How to Use RP Diet Templates

When you receive your personal diet template, it will be accompanied by some ancillary materials to
help you on your way. The diet doc itemizes diets for each of the main classes of training volume:

- Non-Weight Training Days

- Light Days
- Moderate Days
- Hard Days

These different day-types are distinguished by the different amounts of carbs listed in their “Healthy
Carbs” columns. The following are general recommendations for how to go about your diet.

Hard Day Diet: Use with BIG workouts like high volume leg training, multiple sets of 10+reps, multiple
exercises, and most types of high-workload training sessions that last longer than two hours and leave
you wrecked and sweating puddles. For weight training, anything over 26 working sets (not counting
warmup sets) counts in this category. If it’s not super-hot in the gym but you’re covered in sweat and
breathing heavily for 2 hours or more, you’re likely doing a “hard day,” and need to eat only the carb
amounts in the “hard” column.

Moderate Day Diet: Use with tough workouts that have you lifting heavy (typically 5-10 reps), but are
between 1 and 2 hours long, and don’t completely wear you out. Chest, shoulders, arms, back, and most
strength phase powerlifting sessions all qualify. Gym workouts between 10 and 25 total working sets fall
squarely into this category. If at the end of the workout you’re pretty tired but “could have done a bit
more,” it’s probably not a “hard day” and likely “moderate.” On such workout days, eat only the carb
amounts listed in the “moderate” column of your template.

Light Day Diets: Use with easier training sessions that either last less than an hour, or are primarily
composed of heavy lifts for few total sets and reps (less than 5 reps per set on average). This diet day
should also be used for most types of deloads, recovery sessions, mobility work, and MetCons. In weight
training, any session of 10 work sets or less counts as light. Even if it was a day of lifting very heavy
weights, if you haven’t sweat a ton in normal gym temperatures and you feel like if push came to shove
you could do a LOT more, it’s probably a light day, and you should eat only the carb amounts listed in
the “light” column of the carb category.

Non-Weight Training Day Diet: Use on days when no weight training is done. If you do cardio on this
day to lose fat, that’s just fine and no adjustments are needed: eat Non-Weight Training Day style.

For some help in determining what kinds of WODs and Metcons fall into which workout category, please
check out this article.

If you do cardio to enhance endurance performance (see below), use the light, moderate, or hard day
diets for this instead, classified as follows:

● Hard day = more than 900 calories burned

● Moderate day = between 300 and 900 calories burned
● Light day = less than 300 calories burned

Maintaining Weight
As you check out your fat loss or muscle gain diet, you’ll notice that there are either 7 total sheets (for
muscle gain) or 9 total sheets (for fat loss) at the bottom of each document:

Fat Loss template sheets:

Quick Tips, Serving Sizes, Base, Fat Loss 1, Fat Loss 2, Fat Loss 3, Maintenance 1, Maintenance 2, New
Base

Muscle Gain template sheets:

Quick Tips, Serving Sizes, Base, Muscle Gain 1, Muscle Gain 2, Muscle Gain 3, New Base

If your goals include stabilizing your diet at your current weight, stick to the Base plan the entire time.

The Base plan is calculated on an AVERAGE metabolism, so you may need more or fewer calories. For all
plans, we recommend weighing yourself two or three times a week, and taking the average of that
weight per week. All weigh-ins should be done FIRST THING in the morning on an empty stomach. If
you’re losing weight on Base week to week and don’t want to be, increase your fat intake. If you’re
gaining weight on Base and don’t want to be, decrease your fat intake. We recommend subtracting fats
from meals with the most carbs and adding fats to meals with the fewest carbs (but avoid adding too
many fats pre-workout). For those weighing less than 200lbs, adding or subtracting 30g of fat per day for
each week you are too heavy or too light (off by more than 5lbs from your normal weight) is a good
approach. For those weighing more than 200lbs, adding or subtracting 45g of fat at a time (per day) is
best. After several weeks, you should have a good diet that fits your calorie needs and results in a stable
weight. A stable weight is one which doesn’t deviate by a weekly average of more than ~ 2-4lbs (2 for
those weighing closer to 100 lbs, 4 for those closer to 300 lbs). Keeping a log of your weights during this
stabilization process should be very helpful.
Fat Loss
When you first start your fat loss plan, we recommend you start with at least one week on the Base diet,
just to get used to the diet plan. If your Base diet is making you gain weight, adjust fat intake, as
described above. If your base is making you maintain weight, begin the Fat Loss 1 plan after 1 week of
doing base. What does “maintain weight” mean, numerically? It means you are losing less than 0.5lbs
per week if you weigh less than 200lbs and losing less than 1.0lbs per week if you weight more than
200lbs. If you are losing weight on base, continue to stay on the Base diet until your weight loss drops
below the following rates:

● Between 0.5 - 1.5 lbs per week for those who weigh under 200 lbs
● Between 1.0 - 2.0 lbs per week for those who weigh over 200 lbs

Once you begin losing less than the above-specified amount of weight per week, you can begin your fat
loss phase by starting the Fat Loss 1 diet.

If weight loss is SLOWER than those guidelines after 2 weeks of measuring 2x per week (where the first
week should be ignored, as body water shifts can be largely responsible for weight changes), then switch
to the Fat Loss 2 diet sheet. If the rate of weight loss is FASTER THAN or WITHIN these guidelines, please
keep the Fat Loss 1 diet running.

As soon as the weight loss rate slows to below those guidelines, switch to the Fat Loss 2 diet sheet. As
soon as it drops below again, switch to the Fat Loss 3 sheet. If you still want to lose more weight after
Fat Loss 3 runs its course (no longer drops your weight within the guidelines), we’d love to help you with
a more advanced one-on-one consulting approach! Please remember that we do NOT recommend
running the entire Fat Loss diet (all 3 Fat Loss phases combined) for longer than 3 months at a time
without at least a 2-month maintenance phase between them. Also, you can run a Fat Loss diet for as
short as you like, so any duration between 2 weeks in length and 3 months in length at one time is just
fine!

This table might be of some assistance in visualizing the process:

If you’re UNDER 200 lbs:

If loss between 0.5lbs and 1.5lbs per week:

→ Keep Current Diet
If loss slower than 0.5lbs per week:
→ Move on to next Fat Loss sheet
If loss faster than 1.5lbs per week on Fat Loss
1:
→ Keep Current Diet
If loss faster than 1.5lbs per week on Fat Loss
2 or 3:
 → Go back to previous Fat Loss sheet of the
diet

If you’re OVER 200 lbs:

If loss between 1.0lbs and 2.0lbs per week:

→ Keep Current Diet
If loss slower than 1.0lbs per week:
→ Move on to next Fat Loss sheet
If loss faster than 2.0lbs per week on Fat Loss
1:
→ Keep Current Diet
If loss faster than 2.0lbs per week on Fat Loss
2 or 3:
→ Go back to previous Fat Loss sheet

NOTE: There is no prescribed amount of time for which you need to stay on any given sheet of your diet
plan. The duration of each diet phase (sheet) varies from one person to another to ensure maximum
customization to your particular rate of progress. This is why regularly benchmarking your progress to
decide whether to stay on the current sheet or move “forward” or “backwards” is core to the successful
RP diet methodology.

Muscle gain
When you first start your muscle gain plan, we recommend you start with at least one week on the Base
diet, just to get used to the diet plan. If your Base diet is making you lose weight, adjust it up as
described in the “Maintaining Weight” section instructions above. If it’s making you gain weight, keep
on it until the weight gain is no longer fast enough. After this, you can begin your muscle gain phase by
starting the Muscle gain 1 diet. For those who weigh less than 200 lbs, the goal is to gain between
0.25lbs and 1.0lbs per week. For those who weigh over 200 lbs, the goal is to gain between 0.5lbs and
1.5lbs per week. If weight gain is SLOWER than the aforementioned guidelines after 2 weeks of
measuring 2x per week (where the first week should be ignored as body water shifts can be largely
responsible for weight changes), switch to the Muscle Gain 2 diet sheet. If the rate of weight gain is
FASTER than the guidelines, or WITHIN THEM, please keep the Muscle Gain 1 diet running. As soon as
the weight gain rate slows to below those guidelines, switch to the Muscle Gain 2 diet sheet. As soon as
it drops below again, switch to the Muscle Gain 3 guidelines. If you still want to gain more weight after
Muscle gain 3 runs its course (no longer raises your weight within the guidelines), we’d love to help you
with a more advanced one-on-one consulting approach!

This table might be of some assistance in visualizing the process:

If you’re UNDER 200 lbs:

 If gain between 0.25lbs and 1.0lbs per week:
→ Keep Current Diet
If gain slower than 0.25lbs per week:
→ Move on to next Muscle gain sheet
If gain faster than 1.0lbs per week on Muscle
Gain 1:
→ Keep Current Diet
If gain faster than 1.0lbs per week on Muscle
Gain 2 or 3:
→ Go back to previous Muscle Gain sheet

If you’re OVER 200lbs:

If gain between 0.5lbs and 1.5lbs per week:

→ Keep Current Diet
If gain slower than 0.5lbs per week:
→ Move on to next Muscle gain sheet
If gain faster than 1.5lbs per week on Muscle
Gain 1:
→ Keep Current Diet
If gain faster than 1.5lbs per week on Muscle
Gain 2 or 3:
→ Go back to previous Muscle gain sheet

How long to diet?

From a health, long term sustainability and psychological perspective, we don’t recommend losing or
gaining weight for any longer than 3 months at a time: 2-3 months is the average duration for each plan.
After 3 months of weight loss or gain, at least two months of stable weight conditions are highly
recommended. Your “Maintenance 1 and 2” and “New Base” diets are ideal for this break between Fat
Loss or Muscle Gain.

After the Diet

After you’re done with fat loss, please switch your diet to the “Maintenance 1” sheet in your diet
template. This sheet has more food than you’re used to if you went all the way to Fat Loss 3, and
following it will begin to recover your metabolism after the weeks of hard dieting have depressed it
somewhat. It’s also ok to have a couple of cheat meals while running Maintenance 1, but, if you’re
interested in retaining your weight loss long term, please keep mostly focused and don’t fall off the
wagon altogether. While it’s completely expected that you’ll gain about 5lbs in body water after the end
of your diet, after that, the Maintenance 1 plan should start to drop your weight down again. After one
week in which you have detected a weight drop, please switch to the “Maintenance 2” sheet, and use
that as your diet. Again, keep cheating to within 2-3 fun unplanned meals per week, and you should see
this diet hold your bodyweight steady. So long as your bodyweight is steady, keep at Maintenance 2 for
at least 2 weeks. If your bodyweight climbs for more than 2 weeks straight on Maintenance 2, reduce
cheating FIRST, and if that doesn’t work, go back to Maintenance 1. Let your weight stabilize for 2
weeks on Maintenance 1 before returning to Maintenance 2 to complete the process. Once your weight
is stable (for at least 2 weeks) or falling again (for at least one week) on Maintenance 2, switch to the
“New Base” diet sheet in your document. Treat this New Base as your final post- fat loss diet, where you
can remain as long as you like, ensuring that you’re eating healthy and training hard! If your weight
begins to scoot up or down over the course of 2 weeks or more on the New Base plan, lower or raise
your fats as described for the Base plan in the “Maintaining Weight” section above.

This process might seem a bit involved (though actually pretty simple in practice), but it’s the best way
to ensure that you finish your diet on a recovered, sustainable note, vs the all too common alternative
of sliding right back into bad habits that necessitated a fat loss diet in the first place! Please use this New
Base diet for as long as you need. If you want to cut again, please use the following criteria:

I. Give at least 2 months of Maintenance 1, 2, and New Base (2 months total for all three diets, not
2 months per diet!) before beginning fat loss again. 3 months is even better for most, ensuring
that your metabolism and psyche are sufficiently reset for best outcomes in the long term
II. Generally speaking, if you’ve lost 20 lbs or less, you can reuse your current fat loss template for
another productive fat loss phase.
III. If you’ve lost 21 lbs or more, we recommend purchasing another fat loss template using your
updated (lighter) bodyweight, as you're likely going to get a different diet that’s optimized for
your new physique -- but please see the next point!
IV. It’s a good idea to contact our customer service desk (the Zendesk chat window at bottom right
of any RP site page) to confirm whether or not you need a new template based on your post-
diet weight range, as we don't want you to repurchase the same template you already have!

After you’re done with Muscle Gain, please switch to the “New Base” sheet and use that as your
normal diet. If you’re gaining or losing weight on this diet, please lower or raise your fats as described
for the Base plan in the “Maintaining Weight” section above.

If you’d like to run Muscle Gain again, we recommend staying at the New Base diet for at least one
month to allow your new muscle to “settle in” to your physiology, so that you don’t risk losing it as
quickly as you built it when you go on to cut. After this period at your New Base, you can purchase a fat
loss template to get rid of the fat you’ve gained, and then reuse your current muscle gain template to
regain muscle right after the fat loss phase is over. If you’re using a fat loss phase to prepare yourself for
muscle gain (getting rid of fat to get ready to gain more muscle), you can start your Muscle Gain Base
without needing to do the Maintenance or New Base sheets in your fat loss phase documents. But,
make sure that your gains are within the mentioned guidelines and not above, as very fast consistent
weight gain will just lead to excess fat, not to any more muscle, than will slow and steady weight gain,
and more fat is rarely the goal.
If you’re still lean and would like to muscle gain again without doing a fat loss phase beforehand, feel
free to run another muscle gain phase immediately 1-2 months after your prior muscle gain phase’s New
Base period. To find out which diet to use for this new muscle gain phase, please consult the following
criteria:

I. Give at least 1 month of New Base before beginning muscle gain again. Because lean athletes
gain more muscle (pound for pound) and less fat than those who start muscle gain when they
are fatter, if you’re no longer lean (can’t see a good outline of your abs), highly consider fat loss
first before re-muscle gaining,
II. If you’ve gained 20 lbs or less, you can reuse your current muscle gain template for another
productive muscle gain.
III. If you’ve gained 21 lbs or more, we recommend purchasing a new muscle gain template for your
updated (higher) bodyweight, as you're likely going to get a different diet that’s optimized for
your new physique -- but please see the next point!
IV. It’s a good idea to contact our customer service desk (the Zendesk chat window at bottom right
of any RP site page) to confirm whether or not you need a new template based on your post-
diet weight range, as we don't want you to repurchase the same template you already have!

Videos

If you want a quick, less technical rundown of how to use the templates, please check out these videos:

Welcome to the Templates

Template Walk-Through
Common Template Questions
Customer Support
Workout Volumes and Carb Amounts

Contacts and Questions

We’re rooting for you as you work towards your fat loss, muscle gain gain, and performance goals! We
would love to personally answer direct questions about your template, but unfortunately do not have
the bandwidth to do so. However, our very popular Facebook group “RP Clients” is a super friendly and
informative forum where other clients just like you - many of them with tons of “RP experience” -
exchange recipes, tips for success, and answer frequently asked questions. To get these benefits and
more, we encourage you to join the RP Clients Facebook Group’s tens of thousands of members and
counting. If you like the templates but think you’d like direct diet coaching from one of our expert diet
coaches, all of whom are either PhDs in the biological sciences, Registered Dieticians, World-Class
Athletes, or all of three, just shoot us an email at info@renaissanceperiodization.com, and we’ll get you
started on meeting your fitness goals under the guidance of one of our exceptionally qualified coaches
straight away!