Renaissance Periodization Diet Template

[dcw]

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

FL3 just sucks. Period. My caffeine and chewing gum consumption went through the roof during those two weeks. Lol

How long have you been cutting? RP advises not to cut any longer than 12 weeks. If you’re at that point but still have more to lose, then they suggest you go ahead and do 12 weeks of maintenance to increase metabolism and NEAT (and therefore calories) and then start another fat loss phase from a higher daily intake. If I only had just a few more lb/kg to go I might try and suffer through it, but that may not be ideal. Calories can only go so low.

[simonrest]

FL3 just sucks. Period. My caffeine and chewing gum consumption went through the roof during those two weeks. Lol

How long have you been cutting? RP advises not to cut any longer than 12 weeks. If you’re at that point but still have more to lose, then they suggest you go ahead and do 12 weeks of maintenance to increase metabolism and NEAT (and therefore calories) and then start another fat loss phase from a higher daily intake. If I only had just a few more lb/kg to go I might try and suffer through it, but that may not be ideal. Calories can only go so low.

I’ve been going for 14 weeks, but fl1 lasted half of that. I’ll see how I go next week. This week was a training deload so every day was either non training or light which meant zero carbs. Next week I get carbs again and I might feel better

[dcw]

FL3 just sucks. Period. My caffeine and chewing gum consumption went through the roof during those two weeks. Lol

How long have you been cutting? RP advises not to cut any longer than 12 weeks. If you’re at that point but still have more to lose, then they suggest you go ahead and do 12 weeks of maintenance to increase metabolism and NEAT (and therefore calories) and then start another fat loss phase from a higher daily intake. If I only had just a few more lb/kg to go I might try and suffer through it, but that may not be ideal. Calories can only go so low.

I’ve been going for 14 weeks, but fl1 lasted half of that. I’ll see how I go next week. This week was a training deload so every day was either non training or light which meant zero carbs. Next week I get carbs again and I might feel better

That’s a great point. I was always the most miserable on Sundays because Sat/Sun were always non training macros. I remember thinking that if I could do it over I would have had more than 3 strength training days a week. Even during FL3, the training days were much better because I could eat more.

[Sumo]

FL3 just sucks. Period. My caffeine and chewing gum consumption went through the roof during those two weeks. Lol

How long have you been cutting? RP advises not to cut any longer than 12 weeks. If you’re at that point but still have more to lose, then they suggest you go ahead and do 12 weeks of maintenance to increase metabolism and NEAT (and therefore calories) and then start another fat loss phase from a higher daily intake. If I only had just a few more lb/kg to go I might try and suffer through it, but that may not be ideal. Calories can only go so low.

I’ve been going for 14 weeks, but fl1 lasted half of that. I’ll see how I go next week. This week was a training deload so every day was either non training or light which meant zero carbs. Next week I get carbs again and I might feel better

I'd stop and maintain for a similar length of time as the cut. Enjoy the sweet increase in MRV and strength gains, then do another cut. Why mess with a scientifically backed up good thing

I dropped 6 kilos on the cut, currently in maintenance enjoying the increase in carbs and feeling peped instead of run-down all the time. I'm going to maintain for the next 3 months then run a mini-cut to drop about 2-3kg and then hold that for the forseeable future.

[simonrest]

I'd stop and maintain for a similar length of time as the cut. Enjoy the sweet increase in MRV and strength gains, then do another cut. Why mess with a scientifically backed up good thing

I dropped 6 kilos on the cut, currently in maintenance enjoying the increase in carbs and feeling peped instead of run-down all the time. I'm going to maintain for the next 3 months then run a mini-cut to drop about 2-3kg and then hold that for the forseeable future.

Nice.

I'm down about 7kg so far, I'd like to get another 1 down then go into maintenance for a bit, at least until I'm back from Italy in July. Then I reckon I've got another cut in me later this year to get down another 5kg or so. Then I'm about halfway to a normal BMI...

[Sumo]

@simonrest have you thought about going into maintenance now if you're trip is coming up soon? I'm thinking it would help to minimise weight rebound which would be higher from holiday eating as opposed to a controlled reverse diet on the templates.

[simonrest]

@simonrest have you thought about going into maintenance now if you're trip is coming up soon? I'm thinking it would help to minimise weight rebound which would be higher from holiday eating as opposed to a controlled reverse diet on the templates.

I haven't considered much of anything, which is probably how I wound up doing FL3 while peaking on my current program.

I'll be in italy for 2 weeks, first half with family so at least for that portion my diet will be whatever is cooked for me. I'll take whey and just steer towards vegetables and meats and away from pastas and sweets. Once I get to Rome I'll have a kitchen and will be eating in restaurants so I can go for fish and veal with salad.

She'll be right, i'll make it work, and if I don't it will be just more weight to cut the next round.

[CamLeslie]

So... I bought one of these because my wedding is coming up July 6th. I read through this entire thread and gleaned some good tips. Any other pro hacks I should be aware of?

[dcw]

So... I bought one of these because my wedding is coming up July 6th. I read through this entire thread and gleaned some good tips. Any other pro hacks I should be aware of?

We discovered the magic of popcorn seasoning, and put it on just about everything (egg whites, chicken and rice, veggies, etc...). The bacon cheddar and parmesan garlic are my favorites, but they're all pretty good. I'm pretty sure @SeanHerbison uses it, too. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me. They're low/no calorie.

Edit: Here's the brand we get. http://www.kernelseasons.com/

[SeanHerbison]

We discovered the magic of popcorn seasoning... I'm pretty sure @SeanHerbison uses it, too.

Heck yeah. Ranch is my favorite, but I'd definitely try the Sour Cream and Onion if I could find it. I might order it online.

[CamLeslie]

What do you guys think about using frozen steamed spinach for the veggies? Seems like 1 package would be good for 2-3 meals worth (9 cups fresh).

[dcw]

What do you guys think about using frozen steamed spinach for the veggies? Seems like 1 package would be good for 2-3 meals worth (9 cups fresh).

If it’s something you will enjoy/tolerate eating, then I see no issues.

[CamLeslie]

What do you guys think about using frozen steamed spinach for the veggies? Seems like 1 package would be good for 2-3 meals worth (9 cups fresh).

If it’s something you will enjoy/tolerate eating, then I see no issues.

Call me crazy but I eat a bag of frozen kale/spinach a day anyway. No idea why, I just like it and it makes me feel good. I was having a hard time envisioning 12+ cups of fresh spinach a day though, but maybe as I get hungrier...

[SeanHerbison]

What do you guys think about using frozen steamed spinach for the veggies?

Call me crazy but I eat a bag of frozen kale/spinach a day anyway.

It's fine. I've been eating a lot of vegetables recently, and frozen spinach is definitely part of it. Getting frozen vegetables is easier than going to the store multiple times per week.

Nothing special about spinach though. I ran out, so the majority of today's food is a 2 lb bag of mixed vegetables, a 12 oz bag of broccoli, and half a head of cauliflower. Also a lb of ground turkey.

[simonrest]

I found a chilli and garlic sauce that has zero calories. It goes on the chicken, rice and steamed veggies that I have every lunch and keeps it interesting.

Finished the 3 fat loss stages and am now in the first week of maintenance. I feel much better now that I get some carbs back, but I'm paranoid about putting the weight I lost back on. Fortunately my wife is still keen to keep eating healthily so it won't be a full regression, and over this period I;ve found good take away/eating out options that I can still maintain instead of burgers or pizza.

I went from 127.1 to 119.3 from Jan 21 to May 11. i didn't really take waist measurements, but I'm down 1.5 holes in my lifting belt if that's any indication. I'm not posting pictures because I'm still fat, and also I didn't take any. Crucially I didn't lose strength cutting this way, in fact between the high protein and high volume programming I am expecting to realise some moderate gains when I test maxes next week. I think that's been the key to following this for me, in the past I've tried just cutting back calories drastically and wound up getting weaker and then giving up cutting because i didn't want to lose strength gained.

I'm planning to maintain over the next 7 weeks then I go away for 2 weeks and I'll be re-running RP after I get back, albeit a shortened version due to other commitments. I'm going to have to do this another 2 or 3 times to get down to a healthy size

[Rfjt]

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.

I have an issue with phase 3 particularly. If anyone had their diet book, it says fats should always stay at .3g/lb of bodyweight st bare minimum. However the zero fats recommended in phase 3 seem to disregard the book. Are they just assuming you’ll meet the minimum from ancillary sources (hoping you’ll pick fattier protein or carb sources?)

[JohnHelton]

I have an issue with phase 3 particularly. If anyone had their diet book, it says fats should always stay at .3g/lb of bodyweight st bare minimum. However the zero fats recommended in phase 3 seem to disregard the book. Are they just assuming you’ll meet the minimum from ancillary sources (hoping you’ll pick fattier protein or carb sources?)

You will get some fat from your protein sources, but not enough to hit .3g/lb. That said, FL3 isn't suppose to be sustainable. It seems most people only do it for a few weeks. I definitely wouldn't do it for long.

[Rfjt]

You will get some fat from your protein sources, but not enough to hit .3g/lb. That said, FL3 isn't suppose to be sustainable. It seems most people only do it for a few weeks. I definitely wouldn't do it for long.

Ah I see. I figured that might be the case but I double checked the book to see if they mentioned going below temporarily for certain reasons but couldn’t find anything. Maybe they’ll have something in the next revision of the book.

[CamLeslie]

Hey another question for you guys.

So I started a RP Template and have been pretty consistently losing 1lb/week on the Base Tab, this being my 3rd week. I'm also out of shape and just recently started biking to work a couple times a week. 8 miles one way, mostly flat, takes me about 45min, so 16 miles total for about 1.5hrs.

Should I count that as a workout day or just a non-training day? Would you guys partition nutrients any special way? (Last couple times I've counted it as a Moderate Workout Day with evening training) Or am I just being to OCD and move on?

[JohnHelton]

Hey another question for you guys.

So I started a RP Template and have been pretty consistently losing 1lb/week on the Base Tab, this being my 3rd week. I'm also out of shape and just recently started biking to work a couple times a week. 8 miles one way, mostly flat, takes me about 45min, so 16 miles total for about 1.5hrs.

Should I count that as a workout day or just a non-training day? Would you guys partition nutrients any special way? (Last couple times I've counted it as a Moderate Workout Day with evening training) Or am I just being to OCD and move on?

I'm pretty sure they say don't count cardio as a workout. Also, when they talk about a hard workout, they are talking about a long, hard bodybuilder workout with a lot of sets and very little rest. Powerlifting style workouts are generally low to moderate.