When I first started working with clients almost 15 years ago, I would simply determine the approprate amount of calories, protein, carbs and fat a client needed, give them a diet, and tell them to go do it. When I worked at a major national chain (long before Life Time, they're legit), this was the standard model for nutrition plans.

 

If the client didn't hit their numbers or make progress, it was their fault.

 

The fitness center provided computerized software that automated everything for trainers based on what foods the client enjoyed eating.

 

Sounds cool on paper. You don't have to stop eating donuts and ice cream, you just have to eat less..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would stay after work and analyze, like a total nerd, all of the data I could get from other trainers' client files. Sometimes I even got permission. I found that even the ones that were losing "weight" were losing significant amounts of lean body mass along with fat.

 

This was accepted as normal and inevitable.

 

Using this method, or slight variations of it, my clients' overall success rate was average. It was indeed very high, initially, with people that followed their plan exactly.

 

But most people will only follow exact numbers of calories and grams for a few weeks. Bodybuilders, fitness competitors, and people with various personality disorders tend to have higher compliance. But I didn't want to just be a professional macronutrient calculator for highly motivated and/or deranged people, I wanted to be able to help everybody. And more often than you would expect, people following the plan exactly still didn't make as much progress as they should have each month after the first. All the trainers were so hung up on the "energy in/energy out" model of weight loss that they would just succumb to confirmation bias to conclude that if their plan wasn't working, the client was lying and secretly renting hourly motel rooms to shamefully crush bags of Oreos and Krispy Kremes on a daily basis. Can you imagine how defeating that is for a client that just wants to lose weight, they're doing everything they're told and working their asses off, making very little progress, then their trainer accuses them of bullshitting their food logs?

 

That's cool though because the current body of nutrition research says they should have all made progress because they're moving more and eating less, so, their fault, no matter what, right? First law of thermodynamics dummies! Nope. That's a cop-out from a bad coach.

 

To steal a quote from John Berardi, "However beautiful the strategy, one must occasionally look at the results". And when looking at the results, this wasn't working very well. That's not to say you can't make progress by just focusing on calories and grams, because you can, and many people do well with this method. 

 

However, many more don't succeed, and those people get blamed for their failure when it's really the coach's fault. I've worked with many clients that have come to me after seeing disappointing results with coaches using an IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) approach. They weren't making progress and were frustrated that their coach was blaming them, and basically just using a generic calculator, which is readily available for free online, to determine their calories and macronutrients. This method ignores so many crucial elements.

 

Many years have passed since I have refined those disappointing methods, shifting instead to a behavior-based focus. I work together with you, the client, to create small, specific and surmountable daily goals that you are confident you will be able to complete. If you're not confident, we dial it down until you are. 

 

We will use methods to encourage optimal health, focusing on what's going on inside your body, which then translates to changes that can be seen in the mirror.

 

After adopting this new approach over the past five or so years, the success rate of my clients has skyrocketed. Again, that's not to say I don't value the use of calories and grams, but I use those guidelines judiciously, something to be tracked for a short period of time, and part of a bigger picture.

 

It is impractical and unnecessary to count and track every calorie that goes in and out of your body for the rest of your life, not to mention the serious flaws in current methods of determining how many calories you actually burn during activity, and how many calories your food actually contains.

 

So What's the Process?

 

First, I gather all the info I need from you; an in-depth questionnaire, photos (optional), any current lab work you have up to about 6 months old (optional), a 12 site body fat caliper test, and a waist circumference (optional). I can help you find a qualified trainer and laboratory (even without going through your doc) in your area to do the caliper and blood tests, but we can still rock and roll without those if need be.

 

Next, we set a time for a one-hour online video call where we'll discuss all of the info you've provided and I'll gain any further clarification I need. It's pretty cool, I share my desktop with you and we get to talk face to face.

 

Then we'll set specific outcome-based goals for three, six, and nine months out. These goals are then broken down into behavior-based changes that we come up with together that you will start doing right away.

 

So you'll always have your big picture goals in mind (lose 20lbs, drop 6% body fat, add 10lbs of muscle, etc), but all you're really focusing on is the 2-3 behavior changes we both decided you could do for the first week. You focus on the important acute behavior changes, and the outcome goals take care of themselves.

 

These tasks will be written on a chart in an online shared file and you will check them off daily as you accomplish them. Initially, we will place emphasis on the biggest metabolic area(s) of concern, determined by all of the info gathered through the questionnaire, labs, regional body fat storage/stubborn areas, etc.

 

Basically what is going on inside your body that might be roadblocking you. Eating perfect, working out hard, but your thyroid is performing suboptimally? Maybe you have severe estrogen dominance? Diurnal rhythm way out of whack? You're going to struggle to make progress. I know the warning signs to look for to address these things, and if you're able to get some lab testing done, I'll spend a full hour with you going over the in-depth numbers from advanced labs that your doctor won't think twice about. No disrespect to docs, they're just trained to look at different things and using labs to determine whether a disease state exists, not whether your body is functioning optimally.

 

We might address gut repair (everything starts in the gut/digestive system), thyroid function, adrenal function, insulin/blood sugar regulation, sex hormone balancing (estrogens, testosterone), detoxification (the real, science backed detox methods, not the comical "cleanses"), motivation, sleep, stress, etc. These hormones and systems will absolutely crush your progress if they are out of balance and not addressed. If everything looks fine (extremely rare), then we're off to a quick start. But there's still a lot to dive into.

 

Each week after this, we do a 30 minute phone consult where we'll go over your behavior chart, check your progress on skinfold measurements (or, if that's not feasible, we'll look subjective measurements like how you feel, how you see yourself in the mirror, how your clotes are fitting), cover any successes or obstacles and how to leverage them, any challenges and how to overcome them, and then come up with a new set of behavior goals that will continue to drive you towards your outcome based goals. If you struggled to complete your previous behavior goals for the week, that's not your fault. That's my fault for either making them to challenging or unclear, so we will modify those and move forward. 

 

Coaching, not Dictating

 

This is a true coaching program, not a generic "meal plan". You don't just get a blueprint and get sent on your way. What you will get, is consistent coaching and accountability to help you achieve new behavior goals we come up with together, that will get you the body you want in a short amount of time.

 

Most people think they just want a "meal plan', and all their problems will be solved. But once people follow my coaching methods, they absolutely love it and are shocked at how they look and feel, all without feeling deprived, overworked, or social outcasts. As an example, people often sign up for one month of coaching thinking that's all they need, and typically end up learning so much and loving the process that they continue on for an average of 6-8 months. But whether we work together for 1 month or 12 months, you will be impressed, and you will make extraordinary progress without having to invoke crazy, unsustainable methods or starve yourself and feel like crap.

 

Your success is imperative to me. So if you spend at least eight weeks under my supervision and are unhappy with your progress for any reason, I will gladly refund the entire cost. And I've yet to have a single person take me up on that.

 

Depasi Nutrition Coaching Specializes In

 

Low Carb & Ketogenic Plans

 

Fat Loss 

 

Muscle Gain

 

Recomposition Diets (simultaneous fat loss & muscle gain)

 

Crossfit Performance Diets

 

Pre-Contest Diets

 

General Health & Energy Optimization

 

Unexplained fatigue

 

Difficulty losing weight even though you feel like you're doing the right things

 

Support for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Cancer, Diabetes, Chron's, Eating disorders*

 

 

 

*I am NOT a medical doctor, so advice relating to diagnosed medical conditions is not intended to treat or cure medical conditions, and needs to be cleared by your doctor. I talk to my clients' doctors all the time, however, when they are willing, in the hopes of orchestrating a team effort to get you healthy.