Hey guys,

Last month we started our 2 month Nutrition Challenge. We've done many before but this seems to come up each time and I want to make sure that I'm telling them the right stuff.

At our half way point (this week) we've seen about half of our people doing great a quarter doing ok and the other quarter going the wrong direction. They've all been logging and tracking everything and if they've been honest they've been sticking to the plan.

Two guys are my major concerns and I'm not 100% about the direction I need to take. BTW we are a CrossFit gym.

Client #1

Male
32 years old
5'7"
184#
18% BF
4 - 5x/week of CF training

I put him on a 20 block prescription because his last gym had him at 24 and he wasn't seeing composition progress. He started the challenge well but was sidelined for a week and a half with a trip and then a bad upper respiratory infection. He ate as well as he could during that time but really was down to 2 - 3 meals a day during that stretch. When we did his assessment this week he had lost 4# of BW and gained a little BF .5%. Do you feel he should stay the course since he was ill for that time and not fully able to stick to the plan? Oh I had also seen some where that athletes should double their fats blocks so I had him double them during the first 4 weeks.

Client #2

Male
39 years old
5'7"
253#
33% BF
5x/week of CF training

We put him on a 17 block prescription and at the midway point he was down 14# of BW and up almost a percent of BF%. Based upon the LBM and protein equation he should be at 24 is that right? Also he has money and quantity concerns especially since we recommend that the vast majority of their CHO come from veggies. Is he ok with taking in more fruit to fill his CHO blocks and do you think that 24 block is correct for this client?

Thank you for all your advice!

Client number one. Stick with 20 blocks . He doesn't need the extra fat blocks unless he's lacking energy during workouts. Extra dietary monounsaturated fat for athletes serves to provide additional energy when needed.

Client number two. 22 blocks for him. As for how he'll do with more of his carbohydrate coming from fruit, that depends on his degree of sensitivity to carbohydrate. Berries will be his best choice of fruits to keep insulin levels lower. It might take a little bit of trial and error with his carbohydrate choices. As for the money issue, it's probably going to be more expensive for him to eat a lot of berries than it is to eat vegetables.

Frozen fruits and veggies are quite reasonable, and it has also been said that they retain their vitamin content because they are frozen before vitamins can oxidize

Good quality frozen fruits and veggies are often "fresher". have more nutrients than "fresh" that are picked early, sit in warehouses for distribution, sit on trucks in transit, sit in stores. While frozen are frozen soon after being picked. So, unless your "fresh" fruits and vegetables are from a local source, frozen is often the better choice.

Thank you all for your help! Ill let you know how it goes from here.