself up for success that lasts. You reinforce quality habits that
are easy to implement, and a training program that takes under three hours a week.
By taking only what is essential – the basics – and building from there, you don’t have wasted
time or energy, and you are always moving forward.

It might not be 10lbs the first week, but you will lose weight.

And you’ll lose weight next month too.

And next year you will be looking, moving and feeling great.

You will be the person all your friends want to be when they undertake another 30-day
challenge, but you will know it doesn’t happen over 30 days.

So when you don’t see infomercial-ready results the first day of this plan, do not fear. You are
on track and with consistency and patience, you will be one step closer to happily building the
body, life and confidence you deserve. All while doing it near-effortlessly.

Once you have started your plan, stay consistent and be patient.

If you master the basics, they will serve you forever.

STEP #5 ½ - ASSESS, ADJUST AND
STAY ACCOUNTABLE
A quick review. So far you:
Have completed your seven-day food log
Have created an intelligent caloric deficit by swapping some food choices
Are eating three or four quality meals 80-90% of the time
Are strength training three days per week
Are consistent with all of the above and are practicing patience

Everything works, but it won’t work forever. This plan is no different, although it does have a
secret weapon – simplicity.

When things start to slow down or stop, it doesn’t mean you have failed.

It means you need to re-assess and adjust your plan accordingly. Because you are keeping things
simple, instead of going back to the drawing board to redesign a complex plan that took two
weeks to figure out in the first place, you just have to make little tweaks.

Start by assessing. Go back to your five steps and see if you are missing anything:

Are you swapping out the higher calorie choices for lower calorie
choices? Are you getting three or four meals per day?
Does each meal have the right amount of protein and
vegetables? Are you drinking water with every meal?
Are you getting your carbohydrates on training day meals (and not rest
days)? Are you strength training three times per week?
Above all, are you staying consistent and being patient?

If you answered ‘yes’ to all of the above, you might need to do another seven-day food log to
see if what you think you are eating is what you are really eating. You might be accidentally
eating too much. From there you can adjust your plan and keep progressing.

If you answered ‘no’ to one or more of these, you need accountability.

This is where the accountability of a Lean Strong Fitness Coach comes in handy and the support
of a group of like-minded people can be a lot of fun.

Our coaches are experts at helping everyday people like yourself look and feel better, while
making fitness an enjoyable addition to your life, not a burden. This means our programs are
designed specifically to meet your needs and your current level of fitness – you don’t need to
be in shape to start.

You also get to join the Lean Strong Family – a great community of like-minded people who are
all on the same journey. We help each other overcome obstacles, share our experiences and
support each other when the going gets tough.

Because of this you receive better results, more accountability and learn how to maintain
your fitness while enjoying your life.

If you want to learn more, or think you might want a hand, CLICK HERE to book a free, no
obligation phone call.

There is no catch and it’s 100% free – I just want to get to know you, your goals and see if we are
the right fit to help you on your journey.

If you’re not sure what you need, that’s okay. We’ll talk through it and see if one of our options is a
good fit, and figure out how it fits with your lifestyle.

CLICK HERE to get started.

I’ll talk to you soon :).