DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE WITH YOUR NEXT DIET PLAN OR TRAINING PROGRAM

If you are looking into a new diet plan or training program, you are likely already making this mistake....

First published: November 15, 2018
By: Andy Xiong 


So you’ve found it: The perfect diet plan or training program for where you are right now.

It’s proven – thousands of people have used said plan or program and seen positive results from it.

It’s simple to do and simple to understand – heck, it’s so simple you’re confident that even a 7 year old could adhere to it and pull it off.

And most importantly, it’s not just marketing hype and pseudoscience – it’s backed by REAL science.

But STOP.

Do you feel a sense of déjà vu?

Why are you even in search of a new diet plan or training routine? What’s wrong with the one you just ran? Didn’t you think your last diet plan or training program was the perfect one at one point in time?

If this is you, you are committing a serious mistake.

What mistake? You don't know the difference between methods and principles.

Why you may produce lacklustre results doing what someone else has done

Consider the following scenario: you want to lose weight and are deciding on a diet plan. Should you approach your weight loss through intermittent fasting? What about keto? Paleo is another option. Or maybe you don’t mind counting calories and would rather follow if-it-fits-your-macros (IIFYM) or flexible dieting. Out of all these options, which is the best?

Truth is losing weight is simple: Consume fewer calories than you burn on a consistent basis and you will lose weight. Calories in versus calories out: This is the principle behind weight loss.

Intermittent fasting, keto, paleo, flexible dieting; these are all methods. These diet plans aren’t magical; they work because they satisfy the principle of weight loss. Each diet plan restricts the amount of calories you take in, although they all do it differently. It is hard to consume a ton of calories within an 8 hour eating window with intermittent fasting. Keto and paleo diets also restrict the amount of calories you eat by cutting out foods that are very calorically dense yet not very satiating, making it much harder to eat more calories than you need.

As such, the best method is one you can adhere to.

For example, one of the principles of building muscle is consistently overloading the muscle to stimulate growth. As such, if you are motivated by training that is fun and engaging, choose a bodybuilding program that you find fun and engaging so that you will want to train. But in addition to that, the workout plan also has to incorporate overload. You can adhere to a workout plan for years and not make size or strength gains if you forgo overload. There are other principles too, such as mind-muscle connection, which are also important – but consistently overloading the muscles is perhaps as bare bones as it gets to increasing muscle size.

Likewise, if you absolutely cannot live without eating your favorite foods – regardless of how “unhealthy” it is – choose a diet plan that lets you eat your favorite foods. If potato chips and sweets are life avoid keto and paleo diets, and try either intermittent fasting or IIFYM. You can 100% eat your favorite junk foods and lose weight – as long as you are in a caloric deficit.

Lastly, all methods work if you adhere to the principles.

I have seen rather advanced lifters continue to run a beginner program such as StrongLifts 5x5 with incredible results. This doesn’t mean that StrongLifts 5x5 is the holy grail of strength training programs; neither does it mean you would make the same results. Rather, it is an indication that the athlete understood the principles of strength well and used it to make the program work for himself. (If you’re interested, he was squatting 355 lbs for 5 sets of 5 reps at a bodyweight of 150 lbs after less than 2 years of picking up a barbell.) Likewise, if you don’t understand the principles of strength, such as the proper transfer of force through the body (which includes proper breathing mechanics and proper bracing), you will likely see mediocre results regardless of what strength training program you run.

I will leave you a quote from Harrington Emerson that summarizes the importance of principles:

“As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.”