To be a life-changing fitness pro, you need to take responsibility for both the advice you offer, and your client’s ability to follow that advice. Yes, even those “difficult clients.” The ones other fitness professionals tell you to fire.

Here at Precision Nutrition, we don’t fire our clients. We take a completely different approach.

In this 4 part video series – filmed live at the 2011 Perform Better Summit in Long Beach, California – we’ll share that approach with you. And, by the end of the series, you’ll be better equipped to get unbelievable results with every type of client you work with. Even the challenging ones.

For now, simply click the play button below to get started with Part 2 of The Compliance Solution.  (If you missed part 1, click here).  The video is about 15 minutes in length.

For the past four years now, Precision Nutrition has coached over 8,000 clients to lose over 150,000 pounds of fat. Weight is lost, behaviors are slowly modified, and lives are changed for the better.

The really cool thing is, our coaches rarely meet clients in person — all coaching is done online.

Now these results wouldn’t have been possible without understanding the power of change psychology, specifically helping clients modify their daily practices and get past common stumbling blocks.  Indeed, it’s only when we switched from an exercise and nutrition focus to a change focus that we saw a huge leap forward in our success rate.

Of course, our data support this approach.  Compared to our earlier example – where only 55% of patients are compliant with their life-saving medications – our coaching system yields, on average, over 70% compliance.

In other words, for every 10 workouts or nutrition habits prescribed, our clients do about 7 of them.

That’s a pretty awesome accomplishment considering that people take their prescription medications only 5 out of 10 times. Plus, we’re asking a lot more of them than to swallow some magic pill.

The question, however, is this: how do we get these kinds of results? Well, there are four key lessons I’d like to share with you over the course of the next few videos.

First up…

Lesson #1: Coach To Both Sides of the Brain

You may have heard that the brain can be split up into two sides: a left side (or hemisphere) and a right side (or hemisphere). You may have also learned that everyone is dominant in one side or the other. While things are a bit more complicated than that, we can use this as an interesting model for coaching change.

According to the hemispheric model…the left brain is the logical side and it’s responsible for:

• Logic and analytical thinking
• Rationality and reason
• Forming strategies and creating structure

On the other side is the right brain, and it’s responsible for:

• Intuition and emotion
• Holistic thinking and pattern recognition
• Creating art, beauty, and using imagination

Unfortunately, most of us spend all our time appealing to the left side. We talk sets and reps, calorie expenditure, disease risk rates, macronutrients, target heart rate, and nutrient timing.

It’s a lot like math. And when clients fail to understand and appreciate a subject we think is especially important, we give them an equally left-brained handout or website to read.

The problem? Most of our decision making (whether we like it or not) is more right-brained than left. So, by appealing to reason alone, we get the classic situation where clients think they know exactly what to do. But they simply feel like they can’t do it.

The solution? Start speaking to their right brain.

In the great book Switch, authors Chip and Dan Heath use the metaphor of a rider with a whip, steering an elephant.

• The elephant is the emotional brain.
• The rider with the whip is the logical brain.
• The path they’re walking is the environment.

As with any new change scenario, the elephant (emotional brain) may be scared, especially when it perceives the change to be difficult or uncomfortable. And fear brings resistance.

Of course, the rider (logical brain) has the reigns and a whip. So he can steer, prod, and lash that frightened elephant. However, that never lasts long. The rider always gets tired and, after that, the elephant goes where it wants.

Here’s the point: the rational brain can only control the emotional brain for so long, and that’s exhausting to do. As a coach, it’s far more effective to get the elephant and the rider on the same page by minimizing fear.

In addition, the Heath brothers introduce another concept called “shaping the path.” In essence, it means helping clear away of temptations and roadblocks before they become an issue. It means helping make daily practices automatic so that they’re habitual and don’t use up our precious willpower reserves.

Here are just a few examples of strategies for shaping the path:

• To stay committed to a morning workout, lay out your workout clothes the night before.
• To avoid food temptations, get rid of the cookie jar and candy bowls around the office.
• To avoid skipping workouts, pay for training sessions in advance.

There are hundreds of other examples we could use here but the point is this: most fitness professionals have spent their careers focusing exclusively on their own left-brained learning.  And while their heads are full of interesting physiology, biochemistry, and mathematics, they’re poorly equipped when it comes to helping real people make meaningful change.

To overcome this problem, it’s essential to spend some time doing some right-brained work.  As a professional, this time spent will mean a huge leap forward in client results.

Wrap-Up and Today’s Takeaways

That’s it for Part 2 of The Compliance Solution. In just a few days we’ll be back with Part 3 of the video series, and a few additional lessons.

In the meantime, here are four important takeaway messages for you to think about.

• Switching from a focus on exercise physiology alone to a balanced focus on physiology and change psychology is an important first step to getting remarkable client results.

• As a coach, you must focus on both sides of the brain. Taking a strictly rational/logical approach to behavior change will create clients who think they know what to do. But feel like they can’t do it.

• By working with deep motivation and recognizing the role of the emotional brain in decision-making we can prevent rider fatigue and better facilitate change.

• We can also go one step further by helping clients shape the path to health and fitness.

PN Certification Program begins Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 — waiting list now open.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to deliver life-changing, research-driven nutrition coaching – so that you can help each and every type of client that comes to you for advice – the PN Certification program is perfect for you.

Based on over 10 years of research and statistical data from over 8,000 clients, the certification is a comprehensive nutrition coaching course designed specifically to teach professionals working in a personal training or strength coaching environment how to get clients in the best shape of their lives.

We’ve opened the waiting list for the March 2012 program. I strongly recommend you get your name on the list now because spots are limited and typically sell out within hours each time we run the program.

Click here to join the waiting list.

To be a life-changing fitness pro, you need to take responsibility for both the advice you offer, and your client’s ability to follow that advice.  Yes, even those “difficult clients.” The ones other fitness professionals tell you to fire.

Here at Precision Nutrition, we don’t fire our clients.  We take a completely different approach.

In this 4 part video series – filmed live at the 2011 Perform Better Summit in Long Beach, California – we’ll share that approach with you.  And, by the end of the series, you’ll be better equipped to get unbelievable results with every type of client you work with.  Even the challenging ones.

For now, simply click the play button below to get started with Part 1 of The Compliance Solution.  The video is about 15 minutes in length.

Problem clients…it’s okay to admit it, we all have them.

Some appear to be “great clients” at first. They show up for all their training appointments. They listen attentively when we talk about nutrition and lifestyle. Some even memorize shopping lists, calorie counts, and meal plans.

Despite all this, they sometimes get poor results.

So we push them harder during the workouts, give them less food, add more cardio, and cycle their calories. But, as the weeks turn into months, nothing changes.

The client is frustrated, we’re frustrated, and left with only one logical explanation: they’re lying. They can’t possibly be doing what we recommend.

Other clients never even get that far.

While they’re present for all training appointments, they won’t even pretend to care about nutrition and lifestyle change. Indeed, when it’s time to talk their diet and their daily practices: They. Just. Never. Listen.

We’re Not Just Educators; We’re Coaches

When faced with difficult clients, many of us throw up our hands. “It’s not our fault!” we exclaim. We can only provide the education. It’s our client’s job to do the rest. Right?

Well, not exactly.

Over the past 10 years, the Precision Nutrition team has coached thousands of people in what many people consider to be the World’s Largest Body Transformation Program. We’ve helped them 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.

We’ve also spent a tremendous amount of time learning subjects that traditionally go beyond the boundaries of exercise and nutrition; including coaching theory, change psychology, and neuroscience.

And, after working with all these people, charting their progress and behavior changes, and applying the latest exercise, nutrition, and coaching strategies — only one conclusion can be drawn. Helping clients change, using the best practices of change psychology, is the only way to have long-term success in this field.

In other words, helping clients take the next positive step in their lives — and knowing what steps are right for them — is the key to becoming a life-changing fitness professional.

Compliance and The Medical Field

Make no mistake, coaching people through their struggles with compliance isn’t always easy. However, it’s not a challenge reserved for fitness pros.

I was shocked when I first learned that doctors report embarrassingly low compliance rates when prescribing life-saving heart disease, diabetes, and cancer medications. In fact, the latest data suggest that patients take these medications only half the time.

Scary, for sure.  Also a little intimidating since, as fitness pros, we’re asking our clients to do much more than swallow a magic pill. Exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle changes; they’re a bit more involved.

What’s Your Success Rate?

Keeping compliance issues in mind, typically, if a trainer has 20 clients in their roster, their client breakdown looks something like this:

• 1 client experiences jaw-dropping results
• 9 clients experience decent results, but could be better
• 6 clients experience poor results
• 5 clients drop out

It’s a little disturbing.  And I should know, I’ve been there.

I began my career as a trainer and I can tell you that I struggled through the same challenges.  I wondered: why are more than half my clients getting poor results or dropping out?  And why are so few of my clients achieving jaw-dropping transformations?

At the time, my solution was to learn more.  So off to grad school I went.

What I Didn’t Learn In Grad School

After a few years in the field, I decided to go back to graduate school.  I figured I needed to learn more about exercise and nutrition so I could help my clients achieve those jaw-dropping transformations they were all after.

Five years later, after spending a ridiculous amount of time and money earning a PhD in exercise and nutritional science, I was a little disappointed. While I wouldn’t trade my grad school experiences for the world, when I got back out into the field I wasn’t much further along.

I learned that it wasn’t the high level physiology stuff that was tripping my clients up.  Instead, it was the simple habits and practices built into their daily lives.  Unfortunately I hadn’t learned anything about helping clients with those.

In other words, I can tell you something with authority: what’s missing from your programs isn’t a mystery nutrient or exercise protocol.  What’s missing is something called change psychology.

For me, when I realized this, I completely reworked our coaching approach here at Precision Nutrition. And the more we learned about change psychology, the better the results our clients achieved.

Learning The Basics of Change Psychology

If you’re interested in learning more about this dynamic field, the best way to get acquainted is to read a few excellent, and landmark, books:

• The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson and colleagues
• Switch by Chip and Dan Heath
• The Blackmail Diet by John Bear
• Motivational Interviewing by William R. Miller PhD, Stephen Rollnick PhD.

These books will open your eyes to a whole new way of coaching.

For example, one of my biggest ah-ha moments came when reading Motivational Interviewing.  Until I read this book it never really occurred to me that with my coaching strategies I could be making my clients less likely to change.

That’s right, even with the best of intentions, even if I deeply care about helping my clients, my own agenda, even my language, could literally make my clients less able to make important changes in their lives.

Powerful stuff.  Lessons we all need to learn if we want to be the best fitness pros we can be.

Wrap-Up and Today’s Takeaways

That’s it for Part 1 of The Compliance Solution.  In just a few days we’ll be back with Part 2 of the video series.

In the meantime, here are three important takeaway messages for you to think about.

• Real world coaching requires a mix of physiology and psychology. And psychology is perhaps the most important of the two.

• To improve your knowledge of change psychology, I recommend starting with Motivational Interviewing.  It’s the best book on coaching behavior change that I’ve ever read; the insights come fast and furious.

• For most clients their biggest stumbling block is compliance, the ability to do what they know they should do. Understanding how to help them overcome their limiting factors is the most important skill you can have as a coach.

PN Certification Program begins Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 — waiting list now open.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to deliver life-changing, research-driven nutrition coaching – so that you can help each and every type of client that comes to you for advice – the PN Certification program is perfect for you.

Based on over 10 years of research and statistical data from over 8,000 clients, the certification is a comprehensive nutrition coaching course designed specifically to teach professionals working in a personal training or strength coaching environment how to get clients in the best shape of their lives.

We’ve opened the waiting list for the March 2012 program. I strongly recommend you get your name on the list now because spots are limited and typically sell out within hours each time we run the program.

Click here to join the waiting list.

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.

Eat less and exercise more.  It’s generally a great prescription for improving health and improving body composition.  However, it doesn’t always work.

In a small number of people, even with an awesome exercise plan and a rock-solid diet, the results are less than stellar.  They suffer from mysterious symptoms and complaints that they just shouldn’t be experiencing based on how much effort they put into their fitness and health. 

Make no mistake; exercise and nutrition can make everyone better.  But, for some people, it doesn’t take them all the way.  Because there’s a physiological log-jam.  Something on the inside that’s preventing their progress.

Here at Precision Nutrition, when we meet clients who have issues that exercise and nutrition – not to mention their own doctors – can’t seem to solve, there’s one guy we call.  His name is Bryan Walsh. 

Dr. Walsh has a sharp mind, a fitness background, a degree in naturopathic medicine, and extensive additional training and certifications. His wife is a naturopath too. (We bet his kids are the healthiest on the planet.)

So, when clients have nowhere else to turn, Dr. Walsh turns from mild-mannered dad and husband into forensic physiologist. He pulls out his microscope, analyzes blood, saliva, urine, lifestyle – whatever he has to. And he frees up the physiological jam.

That’s why, when Dr. Walsh volunteered to work on a monthly case study feature with us, we jumped at the chance. By following along with these fascinating cases, you’ll see exactly how a talented practitioner thinks; and you’ll also learn how to improve your own health.

In today’s case, we’ll meet a client who came to Dr. Walsh with a single complaint: adult acne. However, upon further investigation, Dr. Walsh discovered that she was suffering from problems with her sex hormones, blood sugar, and stress hormones.

Learn how “Doctor Detective” Walsh unraveled the mystery and helped this client achieve surprising results.

The client

It’s not every day that a young woman with a great diet, exercise plan, and attitude walks into my office with health complaints. Lots of them, in fact. That got my attention right away.

Jill was 34 and healthy. But she had adult acne. Yeah, acne – y’know, the stuff you’re supposed to grow out of, right around the time you lose your crush on Justin Bieber and quit breaking into your parents’ liquor cabinet? Well, Jill’s acne never got the memo that it was time to move on.

Jill was a woman on a mission. She’d been to many conventional doctors who merely put her on a variety of topical and oral medications, which included antibiotics (minocycline, tetracycline, clindamycin), as well as Differin®, Retin A, and azelaic acid. When that didn’t work, she tried alternative treatments such as natural acne washes, zinc and chromium supplementation, and honey masks.

Nothing helped. Doctors told her nothing was wrong, and that she’d just have to live with the breakouts.

After two years of trying everything, not only was her acne unimproved, but she now experienced frequent urinary tract infections (likely from the antibiotics). She was frustrated. She knew something was wrong.

But what? She looked fit and healthy. She ate well on an organic diet. She exercised regularly. At 5’9” and 130 lb, her weight was normal. She was even upbeat and positive.

Yet acne was only one of her issues.

Jill believed she also had hormone imbalances. She’d been trying to get pregnant for 10 years with no luck. She and her husband had pretty much given up on her dream of having a baby.

The client’s signs and symptoms

I examined Jill when she came into my office. She had significant acne and mild facial hair growth. Other than low blood pressure (100/70), all other physical exam findings were normal.

I dug deeper, scribbling notes as I went. Jill described the following:

Aha, I thought. Based on her medical history, her signs and her symptoms thus far, Jill’s probably experiencing blood sugar issues (i.e. reactive hypoglycemia), sex hormone imbalances, digestive dysfunction, and possible adrenal hormone imbalances.

After being “Doctor Detective” for many years, I like to think my instincts are pretty good. Still, I’m a cautious guy. I don’t like to jump to conclusions. So I turned to the diagnostic tests for confirmation.

The tests and assessments

Taking a good medical history and critically evaluating symptoms often tells you everything you need to know about a case. However, there are some things you can’t learn just from asking questions.

I can’t see into clients’ blood vessels or cells, or guess the chemistry of their urine. Lab testing gives me insight that I can’t get from conversation. In fact, labwork is one of the most useful tools in my arsenal.

I like to start small with some basic tests. Sometimes these are all I need. I always start with a good blood chemistry panel plus a salivary hormone panel. Jill is also a candidate for a digestive function panel, but we opted against it for now.

The test results

Blood chemistry panel

When read correctly, a good blood chemistry panel speaks volumes about a patient’s internal physiological processes. Here are some of the significant findings from Jill’s blood chemistry panel:

You’ll notice that even though none of these values were outside the lab reference range, I still flagged some of them as problematic. Why?

Well, what most people don’t realize is that, except for lipids (cholesterol, HDL, LDL, etc), the range provided by the laboratory is derived from blood samples taken from people visiting their doctor. In other words, sick people. Healthy people go to the doctor far less often than sick ones do.

Therefore when your doctor says your blood work is “normal”, s/he’s really saying: “You are as healthy as 90 percent of people visiting the doctor today” and “Congratulations! You probably don’t have a weird unusual disease!”

That’s not enough for me. I don’t just want to know that people are surviving. I want to know how to make them thrive.

So we look at blood panels a different way: as a means to evaluate health and optimal function.

In addition to the findings above, we also saw evidence of possible dehydration (slightly elevated albumin, hemoglobin and hematocrit) on the blood chemistry, which could be masking an anemic tendency on her blood work. If someone is dehydrated, their anemia will be harder, if not impossible, to spot on a blood chemistry test.

Is it plausible there are a lot of dehydrated anemic patients walking around today being told there is nothing wrong with them today? You bet. More than most people realize.

Hormone panel

Hormonally, Jill had a number of things going on.

We ran a month-long female hormone panel to track her hormones over the course of an entire month. The results appear in the graph below. Note that normal estrogen for a female cycle is in blue, normal progesterone is in red. Jill’s results are in dashed green.

Hormone panel results - click to enlarge

Based on this graph, you can see that Jill has fairly normal progesterone levels and timing, but estrogen starts and ends elevated throughout the entire month. This tells us that estrogen is dominant. This consistently high level of estrogen, and its effects on her tissues, helps explain many of her symptoms during menses.

But perhaps the most significant finding with regard to her acne was what we found when testing her testosterone.

Although many people assume that testosterone is a “male” hormone and estrogen is a “female” hormone, both men and women produce both types of hormones. They just differ in the relative amounts.

Elevated testosterone in women is more common than people realize. High testosterone causes everything from infertility, low libido, mood issues, difficulty losing weight, to the more obvious signs like acne and facial hair growth.

As far as Jill’s acne was concerned, we felt this was the smoking gun we were looking for.

Cortisol panel

To add insult to injury, Jill also showed chronically low cortisol levels throughout the day (as you can see below — her results are mapped on the blue line), which is consistent with reactive hypoglycemia.

Cortisol, also known as a glucocorticoid, has powerful influences on maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. When people with low cortisol skip meals, their blood sugar drops too low, and epinephrine is released as a backup plan to increase glucose. It is epinephrine that causing the shakiness, lightheadedness, and irritability experienced between meals.

Cortisol panel results - click to enlarge

The prescription

We may be “health gunslingers for hire”, but we ain’t supplement junkies. Nor do we respect practitioners that send patients out with grocery bags of supplements. It’s simply not necessary. Some people need more than others, but there is no need to take a supplement without proof that you need it.

We also don’t believe in protocols for specific conditions. For example we don’t have an acne protocol, or even an acne supplement. Instead, we look at which physiological pathways are dysfunctional and seek to improve those pathways using targeted nutritional approaches.

That being said, let’s find out what we did for Jill.

Issue #1 – Blood sugar imbalances

Her symptoms and blood work (low LDH) suggested reactive hypoglycemia, otherwise known as excessive blood sugar fluctuations. This is critical to address, as reactive hypoglycemia in women often increases testosterone production.

It’s crucial for women with this condition to eat small, frequent meals, whether they feel hungry or not. Anytime Jill feels lightheaded or shaky between meals, she’s waited too long and created hormone havoc in her body. Addressing low cortisol will also help correct her blood sugar fluctuations.

Issue #2 – Vitamin deficiencies

Jill seemed to be deficient in a number of nutrients (vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin C, zinc) solely based on her blood work, so we gave her a high-potency multivitamin-mineral called Complete Multi by Designs for Health (2 caps, three times a day).

We also gave her additional sublingual vitamin B12 (1mg three times a day), as digestive issues can inhibit vitamin B12 absorption. This was designed to help what appeared to be a sub-clinical macrocytic anemia.

Issue #3 – Digestive dysfunction

We had Jill start with a three-week elimination diet to help reduce gut inflammation caused by possible food sensitivities. We also supplemented digestive enzymes (Digestzyme by Designs for Health, 2-3 capsule per meal). Later in her protocol, we also put her on Designs for Health Probiotics Supreme (2 caps a day) to help combat the assumed dysbiosis she had from antibiotic use.

Issue #4 – Hormone imbalances

We needed to eliminate her excess hormones, specifically estrogen and testosterone. This is most easily accomplished by improving liver and gall bladder detoxification pathways, since this is the primary pathway steroid hormones are cleared out of the body. Specifically we used Designs for Health Amino-D-Tox (2 caps, three times a day), LV/GB (one cap three times a day) and Clearvite by Apex Energetics (one scoop three times a day, which also addresses gastrointestinal health).

Issue #5 – Adrenal imbalances

Normally we don’t address adrenal imbalances right away. Rather we support other systems for a period of time, re-evaluate, and see if anything improved. However, given that high testosterone was a key finding, we needed to address the low cortisol to stop the vicious hormonal cycle happening anytime her blood sugar got too low. We prescribed an adaptogenic formula called Adaptocrine by Apex Energetics (2 caps, three times a day) designed to help support the body’s stress response.

Obviously there were other things to address, and additional directions we could go, but this was enough for the next 12 weeks, at which time we’d redo lab testing and evaluate her symptoms.

While this may seem like a lot, it’s all for good reason. For example, if her testosterone is high, we need to stop its overproduction (i.e. due to blood sugar fluctuations) and get rid of the excess levels (i.e. liver support).

The outcome

A few weeks after finishing the protocol, Jill submitted follow-up blood chemistry panel and salivary hormone testing. However, while we were pleased with her symptom improvement, we were initially puzzled by the lab results.

Symptomatically, Jill reported a complete resolution of her acne. She also had an “abundance of energy”, no more gas and bloating, emotional balance for the first time in 10 years, and she felt “happier and more alive” than she had in a long time.

Mission accomplished, right? Not really.

Her testosterone had lowered considerably from 67 pg/ml down to 15 pg/ml, which is a good thing. However her estrogen and progesterone remained very elevated. And now she had high glucose, alkaline phosphatase, white blood cells, and lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides).

Not exactly the direction we wanted to go. Scratching our head we wondered where we went wrong, and where we were going to go next.

But then we got our answer.

One week later, we had our answer. Jill was finally pregnant! As she told us in an excited email:

“…Yet the best, most joyous and most unexpected result was … I found out that I was pregnant! Never in million years did my husband and I think we could fall pregnant with the current state of my hormones and so quickly, after addressing my health concerns.”

Her pregnancy explained the odd lab values that came back post testing. So yes, apparently mission accomplished.

Summary

So what can we take away from Jill’s story?

1. Symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia, including shakiness, lightheadedness and irritability between meals are often correlated with low cortisol.
2. Blood sugar fluctuations will almost always cause hormone imbalances in women, specifically elevated testosterone.
3. High testosterone in women can result in mood issues (i.e. depression), infertility, difficulty losing weight, low libido, as well as external manifestations such as acne and facial hair growth.
4. Getting rid of excess testosterone requires balancing blood sugar to slow down its production, and supporting liver detoxification pathways to clear out the excess that is already present.

In the next article . . .

Jill contacted us a year later, elated with a new baby boy, but with a whole new set of symptoms: extreme fatigue, depression, and difficult weight loss.

We ran a blood chemistry, and it showed a very high TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) coupled with low thyroxine and T3 (Thyroid hormones).  However, low thyroid hormone was not her primary issue.  Her problems were being caused by something very common today, which we’ll cover next month.

Stay tuned, detectives.

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.