I am a very active person, who trains 5-6 days a week and competes professionally in about 10 triathlons a year. I got turned on to the zone diet and crossfit about a year ago. I have seen tremendous results and I love it, but I have always been a little confused about the fat intake ratio. I have the mastering the zone book and notice some of the recipes for a 4 or 5 block meal would use about 12 or more macadamia nuts. I know one of these little nuts is a block and then I will read someone else's meal or snack plan and they would have (for example) a cliff builders bar for a snack and then 25 macadamia nuts. I know each person's body is different and everyone's diet will be different so how do people come up with these huge differences in fat? Is it just trial and error? Can someone please elaborate a little further on this. Thanks!!

Hi!

You begin by eating your block recommendation (based on your LBM and activity) in equal amounts of P, C and F blocks. You'd then adjust according to Zone recommendations if you have hunger 4 hours after meals. That sometimes includes adding extra fat. Athletes add extra fat to support their additional energy needs. That's probably why the person you mentioned is eating a Cliff bar and 25 Mac nuts, though a Cliff bar is a poor choice because it's P/C ratio is not appropriate for the Zone. Some athletes eat 50% or more of their total daily calories from monounsatured fat.