I’m no trainer but… if he’s THAT addicted to sugar, going to full-blown CNS out of the gate is probably going to be a horror show. Everybody’s committed and wants to change right before they start putting in the work to do it and knuckling down. If it sucks for them right out of the gate, it’s less likely they’re going to stick to it.

If it was me I’d get him to somehow log everything he eats over the course of the next week without changing anything in that regard. Get him into the walking, biking and lifting. At the end of the week, sit down with him over his log (and reiterate when he starts it to no-shit write down everything, you’re not there to judge him for it, you just have to know what he’s eating to make adjustments) and start cutting down all the bad stuff for the coming week. Instead of 4l of Coke, have him cut to 3 – instead of two bricks of chocolate, get him to space a single brick out over the course of the day – and again, log everything, even if he slips and falls off the wagon. Introduce him to the concepts of macros but don’t beat him over the head with it. Not yet.

At the end of the second week, go over the log again and cut it all down by another quarter (or half if you think he’s able) and up the walking/steps and HIIT a little bit. Go over macros again and start breaking down what he’s eating into macros to get him more comfortable with how all that works. Get him thinking about the healthy stuff he’s eating (hopefully he’s eating something healthy lol) and how to increase that to better align with CNS. Talk to him about insulin resistance/response and how it affects fat storage and whatnot and how pushing back carb eating to the evening will benefit him right away.

Ending week three is more of the same, cut by a quarter his intake of bad crap and up his exercise. Go over his logs, break things down to the macro level and compare what he’s taking in to what his maintenance level is for his age/level of activity/body type. Start talking about low carb eating during the week. If he’s not using it maybe show him the MyFitnessPal app and how to use that. If he’s having a problem with cheating get him into the mindset of “okay, if you HAVE to have that yummy-bad-for-you-thing, hold off until after 6PM to have it.”

At the end of week four, if you think he’s being honest with all of his logging, motivation and stick-to-it-iveness see if you can get him to switch to something healthier than coke during the week and re-iterate the idea of low carb eating during the week and introduce a “cheat period” when he can eat some of that stuff he’s been craving if he’s been good all week; and that cheat period starts after 2 or 3PM.

Baby steps. It’s been my experience that people that dive in whole-hog go off the rails really quick because it’s just too much of a change. They’re tired from the walking/HIIT. They’re too sore from lifting. They’re too deep in the grip of the sugar. They “didn’t have the time for” whatever. “You didn’t gain all that weight in a month, tyou’re not going to lose it in a month” has to be your mantra for them to repeat to themselves.

By week six you should be able to start working being in a low carb state during the week and then you can roll into CNS more or less full blown. I’d also have him hold off on taking all those supplements; throw them in the freezer until he’s fully into CNS and then start adding that stuff.

Just my opinion of course but his head is going to be spinning if you introduce all this stuff at once right up front and it’s going to be too much to take on-board. If he bumps up against what he perceives as failure because he’s “not doing it right” then it’s more likely he’s going to go off the rails.

Steve

Well damn, I guess your bigger problem is going to be reigning him in so he’s not doing TOO much when on CNS. 🙂

And I totally agree, it’s going to be a great success or a horrible failure, looking forward to seeing what comes of it. 🙂

Steve

Alex Fergus wrote:

3) He has told me ‘He doesn’t want any of this ease into it crap’, its all or nothing, we’re either doing this or we’re not.

This itself is a good sign.

Many I talk to say “OK, I’m going to start that next Monday” What I hear is: “yeah, I’ll try it but I’m not going to stick to it”.

Think about it, if it were you or me and we see or hear of a new movement or protocol that you are convinced will work, hell I’m not waiting until tomorrow, I’m starting it TODAY.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Robert Haas.