Basic Guide to Eat to Perform

A lot of people have asked me questions on Eat to Perform and how to get started. I strongly encourage if you are interested that you buy the book, as you also get access to their online forum (I am not affiliated nor sponsored by them so not making any sort of commission on referring this, sadly, just love it!). The forum has moderators that will answer any and all questions about your training, food timing, food quantity and quality, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

But it you aren’t quite ready to jump on buying the program and get individualized help, I’ll break it down in the most simple form for you. Note that I am not a nutritionist or a doctor, but this is my personal compilation of what I have learned since starting the program. Ultimately, you need to find what works best for you.

What is Eat to Perform?

The foundation of Eat to Perform is that you are basically eating for performance. If you are fueling your body properly, it will maximize muscle growth, encourage strength and endurance, and lead to fat loss. Fat loss, folks. Not necessarily weight loss (though if you have excess weight to lose, there are definite ways to tweak the program for you!). Fueling is used for training, which is used to build muscle, therefore burning more calories at rest. There are no strict rules, no dietary restrictions, no required workouts. And you can eat cereal. 😉

Keep carbs lower during the day and eat them around your workouts; consume the rest of your daily carbs at night which will replenish glycogen depleted during workouts, help the CNS recover, plus can aid in some sound sleep! While it seems labor intensive at first, the goal is to make it all intuitive and sustainable.

How do I start?

First, use the ETP calculator. I would recommend starting with the guidelines below and trialing for at least a month before making any changes:

Protein: Set to 1g per pound of body-weight (or lean body mass, if known).
Fat: Set to 75g for women, 125g for men (or 100g for women and 150g for men if you are coming from a lower-carb background).
Carbohydrates: Solve for this.

The calculation above will tell you how much you should be eating on an active day (workout day). Chances are, this is higher than what you are doing now! On a control day (rest day), eat less carbs.

I get the whole tracking thing is a major turn-off for a lot of people. Who wants to weigh food and worry about portion sizes and log every morsel? No one. The calculator is intended to be used more of a guide. If you are experiencing weight gain or strength loss, log what you eat for a day, make adjustments and move on.

I like to track my food, though it can get a bit obsessive, so I only do it every once in a while, and mostly to make sure that I am eating enough. How I eat seems to change every few months, but you can get an example of a sample meal plan of mine here.

Here is a basic outline on how to structure your days:

Eat to Perform Meal Template – Workout Day

Breakfast: Protein, fat, and veggies
Lunch: Protein, fat, and veggies
Pre-Workout: 1:2 ratio Protein and slow-digesting carbs (ex: 25g protein, 50g carbs)
Post-Workout: 1:2 ratio Protein and fast-digesting carbs
Dinner: Protein and carbs
Post-Dinner: Make up whatever macros you need to. Mine is usually just more carbs!

Eat to Perform Meal Template – Non-Workout Day

Breakfast: Protein, fat, and veggies
Lunch: Protein, fat, and veggies
Dinner: Protein and carbs
Post-Dinner: Make up whatever macros you need to. Mine is usually more protein and carbs.

Relatively simple! You can pin a handy chart here to use as a guide.

I have been loosely following this over the past year, with a stronger emphasis on it in the past six months. While I haven’t really had a consistent training program, I will say it has done wonders for my mental health and has given me the fuel needed to get my heavy lifting on, plus have gas left to WOD.

Stay tuned for Monday when I will post some of the FAQs that readers have asked on the program!

Your turn..
Do you have any questions on the program or how to structure your meals?
Have you tried Eat to Perform?
Do you follow any sort of macro timing?
Are you a fan of counting calories or logging your foods?