Our goal?

To teach elite fitness professionals — personal trainers, strength coaches, therapists, nutritionists — a nutrition coaching system that can transform the bodies of their clients in the shortest time possible.

Our Precision Nutrition community has been abuzz with discussion about this upcoming program. So I decided to answer some of the key questions here, to help those interested learn more about the program.

Q. Why offer a certification like this?

Q. What do you mean when you say, “Exercise alone doesn’t work”?

Q. What results can I expect when I integrate nutrition coaching into my practice?

Q. What qualifies you to teach a course / offer a certification like this?

Q. How does the PN Certification compare to other nutrition education options?

Q. How thorough is the PN Certification?

Q. Will there be multiple levels of certification?

Q. Do I need to have a science degree to become certified?

Q. Once I’m PN Certified, will I be listed on your site?

Q. Would nutritionists and dietitians benefit from this program as well?

Q. Is the PN Certification program accredited by one of the national education boards?

Q. What about those people specifically looking for national accreditation?

Q. Can I earn CEUs from my personal training organization with this program?

Q. How long does it take to complete the Level 1 program?

Q. How about Level 2?

Q. What advice will someone be able to offer clients after completing the course?

Q. When does the PN Certification program begin?

Q. How many people are you accepting in the program?

Q: How can people find out more?

Click here to join the waiting list.

Over 5 years in the making, the PN Certification is the synthesis of everything we’ve learned during the last 15 years of coaching and research in the nutrition field.

Designed specifically for elite fitness professionals working with clients in a personal training or coaching environment, it’s based on the university nutrition courses we teach and the data we’ve collected from thousands of Precision Nutrition clients over the years.

And there’s nothing else like it, anywhere.

Nutrition certification for elite fitness professionals.

I’ve always felt that nutrition is the missing component in the fitness profession; without it, a client will simply not see results, and a coach will simply not be able to generate them.

But where would you go to learn the essentials of sport and exercise nutrition, and how to coach it?

Everything that exists is usually re-purposed material from clinical dietetics (i.e., feeding people in hospital situations) or is more suited to advanced academic study (i.e., post-graduate research).

Nothing, and I mean nothing, deals with the problem we face every day: how to use nutrition coaching to elicit marked improvements in health, performance and (especially) body composition in an exercising client.

We literally wrote the book on it.

So we literally wrote the book: finding no suitable textbook, we created one from scratch: The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition a 500-page opus, now in it’s second edition, covering every aspect of the science and practice of nutrition coaching.

In addition, we’ve created a whole video lesson curriculum, a challenging exam to test your mettle, and in general, a contribution to the betterment of the fitness industry as a whole.

Basically, we’re going to do everything in our power to change the game. We’re out to train a new kind of fitness professional. And the certification is a massive step in that direction.

More details, and how to join the waiting list:

If you’re interested in finding out more, we’ve set up a pre-registration page with more info about the program. There, you can also get on the waiting list.

Since, in our last group, we filled every spot in less than 24 hours, the current spots will go quickly. So everyone on the waiting list gets a 24 hour “presale” window to reserve a spot before we open it to the general public.

There’s no charge to be on the waiting list, so if you’re interested in the certification program I highly recommend you get on it, because your chance of getting a spot will be much, much better.

Click here to join the waiting list.

Last week, we accepted a new group of clients into our January 2012 Lean Eating Coaching Program. This one looks to be our best yet: we’ve got a motivated group (the women’s group sold out in minutes!), numerous improvements to the program based on our ongoing research, and the best coaches in the world.

From all of us at PN, a warm welcome to all our new clients. This is going to be a great year; a challenging one, to be sure, but more than worth it.

This most recent group includes men and women from 27 different countries, from all walks of life, from age 21 to 68. And among those new clients is a special group of 45 young adult cancer survivors.

Cancer. The C-word.

Hear it spoken in hushed tones in a doctor’s office, or over the phone, and you’ll feel for a moment like your heart has already stopped.

I remember that phone call, from my mother, saying that C-word. She survived her cancer. So did our colleague and client Alwyn Cosgrove. So have many of our Lean Eaters.

But first, we had to roll that horrible C-word around in our mouths an awful lot, along with similarly repugnant words like malignant. Stage 3. Chemotherapy. Stochastic.

Cancer touches almost all of us in some way.

A cancer diagnosis — whether for you, or a loved one — is life-changing.

If folks survive, they’re often left with bodies ravaged by medication, radiation, and surgery. Bodies that may often look lean, but that suffer from sarcopenic obesity — wasted muscle, fragile bones, softened tissues. Frail. Skinny-fat… or just regular over-fat after enduring the side effects of medications. Metabolically disrupted. In women, maybe prematurely menopausal.

Perhaps these bodies are now missing something, such as a chunk of flesh. Missing their freedom to move without restrictions. Missing their appetite or proper nutrition. Missing a sense of what’s “normal” and “healthy”, which got lost somewhere between the 32nd doctor’s visit and sorting out handfuls of multi-coloured pills on the kitchen table.

Cancer survivors must get used to a new way of life along with a new body.

Yet often, although they’ve gotten up close and personal with their own fragility, cancer survivors’ spirits remain tough as old shoe leather. No bloody way they’re going to let cancer get them again, they say. This time, they think, they’re gonna throw everything they’ve got into rebuilding their battered bodies.

This is especially true for young cancer survivors, women with early breast cancer or men with testicular cancer. They have their whole lives ahead of them. They’ve got decades full of things to do ahead of them, damn it!

Carrie Stricker, PhD, RN and Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, both researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, are hard at work leading a team to investigate whether the Lean Eating Coaching Program could be one strategy to improve their chances.  To this end, they’ll be supervising as 45 young cancer survivors go through Lean Eating from beginning to end.

Helping cancer survivors get healthy

Shannon Lynch is a doctoral student and part of the Penn research team.  Shannon remembers her own Lean Eating experience well, having been a client last year. She’s also working on a PhD in epidemiology, with a growing interest in helping cancer survivors adopt healthy lifestyles post-treatment.

“A lot of folks who’ve survived cancer want to know what they can do next to help themselves. They want to do more — to feel like they’re doing everything they can to give themselves the very best chance and quality of life.”

Through her studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Shannon came to know Dr. Schmitz, an associate professor at Penn, well-known for research on physical activity and breast cancer survivors, and learned that she had written a grant proposal for an internet-based program to help testicular cancer survivors.

“I looked at her proposal,” recalls Shannon, “and said, ‘I think there’s a program out there for this already.’” Dr. Schmitz and Shannon brought Dr. Stricker, a clinical assistant professor of nursing at Penn, in on these discussions, given her ongoing program of research and clinical care in cancer survivorship.

Then they got in touch with Dr. John Berardi. He was just as excited about the possibilities as they were. After all, it’s not every day that a world-class authority on cancer research, leading innovative and ground-breaking projects, wants to know about Lean Eating

And as it so happens, JB had just come up with PN’s new mantra: Life-changing, research-driven nutrition coaching for everyone.

Yes, everyone. Now including young cancer survivors.

Can Lean Eating work for cancer survivors?

First comes the study. The first step is to see if this program is not only workable, safe, and adaptable for cancer survivors, but also to explore if the Internet-based exercise program and nutrition coaching that Lean Eating offers can help young cancer survivors look, feel, and perform better, even after a potentially devastating illness.

It’s a tall order. Although we’ve supported many of our Lean Eaters through a cancer diagnosis and recovery, we’ve never tried specifically to seek out and help young cancer survivors in particular.

So, like Lean Eating’s “one habit at a time” coaching method, the Penn team is starting small.

They’re beginning with a pilot study: The January 2012 round of Lean Eating will host a cohort of female survivors of breast cancer, and male survivors of testicular cancer.

Just like our other Lean Eating clients, they’ll work with a coach; get lessons, workouts, and habits; and participate on the support forum — with one key difference: We want to know if Lean Eating helps improve their health and wellness after going through cancer treatment.

The Penn team will gather important feedback from participants, such as:

• What’s unique about young cancer survivors?
• What are their demands, concerns, and experiences?
• What do they need from the Lean Eating program? What do they like/dislike about it?
• How can the program be better tailored to cancer survivors?

They will use this information, along with other metrics like body measurements and health indicators, to see if this program can help young cancer survivors.

What do cancer survivors need and want?

As the Penn team reaches out into the community of young cancer survivors, they’re testing assumptions about what barriers people might face.

“We were concerned that people might say no to the program because they didn’t have the Internet, or had financial constraints. In fact, right now people say no because of a perceived time commitment. They have children; they work; they travel, and so forth.”

“However, we know that all kinds of people go through the program, and the coaches are there to help. Plus there are lessons on traveling, balancing work demands, care-giving, etc. There are all kinds of lessons and strategies.”

“Sure, it’s an exercise and nutrition program, but it’s also a lifestyle management program.”

Interested survivors get more information about Lean Eating, decide whether they want to join, go through informed consent procedures, and schedule appointments to get baseline measurements done (such as weight, body measurements, and body fat). As participants go through the program, coaches carefully monitor their health and ability to do the workouts, with the Penn team carefully monitoring participants’ health and safety as well.

This is especially important for cancer survivors who may be on medications that affect body fat and hormones.

“Many people are on treatments right now or have undergone treatments that make them gain weight, or for women, put them into premature menopause — which again makes them gain weight,” explains Shannon. “They may be frustrated with changes in their body, and would like something to do about it.”

And, Shannon notes, Lean Eating may help with the mental and emotional aspects of cancer survival as well.

“Lean Eating was a mental exercise for me as well.. The lessons speak to things like body image; or if you’re feeling stressed, how to handle it. These are lessons cancer survivors may appreciate given what they have been through.We are conducting this study to see what survivors need and want from a program like this.”

What makes Lean Eating special?

Shannon is eager to see if survivors will benefit from the in-depth coaching that Precision Nutrition offers.

“To me, other diet programs aren’t sustainable in the long run — all those meal plans and prepackaged meals. In Lean Eating, you are offered tools you need to sustain good health within your own daily routine. It’s not a short-term solution. You just do a little something every day.”

We’re excited, and proud to play a part. Her participants are excited. (And maybe a little nervous. That’s normal.) Of course, Shannon’s excited too.

“If this pilot program is successful, I think this could be huge. And it’s a population that really wants something like this, who needs something like this. There’s so much that could be done.”

Click here to join the waiting list.

And to make it worth your while, we’re putting up a little bonus: $5,000 signing bonus to each successful candidate, and $5,000 to any person who REFERS us the successful candidate for one of the positions below.

Read on to find out what positions we have available, and how to contact us if you or someone you know would fit the bill.

Working for Precision Nutrition

Couple of quick notes on how we do things at PN:

• We pay in the top 10% in the world for each position
• Four weeks vacation, full benefits and the ability to work remotely included

We’re looking for good people who are among the best in their respective fields, and we compensate accordingly.

Jobs Available

Web Developer (Full-Time Position)

We’re looking for a bright and easy-to-get-along-with candidate to join our web and application development team, help manage the website and develop the the cutting-edge nutrition coaching and research software that underpins all we do at PN.

• Focus: user interface design and front-end web development
• Primary tools: HTML / CSS / Javascript
• 3 years of professional experience required
• Experience with mobile development, graphic design and database design definite pluses.

Nutrition Coach – Lean Eating For Men (Full-Time Position)

Our PN coaches are the best online nutrition coaches in the world. And we’re looking to add an additional male coach to our team. Requirements for the position include all of the following:

• Graduate degree (Masters/PhD) in exercise/nutrition/psychology
• Certification with PN (or the willingness to become certified)
• Experience as a nutrition coach or trainer
• High competency with desktop and web applications
• Excellent communication skills using the internet
• An interest in working with men of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds

Note: this position is done exclusively online. So only apply if you’re prepared to work in this way.

Nutrition Coach – Lean Eating For Women (Full-Time Position)

Our PN coaches are the best online nutrition coaches in the world. And we’re looking to add an additional female coach to our team. Requirements for the position include all of the following:

• Graduate degree (Masters/PhD) in exercise/nutrition/psychology
• Certification with PN (or the willingness to become certified)
• Experience as a nutrition coach or trainer
• High competency with desktop and web applications
• An interest in working with women of all shapes, sizes, and ages

Note: this position is done exclusively online. So only apply if you’re prepared to work in this way.

Feature Writer/Storyteller (Full-Time Position)

PN communicates primarily through the written word. So we’re looking for an experienced writer and storyteller to help us tell the amazing stories of our company, our team, and our clients. Requirements for the position include all of the following:

• Experience working for a major print (magazine/news) publication
• Portfolio of 10 or more articles in a major print publication
• Portfolio of 10 or more articles in a major online publication
• Strong references from previous editors and/or employers

Note: we’re not necessarily looking for fitness writers. We’re looking for true storytellers who can tell engaging, entertaining and empathetic stories about the transformation experiences of our clients, and about the good work PN is doing in the world. That’s why experience plus a strong portfolio is a must. In fact, should you decide to apply, please submit your portfolio pieces (above) along with your resume and cover letter.

Customer Experience Representative (Full-Time Position)

Precision Nutrition does all of our nutrition and customer support in house. And we’re looking to add an experienced customer service candidate to our team to assist in supporting our clients and customers. Requirements for the position include all of the following:

• Undergraduate training in exercise and nutrition
• Experience working as a nutrition/exercise coach
• Customer service experience a strong asset
• Certification with PN (or the willingness to become certified)
• Knowledge and experience with PN products and services
• High competency with desktop and web applications

As you’ll be the “voice” of our company, you must also be sociable, skilled at problem solving, and be able to provide product, exercise and nutrition support effectively by both email and telephone.

Life at Precision Nutrition

Keep in mind, at Precision Nutrition, we offer you the ability to:

• Make your own work schedule.
  At PN, you’re measured by what you produce, not by the time you spend at work. Work when you want, from where you want. As long as your work gets done, and done superbly, you have the freedom to set your own schedule.

• Work from home.
  If you’re in Toronto, our home town, great. If not, no worries. Many of our employees work exclusively from home, from all over the world.

• Work in the fitness and nutrition industry.
  We love exercise, we love nutrition, and we love sport. That’s why we started this company. If you do too, you’ll appreciate how rare it is to do a job you really love. For active, fit people, Precision Nutrition is that opportunity.

• Work with fun, bright and truly talented people.
  We’re a small company, and we’re picky about who we work with, because to us, this isn’t just a job — it’s our life. So as a result, we’ve put together a small group of cool, exceptional people. And in our opinion, that’s a very welcome departure from the large faceless corporations we’ve all worked for.

Interested in one of these positions? Send us a resume and a cover letter detailing why you’re the perfect fit for the position. You can reach us at applications@precisionnutrition.com.

(Applicants for the storyteller position must also include portfolio, as outlined above).

Know someone else that might be interested? Do us a favor and spread the word to your network. And make sure they mention your name as the person who referred them.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Click here to join the waiting list.

3 years ago we started the Lean Eating Coaching Program, where we coach small groups of men and women using the Precision Nutrition System and help them achieve the best fat loss results of their lives. And the results, to date, have been nothing short of remarkable. Many lives changed, and over 100,000 lbs of fat lost.

This time around, we’re doing something extraordinary. We’re offering $75,000 in prize money – $25,000 for the best male body transformation and $25,000 for the best female body transformation. Plus, 2 male and 2 female runners up will win $2,500 each. And we’re putting up another $15,000 in special surprise rewards along the way.

And while this prize money will go a long way toward getting you motivated to change your body, there are THREE THINGS that must come first: the 3 keys to a successful body transformation.

Check out this video to find out what they are:

Here are the links to register for the 2012 coaching program:

Register for the Lean Eating Coaching Program For Men

An intensive group coaching program for guys looking to get leaner and stronger than ever before.

Work directly with the best nutrition coaches in the world to completely transform your body. We give you the training program, we teach you how and what to eat — and we’re there to answer any questions, concerns and curiosities you may have along the way.

If you’re a man between 18 and 65, have got some fat to lose, and want to get lean, healthy, and strong, this is the program for you.

Click here to join the waiting list.

And the best part? It’s totally free.

If I do say so myself, this course is probably better than 90% of the seminars I’ve ever attended on the subjects of exercise and nutrition (and probably better than a few I’ve given myself, too).

To check out the free course, just click the links below.

Women’s version: Fat Loss Crash Course for Women

Men’s version: Fat Loss Crash Course for Men

Why we created these courses

We wanted to create a definitive resource for fat loss, a place where you could learn everything you need to know to start losing fat immediately. I think we’ve done that, but you can decide for yourself.

I see a LOT of nonsense being published about fat loss these days, both on the web and in the mainstream media.

And at PN, we’re in a unique position to set the record straight about what it REALLY takes — because in our Lean Eating Coaching Program, we’ve essentially conducted the world’s largest fat loss research project.

For the last 4 years, we’ve kept enormous amounts of data on thousands of clients, tracking nearly every measurable statistic available, from body composition to psychometric markers.

And from that data, we can draw some clear conclusions: to lose fat rapidly — but also permanently — clients need to adopt a very specific approach to fat loss.

Well, in this free fat loss course, I share that approach with you. And most importantly, I show you exactly how to do it, right away.

What I cover in the course

• The 5 things you need to know about nutrition — the same things we’ve taught our clients to help them collectively lose over 150,000 pounds of fat.
• Exactly what foods to eat to lose fat — at every meal
• How to make delicious meals with a few simple ingredients
• The best types of exercise for fat loss — don’t waste your time on anything else
• Exactly how much time you need to exercise — no guesswork here, we share the real data with you
• Supplements for fat loss: the two different approaches you can take
• Which four supplements we use with our clients when fat loss is the goal
• The one crucial reason why people fail at fat loss, and the two simple things you can do to make sure you succeed

Last word

At PN, we’re out to change the way people think about fat loss — to drown out the noise and the theories and share what we know really works. And this course is the next step.

In it, I present some ideas that can be hard for people to accept. I know, because for the last year I’ve been teaching this material to fitness professionals around the world, and I see their reactions. Mostly, it’s a mix of excitement and anxiety.

Why? Because as you’ll see in the course, not only can fat loss be much simpler than the experts think — it has to be much simpler. Otherwise, it doesn’t work.

To get the most out of the course, I encourage you to come in with an open mind and consider that what I teach in the lessons might just be true.

Because, well, it is.

This is how the 2% who succeed at fat loss actually do it. This is how to lose fat without overhauling your life.

To read more about the free 5-day video fat loss course, and to take it, click the links below:

Women’s version: Fat Loss Crash Course for Women

Men’s version: Fat Loss Crash Course for Men

From all of us at PN, happy holidays to you — and here’s hoping these courses will help you get in the best shape of your life in 2012.

- JB

Click here to join the waiting list.

We’ve all seen amazing before and after photos, the kind where the transformation is so huge it looks like two different people are posing. Here at Precision Nutrition, we literally have thousands of these jaw-dropping transformations.

But the photos only tell one small piece of the overall story of body transformation.

What really happens in the months between the photos? How do these people lose fat, gain lean muscle, and find their smile?

Well, in this video (and the accompanying article) we’ll tell you exactly what they did.  And how you can do it too. Simply click the play button to get started.

Over the past 10 years, our team has coached thousands of people in what many people consider to be the World’s Largest Body Transformation Program. We’ve helped thousands lose fat, get healthy, and change their lives.

The results have been incredible. To date, over 150,000 pounds have been lost and thousands of lives changed.

After working with all these people, and charting their progress and behavior changes, we’ve pinpointed 10 key lessons that makes the program work; lessons anyone can follow to achieve an amazing body transformation.

These are things that you can use immediately to help you lose fat and get healthy, no matter where you’re at now.

Lesson 1: Put nutrition before exercise.

When most people think about losing weight or getting in shape, they think about exercise. They sign up for a gym, hire a personal trainer, or grab a book or a magazine to find a workout plan. But while exercise is a crucial part of losing weight and getting healthy, I’d argue that it’s not the most important piece.

Research shows that with exercise alone you can expect to lose only about half a pound to one pound per month. That’s less than inspiring. Sad, really.

So if exercise alone gets dismal results, what does work? Simple: Focusing on nutrition and eating habits. With a program that combines both nutrition coaching and an exercise program, you can expect to lose five times more fat in the same one month period.

That’s why in Lean Eating we spend the majority of our time coaching nutrition. And that one detail makes a huge difference in the kind of results our clients get. Of course, you can’t ignore exercise. Which is why we also have one of the most comprehensive exercise programs on the web built into the program for free.

But when it comes to losing fat and getting in shape, we know the majority of our resources and time should be spent on helping clients with their nutrition and eating habits.

Takeaway: Yes, you should exercise.  But you must put nutrition first.

Lesson 2: Find a big motivator.

We’ve all heard that to make a big change, motivation must come from inside. And it’s true. We all need a “reason why” — a real purpose and a sense of why losing fat and getting in shape is important to us.

But sometimes you need extra motivation to actually start making change. You need a big motivator that pushes you into action.

In Lean Eating, we have our big motivator: Cash. And lots of it. Each round we give away $75,000 of our own money to clients who have the best body transformations.

We even fly across the country to surprise our Grand Prize winners at their homes or at their offices with giant checks.

Not only do our finalists and Grand Prize winners lose fat and completely change the way they look — they walk away with thousands of dollars. Now that’s motivation.

Takeaway: What’s your big motivation? How can you make it even bigger?

Lesson 3: Find something to lose.

Throughout our body transformation, we need to be held accountable. There needs to be something at stake, something to lose if we don’t follow through or if we drop out early.

In Lean Eating, we take away all of the risk to our clients by guaranteeing results as long as people stick with the program for the full year and do 80% of what we tell them to do. If they follow the program, they will have an amazing body transformation. If for whatever reason they don’t, we’ll give their money back, no questions asked.

But if they drop out on their own accord before the year is up — or if they don’t do at least 80% of what we ask — then we not only don’t give them their money back, we spend it on frivolous parties to celebrate their departure.

Okay, I’m just kidding about the party.  However, we do enforce client commitment. 

The principle here? The harder it is to quit, the easier it is to succeed.

Takeaway: Raise the stakes and put something at risk to keep you going.

Lesson 4: Choose proof over theory

Most people get lured into trying out untested theories, and have only disappointment and wasted time to show for it in the end.

No one wants to start an exercise or nutrition program where the success rate is zero. Yet a lot of people invest their time and money in something where they’re not quite sure if it works.

In Lean Eating, we take away all doubt by showing our clients’ before and after photos. These photos answer questions like:

“Does the program work?”
“Who else have you helped?”
“Are there people like me who’ve done this?”

If you’re looking for results, only commit to a program that can prove it actually works.   In Lean Eating, we show you exactly what the program is capable of, before you begin.  In fact, you can even talk to our clients directly on our forums.

That kind of transparency is only possible when a program really works. Success doesn’t hide.

Takeaway: Commit only to a proven program, and leave the theories for everyone else.

Lesson 5: Do one small thing each day.

My colleague Dan John once put it this way: “If something is important, do it every day; if it’s not important, don’t do it at all.”  That’s especially true in body transformation.

In Lean Eating, we reach out to you daily, and we give you one small act to do, each and every day. Any less, and you lose momentum; any more, you get overwhelmed.

Sadly, some people find this out the hard way. They make a heroic effort to change every part of their life, from the time they wake up in the morning to the kinds of foods they eat to adopting a new workout program and dozens of other changes.

This all-or-nothing attitude may work for a week or two, but pretty soon they’ll crash and burn and be right back where they started. That’s why it’s important to practice one small thing at a time instead of trying to make a mad-dash for the finish line.

In Lean Eating we don’t worry about the past or the future. We focus on TODAY.

We ask ourselves, “What healthy habit can our clients follow today that will propel them forward?”

These small, daily habits slowly stack on top of each other until eventually our clients have a healthy set of eating and exercise habits they practice consistently.

Takeaway: Turn your commitment into a single, daily action.

Lesson 6: Make it a little too easy.

Most people attempt to change too much at once. But that makes it nearly impossible to change anything at all.  That’s why whatever one small thing you decide to do, you must be confident that you can do it consistently. A habit doesn’t become a habit by practicing it only a few times.

In Lean Eating, on the other hand, we give our clients one thing to practice at a time, and we ask a simple question:

“On a scale of 1 to 10 — 1 being not confident, and 10 being very confident — how confident are you that you can do this one habit every day?”

If the answer is a 9 or a 10, you have your new habit and can start practicing it immediately. But if you answer anything other than a 9 or a 10, you need to make the habit easier until it becomes something you’re confident you can do consistently.

If your one small habit is to eat five servings of vegetables every day, you must answer with a 9 or 10 before starting. If you don’t answer with a 9 or a 10, you simply need to make it easier.

Instead of eating five servings of vegetables every day, could you eat 3? What about 2 servings of vegetables every day?  What about 1 serving of vegetables every day?

Whenever you can answer a 9 or a 10 — “Am I confident I can do this habit every day?” — you have your new habit.

During the process of scaling down your habit, you may realize it seems ridiculously simple. It may seem too easy. That’s perfect.

If it seems so easy that you have to roll your eyes, you know you can do it consistently. And you can gradually increase the difficulty over time.

Takeaway: Make everything you commit to easier until you have 90%+ confidence you can do it.

Lesson 7: Find someone to answer to.

You need someone in your corner who helps keep you accountable and picks you up when your motivation wanes.

In Lean Eating we send daily emails reminding our clients to log into our custom software to read and practice their new habits, go over the workouts, and chart their progress. In fact, once our clients log in, they have to answer either “yes” or “no” to a small selection of questions to let their coach know what they did.

Did they practice their new habit today?
Did they do their workout?
Did they read their new lesson?

If the client answers yes, they’ll click a box and a green check mark will appear on the screen. If they answer no, a red X will appear instead. Not only does this show the client how compliant to the program they are, it also shows their coach how the client is doing.

This accountability helps our clients stay on track even when things get tough. And of course, their coach is always there to help in whatever way they can.

Takeaway: Put someone in your corner to hold you accountable.

Lesson 8: Measure actions, not outcomes.

We can’t control outcomes, but we can control our actions that may lead to those outcomes. In other words, you can’t focus on losing 20 pounds since it’s an outcome that’s out of your control. Every day you step on the scale, you’re focusing on what you don’t have.

“I still have 17 pounds to go. I’m not even close to there yet. This is so frustrating.”

Instead of focusing on the outcome, our clients focus on their action, the small, healthy things they do consistently every day. Instead of focusing on what they don’t have, they turn their attention to what they do have.

“I’m going to do my workout today.”
“I’m going to practice my new habit and eat 5 servings of vegetables.”
“I’m going to read my lesson and contact my coach if I have a question.”

Actions practiced daily and built up over time, lead to amazing results. Focusing on outcomes only leads to frustration and despair.

Takeaway: Track what you have control over – your actions.

Lesson 9: Let your coach track results

While you’re busy with your daily habits and behaviors, you’ll need someone — a coach, a trainer, a friend who’s made a similar transformation — to monitor your progress and make small adjustments if needed.

This frees you to focus on the most important thing within your control: your daily behaviors.

In Lean Eating, our coaches closely monitor each client’s progress, photos, and daily compliance to see if their behaviors match their goals. If they do, our coaches are there to offer support and answer questions. But if the coach sees something that needs tweaking, they can make an educated decision to change one small thing to help steer the client back on the right path.

Takeaway: Find a coach or mentor to monitor your progress and save you from “wondering and worrying.”

Lesson 10: Choose a support group.

Here’s something you’ve probably heard before: “You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”

But this isn’t just some sound-byte. It really applies, especially when we’re talking about amazing body transformations.

People who have a strong network of friends, co-workers, family members, or even complete strangers on the Internet often have more dramatic transformations than someone who goes at it alone.

With a good support network you can connect with people when you’re excited, confused, or wondering what to do next. You’ll have people around you who can offer feedback, guidance, and support.

Our clients in Lean Eating have the ability to connect with their coach or with other Lean Eaters in the members-only forums. When you have a bunch of cool people all focused on one goal, it’s truly amazing what you can accomplish.

Takeaway: You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Choose wisely, and make sure to build a good support group.

10 Body Transformation Lessons from Lean Eating

There you have it; 10 lessons for an easier and more successful body transformation:

1. Realize that exercise alone doesn’t work.
2. Find a big motivator.
3. Find something to lose.
4. Choose proof over theory.
5. Do one small thing every day.
6. Make your commitments a little too easy.
7. Find someone to answer to.
8. Focus on behaviors, not outcomes.
9. Let your coach track the results.
10. Get a support network.

What To Do Next

So what do you do with all of this?  Here’s what: the key is to make one simple change right now. Don’t try tackling all 10 (that violates most of the lessons!)  Instead, take an inventory of which of the 10 you already have. Do you have a support network? How about mentor or a coach? If not, it’s time to get one.

Next, take an inventory of the things you don’t have.  Do you have confidence in the workout and nutrition program you’re following? Do you need to be less heroic and more in tune with your small daily habits?

Pick one thing, and start there.

Of course, in the Lean Eating coaching program, we take care of all 10 of those things and much more. If you’d like to work with us, we’d be happy to help. All you have to do is put your email on the waiting list below, and we’ll tell you exactly what to do next.

But remember — what you do is not nearly as important as actually doing something.  You won’t get anywhere if you don’t start.  So go through the 10 Lessons, pick one thing, and do it right now.

Because getting started is the most important lesson of all.

Click here to join the waiting list.

On January 4th, we accept a small group of new clients into the Lean Eating Coaching Program, our fat loss coaching program where you work with us personally to get in the best shape of your life. And this time, it’s bigger than ever, with $75,000 in prize money on the line for the best transformations in the group.

Each time we open the program to new clients, we get tons of questions about how it works, what we teach, what to expect, how to prepare — and especially this one:

“Is it right for me?”

(That one’s especially relevant if you have a special condition or circumstance.)

We take great care in personally answering every question we get about Lean Eating. So this time we’ve done something really cool. We’ve created a new forum where you can ask us ANY question about our coaching program and get a detailed answer — and about 90% of them, I answer myself.

You’ll also find all the other Lean Eating coaches on there, as well as past and current clients — and you can talk to them directly, anonymously if you like. So you’ll have access to anything you could possibly want to know about how we coach our clients so successfully.

How to ask a question:

If you already have a precisionnutrition.com account, just go to the Interested in Lean Eating 2011? forum and ask away.

If you don’t, you can create an account for free.

Or you can just browse around and see what questions other people are asking — that’s okay with us too.

We’re here to answer any questions you may have — just as we are for our clients in Lean Eating. Drop in, post a note about yourself and what you’re looking for, and we’ll give you personal feedback about the program and whether it fits your specific needs.

See you on the forums.

JB

Related Posts:

• Can $75,000 Help You Lose Fat?
• Meet Our Lean Eating Prize Winners: Jan 2011
• Meet Our Lean Eating Coaches
• Help Choose Our Men’s $25K Winners
• Help Choose Our Women’s $25K Winners
• Fat Loss Success Stories: The Guys
• Fat Loss Success Stories: The Girls
• Fat Loss Success Stories: The Couples

Click here to join the waiting list.

Check out the video below to meet our latest prize winners — and see us catch them off guard with oversized novelty checks at home and at work:

Lean Eating coaches Jason and Krista surprise our winners with $10,000 checks.

And there’s more: we gave away $50,000 in prize money to over 40 clients in the last round alone. (Scroll down for the “View runners up and honorable mentions” link to see their transformations.) By the way, that’s just part of the over $100,000 in prize money PN gave away to clients this year. And tomorrow? Well, we’ve got an announcement for you — we’re upping the stakes. More on that in a sec.

People, you’re making this very difficult for us.

First, I’ve gotta say: this choice was really, really tough. The last round of Lean Eating produced some of the most outstanding transformations – physical and lifestyle transformations – I’ve seen in my entire life. We spent months painstakingly going through all of our finalists’ data, listening to the PN community, and scheduling long meetings with the PN Team.

(Our criteria for choosing were measurement data, participation data, client attitude, coach feedback, community voting, and in-house voting by the PN team as well.)

In the end, although we had dozens of potential winners, we had to choose. There could only be two.

The $10,000 Grand-Prize Winner, LE for Women

Lean Eating for Women Grand Prize Winner - Toni Bauer

Toni’s Experience in the Lean Eating Coaching Program

I think that I will be processing my LE journey for a long time to come. Throughout my life I have drifted towards a healthy lifestyle and then back away from it. It was like I was always flirting with the idea of making the real commitment to change, to make a stand and say this is who I am, who I want to be, who I want the world to know me as.

This is the first time I feel like I have truly made an internal shift. When I began this journey almost one year ago, I felt defeated, claustrophobic, and in some ways stuck in my current physical and mental state of being. I knew that I needed something to jump-start a true change in the way that I was living. At that time I had been lurking on the PN forums for about a year and a half, too long really!

So I made the choice that changed my defeated attitude to the one where I feel capable of tackling challenges as they come, and even seeking out a few of my own. Truly, I have learned so many things about myself and my approach to life in the program.

In particular, I learned about self forgiveness. Perfection is not achievable. It’s an unrealistic goal that used to leave me paralyzed into inactivity. Now I am much better at getting done what can get done and moving on.

One of my favorite lessons is “What are you going to do in the next three minutes to move you toward your goal?” Some days this means just adding an extra cup of spinach to my meal to make sure that I am getting in an extra serving of veggies. And some-days it just means getting down for 20 quick push-ups. As long as the next three minutes get me closer to my goal.

I use this in other areas of my life now too. It helps me break up the house cleaning instead of putting it off. I do what I can in the next three minutes before deciding what to do next.

Even my marriage has become better throughout the year. My husband and I now have a common goal around creating an environment in our home that reflects and supports our active lifestyle.

Of course, I still have my days where I feel frustrated and overwhelmed. But they come farther apart these days, thanks to what I learned in the program. I’m 40 pounds leaner, but definitely not meaner.

The $10,000 Grand-Prize Winner, LE for Men

Lean Eating for Men winner David Sell smiling proudly with Coach Jason

David’s Experience in the Lean Eating Coaching Program

The mental shift that I have experienced during the past year of LE is phenomenal. My relationship with food has changed. I am not dieting. This is the way I am choosing to live my life.

I think for me the biggest benefit of this past year has been the mental aspect of the program. I have always been told that it’s OK to be big. I was an offensive lineman so being a big guy was an essential part of the job. I am not that same guy anymore. I want to be lean and fit for the rest of my life. The Lean Eating program has helped me to make tremendous strides in obtaining that goal.

There were some difficult times throughout the year, all ranging from family members not being supportive and becoming frustrated, to self doubt. The whole range of emotions came into play at one time or another during the course of the year.

With the help of my coach (Jay Bonn) and the LE assignments I was able to identify them and work through them without turning to food. The issue that I had with regard to my weight was a mental one. The Lean Eating program helped me identify that. It has given me the tools to get over those obstacles.

What I learned is that there will be ups and downs along the way. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Lasting change takes time, I did not get fat overnight so my journey to the lean and fit body that I will have will not occur overnight as well.

These are but a small portion of my experiences of the past year of Lean Eating. I cannot wait to see what the next year has to offer!

Our Lean Eating $1,000 Runners Up and $500 Honorable Mentions

In addition to our Grand Prize winners, we decided to do something special this year and award all our finalists with a piece of the $50K in prize money. 10 men and 10 women each won $1,000 as our Lean Eating runners up; another 22 clients took home $500 each for honorable mention.

Click here to see our 42 runners up and honorable mention winners.

What would you do with $10,000 and the best body of your life?

Each year, our Lean Eating Coaching Program helps hundreds of clients get in the best shape of their lives, often with dramatic fat loss.

As a bonus incentive to keep our clients going when the going gets tough, we put up cash prizes for the best body transformation stories. Last round there was $50,000 up for grabs; for our next program – starting January 4th – the prize money is going up even higher.

And tomorrow, we’ll tell you exactly how much is at stake.

Our next Lean Eating Coaching Program begins in January 2012.

Because our coaches put so much into the Lean Eating Coaching Program, we can only coach a small number of people each round, and there are always more people who want in than spots available. So our solution is to offer the people who sign up for the presale list an early bird chance to register for a spot, 24 hours before the general public.

It’s our way of rewarding those who are the most eager and motivated, because in our experience they make the best clients. No matter where you are right now, we can help you get where you want to be — as long as you’re willing to take the first step.

So to get in the best shape of your life, put your name on the waiting list below, because spots typically sell out in hours.

Click here to join the waiting list.

But they’re not just physique magicians, internet sadists, and keyboard jockeys. They’re also real people with real lives, real experiences, and real world challenges of their own.

They’ve done what you’ve done. They’ve been where you are. That’s what makes them so darn good.

This isn’t just a fat-loss coaching job for them. No, they’re doing this to give something meaningful and important to their clients. Heck, they’re doing this to change the world.

Now who wouldn’t want a coach like that?

Lean Eating Women’s Coaches

Krista Schaus

A former cop turned personal trainer and coach, Krista Schaus is a hard-nosed, compassionate coach who’s seen her own share of ups and downs. See-sawing between euphoric confidence and down-in-the-dumps depression throughout the years, Krista sometimes hid her true feelings behind a thick armor of muscle and a brilliant smile. She looked in charge, but rarely felt as if she were.

“I used to be afraid of disappointing people,” she says. “Then I realized my challenges help them.”

After a physically and emotionally draining 2010, she decided to strip away the protective armor piece by piece and re-build.

The new Krista now keeps it real.

“I dug into who I really was, and gave myself permission to be vulnerable,” she says. “I can let my clients see the real me: someone who’s passionate and professional.”

Honesty, self-love, support, and a little bit of weight lifting? Krista discovered those are the keys to a life well lived.

Click here to read Krista’s story

Kate Kline

A hard-working, straight-A student, Kate Kline was the epitome of the overachiever who loved being the overachiever. In high school she was defined by her grades and her willingness to out-hustle anyone, a quality that shone when she ran track as a ninth grader.

But hard work quickly turned into compulsion. After a year of running as much as 100 miles per week, Kate was starting to scare everyone around her. Her parents hid her running shoes. Her friends commented on how skinny she was getting. But none of it hit home for Kate until, stripped of all nourishment, she collapsed in the middle of a run.

That day at the hospital she weighed in at 74 pounds at 5’7″. That’s when she knew it was time for a serious change. She finished high-school with straight A’s and did the same in college.

She started reading about behavioral change and exercise science. She traded in the running shoes for barbells and dumbbells and slowly started building a healthy body and mind, enlisting the help of Krista Schaus, a fellow Lean Eating coach.

After overcoming her old habits and adopting healthy ones, Kate Kline is still a hard-worker. She’s still a bit of an overachiever. The only difference? She channels all her energy into being the best person — and the best Lean Eating coach — she can possibly be.

Click here to read Kate’s story

Cynthia Berg

A former chain-smoking, whiskey-swilling Marine, Cynthia thrived on intense training, challenges, and stress. But when she left the military and started a “normal life”, she was surprised at how quickly she lost herself. Her career stalled. Her marriage ended. She didn’t recognize herself in the mirror any longer.

70 pounds overweight but “starving in every way possible”, she signed up for Lean Eating in 2009 to change her eating habits and maybe her life. Both happened.

After losing the weight and winning the $10,000 grand prize, Cynthia invested the money into her own education. She wanted to help people like her lose weight and get healthy. Her investment paid off big time.

Now a full-fledged Lean Eating coach, Cynthia helps hundreds of women every year lose fat, gain confidence, and get healthy.

Click here to read Cynthia’s story

Georgie Fear

As a teenager and young adult, Georgie, like millions of other girls, was convinced that in order to be beautiful she had to be skinny.

“I thought, ‘If I’m pretty or thin, then maybe people will like me!’” she says. “And I became absolutely obsessed with cutting calories, being thin, being attractive, just wanting so bad for other people to like what they saw in me.”

So Georgie started exercising in the best way she knew how: running mile after mile. After trying out for track and seeing the look on her coach’s face, however, she had to face facts: her body just wasn’t built to run.

But when that same coach handed her a Shot Put, Georgie learned her body was built for tossing heavy things and lifting weights. This, she knew, was where she could excel.

So she started working out in the gym, lifting weights and throwing discus. She learned how to fuel her body to build lean muscle and drop fat, knowledge she gained as a grad student at Rutgers in nutrition, and now passes on to women in the Lean Eating coaching program.

No longer obsessed with being thin, Georgie now loves her body for what it is: strong, sexy, and healthy. And she wants to help other women feel the same.

“A lot of times I think that coming through this awful fragility makes me stronger,” she says, remembering her teens and early twenties. “And it’s been a tremendous asset in my counselling and coaching.”

Click here to read Georgie’s story

Erin Weiss-Trainor

Whether it’s food, time, work, or movement, Erin Weiss-Trainor focuses on quality above all else. How else could she be an awesome mom and an awesome coach at the same time?

A mother of three young athletic boys, she’s used to being the hub of all activity whether she’s at the house or the ice hockey rink (two places she spends a good chunk of time).

Good thing for PN that she has lots of practice.

As a Lean Eating coach, content manager, and customer service ninja, Erin has a hand in virtually every aspect of PN, a commitment she takes seriously.

But don’t think all this responsibility stops her from focusing on herself every day. Whether she’s in the gym, out for a run, or simply shutting her office door for a little peace and quiet, Erin has learned how to live fit and healthy while juggling a bustling family and rewarding career that helps change people’s lives.

Click here to read Erin’s story

Lean Eating Men’s Coaches

Ryan Andrews

A meat-eating nationally-ranked bodybuilder in his late teens, Ryan Andrews was defined by the gym and the muscles he built. But in 2001, after years of binging and dieting, he realized he didn’t actually know how to eat and be healthy.

“Bodybuilding was the best and the worst thing that ever happened to me,” he says reflectively.

Thus began his real education.

After years of grad school and a dietitian internship at John Hopkins Medical Center, Ryan emerged as a vegan, proponent of good nutrition, and world-class world-saver.

Now when he’s not giving out food in Africa or volunteering in the lunch room of his local elementary school, he coaches hundreds of men every year to help them get in the best shape of their lives.

Click here to read Ryan’s story

Jay Bonn

A fit and muscular high school athlete with good grades, Jay Bonn seemed to be the kid that had it all. And to a point, he did. But his shyness and inability to talk with other people clouded his on-field and scholastic achievements, robbing them of their luster.

He was a good guy and everyone knew it, a damn good elementary teacher and, later, a damn good Lean Eating coach. He just didn’t say much. But in a job where talking with clients is not suggested but mandatory, Jay knew he had to tackle his shyness head-on.

After a few internships at high-level performance gyms and lots of practice with his Lean Eating clients, Coach Jay learned to come out from behind his soft smile and the relative safety of his computer screen and engage with people to help them change their bodies and lives.

He’s always held himself to a high-standard, as a coach and as a person. Conquering his shyness was just one more step to being the best coach he could be.

Click here to read Jay’s story

Roland Fisher

Here’s the thing about discomfort: it often masquerades as pain. Roland knows the difference. He’s experienced both.

With a laundry list of injuries and traumatic accidents, it’s a miracle he’s even alive, let alone thriving. He spent years “wondering and worrying” about how his past injuries and pain would affect his daily life, what kinds of things he wouldn’t be able to do. But then he learned to deal with the reality of the situation.

“Most things are just made-up pains,” he says. “Hunger, gym pain, awkwardness of telling friends, fears… all of these are discomfort, not pain. When it’s really serious, you can break down, you can wallow, and of course you do, at times. But mostly, it’s just pain. It hurts, sure. Yet it’s never as scary as most people think.” When Roland realized that, he started enjoying himself more.

Now he spends a few hours per week in the gym, past injuries be damned. He lives a healthy lifestyle and takes control of the things he has control over. The rest of it? It’ll all take care of itself eventually.

He lives in the now and helps his clients do the same.

“This job is about people, about contribution,” he says. “It’s about love in the different ways and meanings. As a coach, my practice is about my clients’ goals, lives, and making them successful.”

Click here to read Roland’s story

John Berardi

Through his books and articles, it’s estimated that Dr. John Berardi has published nearly a million words.

Most deal with how to build a lean, healthy body through eating and exercising. They represent years of research, practice, and a knack for distilling complicated information into bite-sized action steps.

Some words — the ones full of personality and life experience — hint at the “real John Berardi”, the man behind the computer screen, the enigma thousands of readers have tried to piece together from interviews, articles, and video clips.

Yet even the diligent reader is left with a bit of a skeleton — only a partial understanding of what makes him tick.

Because, despite the million words Berardi has written, only a few thousand have been written about him. And, for a better understanding of who JB really is, it’s those words that add the flesh and the blood.

Click here to read Dr Berardi’s story

Lean Eating coaching for men and women coming in July; join the waiting list today

Become a part of the “world’s largest body transformation program,” transform your own body, and maybe even win $25,000 in the process – all by joining the July 2012 Lean Eating Coaching Group. We accept a very small number of new clients every 6 months, and the spots in the program typically sell out in hours. However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the waiting list get to register on 24 hours before everyone else. So put your name on the list below — because, as always, spots are first come, first serve, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Click here to join the waiting list.