RP NUTRITION

FOUNDATIONS
SECTION 1: QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
 Calories and Macros Quick Reference Guide

Key Points to Remember

• Calories in and calories out dictate weight change

• Macro distribution within the calorie constraint dictates what types of tissue (muscle or fat) are
lost or gained

Macronutrient Recommendations

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Calories and Macros Quick Reference Guide

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 Calories and Macros Quick Reference Guide

Organizing Macronutrients Within a Caloric Constraint:

Examples of primary protein sources:

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 Calories and Macros Quick Reference Guide

Examples of primary carbohydrate sources:

Examples of primary fat sources:

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 Calories and Macros Quick Reference Guide

Examples of nonprimary, mixed-macro foods:

Whole-fat dairy (source of significant protein and fat)

Fatty meats and fatty fish (source of significant protein and fat)
Quinoa (source of significant protein and carbs)
Most pastries, donuts, and other desserts (source of significant fat and carbs)
Most chips, french fries, and other savory snacks (source of significant fat and carbs)

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 Food Composition Quick Reference Guide

Key Points to Remember

• Food composition is the most important foundation for health

• Food composition can be an extremely valuable tool for adherence
• Health also supports long-term fitness, so paying attention to food composition can be a huge
benefit to your clients irrespective of their goals

Elements of Food Composition

Micronutrients

- Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals and are best consumed via a variety of whole foods
- Micronutrients can be supplemented with vitamins when needed, but this is less ideal

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 Food Composition Quick Reference Guide

Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Water-Soluble Vitamins

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 Food Composition Quick Reference Guide

Phytochemicals

- Phytochemicals support health and can be obtained in sufficient amounts by eating a variety of
fresh fruits and veggies at each meal

Macronutrient Composition

Protein Quality

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 Food Composition Quick Reference Guide

Carbs

Daily Fiber Recommendations for Adults

*Adapted from the Institute of Medicine

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 Food Composition Quick Reference Guide

Fats

*Adapted from 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

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Food Composition Quick Reference Guide

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 Food Composition Quick Reference Guide

Processing Level

Eating primarily unprocessed whole foods is most supportive of health, but the main problem with
processed foods is a lack of micronutrients, fiber, and phytochemicals. So eating some processed foods
in conjunction with an otherwise healthy diet is not a problem for health. In some cases processed
foods can be more healthy than unprocessed. This is often the case for plant-based protein, as
processing makes the protein more available for digestion and absorption. More processed protein
and carbohydrate sources can also be beneficial for performance due to faster digestion times.

Fullness and Satiety

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 Food Composition Quick Reference Guide

Satiety Index

Keep in mind that this study has not

been extensively replicated and while
the rankings here provide a good place
to start in estimating satiety impacts
of foods, your client’s input can be
even more relevant for their individual
feelings of satiety.

Additional Resources

Follow this link for more information

on micronutrients and nutrient
density of foods.

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 Nutrient Timing Quick Reference Guide

Key Points to Remember

• Nutrient timing has a limited impact on body composition change or health

• Sacrificing optimal nutrient timing for simplicity to help clients with adherence can be very
worthwhile
• Optimal nutrient timing should not be considered until/unless a client is easily adhering to calorie
and macronutrient constraints
• Nutrient timing has a moderate effect on performance and so can be more important for clients
seeking optimal performance in sport

Optimal Nutrient Timing Summary Table

*Body weight can be used as a proxy if lean body mass is not known. Some
endurance or advanced athlete clients may need more carbs.

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 Nutrient Timing Quick Reference Guide

Steps for Assigning Nutrient Timing

Step 1: Client chooses number of meals, and you divide calories and macros evenly across those meals.

Step 2: Help your client explore different meal-spacing options to fit their individual preferences and
needs throughout the day.

Step 3: Help your client explore different food combinations within those meals to help meet specific
needs like hunger, GI distress, or proximity to exercise.

Step 4: If your client is ready and would like a more optimal diet, begin biasing their macronutrients
according to training and low-activity periods.

Step 5: If your client becomes more advanced and is willing to have a more complex but more optimal
diet, you might consider more specific calculations of macronutrient intake rates per hour to further
support performance and recovery.

Optimal versus Practical Nutrient Timing

Remember that making adherence realistic for your client is more important than programming an
absolutely optimal diet. Nutrient timing has a relatively low impact on outcomes so keep your clients’
knowledge and ability zones in mind.

1. “Newb” client/client with low knowledge and/or low ability

• Fewer meals per day
• Less variation in macros per meal
• Consistent meal times across days

2. Intermediate client/advanced client with low ability (for example, someone who has ample
dieting experience but just doesn’t have time for seven meals and extensive meal prep)
• Mid- to low-range meals per day (4–6)
• Minimal variation in macros (perhaps have all meals the same aside from post-training and
just bump carbs up in the post-training meal)
• Consistent meal times that fit their schedule comfortably across days

3. Intermediate or advanced client who has ability and desire for a more complex diet
• Use optimal nutrient timing considerations

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 Hydration and Supplement Quick Reference Guide

Key Points to Remember

• Hydration can be easily managed by drinking to thirst and monitoring urine color—there is no
need to prescribe precise water intake levels per day
• Supplements have a very minimal effect on body composition, health, and performance compared
to the other RP Nutrition Foundations
• Most supplements are not worth your clients’ time or money. The few that are should be
considered only when the client has a handle on the other foundations you have programmed
into their diet

Urine Color Hydration Chart

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 Hydration and Supplement Quick Reference Guide

Verified Supplement Quick Reference Guide

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 Nutritional Strategies and Psychological Tools
for Promoting Adherence Quick Reference Guide

Key Points to Remember

• Adherence to a suboptimal diet will get better results than a lack of adherence to an optimal
diet—so writing diets that are easy for individual clients to adhere to is critical
• Diet programming should fit your clients’ schedule, preferences (to the extent possible), and
needs
• Nutritional tools and psychological strategies for adherence can be used in addition to designing
diets that fit clients’ schedules, preferences, and needs

Nutritional Tools

Use the Food Palatability Reward Hypothesis (FPRH)

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 Nutritional Strategies and Psychological Tools
for Promoting Adherence Quick Reference Guide

Use Macronutrient Satiety

Protein is the most satiating of the macronutrients, followed by carbs, and then fats. You can bias
toward a bit more food from protein on fat-loss diets and the opposite on muscle-gain diets (within
the recommended protein intake ranges).

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 Nutritional Strategies and Psychological Tools
for Promoting Adherence Quick Reference Guide

Use Food Volume

Higher volume foods will help fat-loss clients feel more full, while lower volume foods will help muscle-
gain clients feel less full.

Use Fiber Content

More fiber will help fat-loss clients feel more full, and less fiber will help muscle-gain clients feel less
full.

Use Liquids

Calorie-free liquids will help fat-loss clients feel more full. High-calorie beverages will help muscle-
gain clients get more calories in with less fullness.

Use Caffeine

Increasing caffeine across a fat-loss diet can help fat-loss clients be less fatigued, less hungry, and get
better training.

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 Nutritional Strategies and Psychological Tools
for Promoting Adherence Quick Reference Guide

Psychological Tools for Adherence

• Help clients shift their focus to their behavior

- Teach your clients about weight fluctuations
- Help them focus on the only outcome they can control: their behavior

• Help clients develop realistic expectations

- Establish realistic rates of change
- Prepare them for discomfort

• Foster a mentality of consistency over perfection

• Choose reasonable diet lengths and pace to prevent burnout

• Avoid drastic eating habits and changes

- Ease your client into a different eating style
- Avoid very low-calorie diets

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Quick Reference Guide for Helping Clients Improve Sleep

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Options to Help Your Client Increase NEAT Across a Fat-Loss Diet

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 Hypertrophy Training Outline for Muscle Growth
on a Weight-Gain Diet/Maintenance on a Weight-Loss Diet

Although this certification only covers the nutrition side of fitness goals, both diet and training are
critical aspects in reaching any body composition or performance goal. We encourage you to
educate your clients along these lines so that they can get the best results possible.

For a fat-loss phase, the goal is that your clients maintain muscle mass while losing fat (for aesthetic,
health, and performance reasons). Likewise, when on a muscle-gain diet, the goal is that they maximize
the amount of muscle gained and minimize fat gain.

The same type of training is required to maintain muscle during a fat-loss phase or to build muscle
during a muscle-gain phase. In both cases a stimulus is needed to elicit muscular hypertrophy (muscle
cell growth). When there is a caloric deficit, this will serve to maintain muscle; when there is a caloric
surplus, this will serve to build new muscle mass.

General rules for hypertrophy training are outlined below. Keep in mind that more well-trained
athletes can benefit from increased volume and that things like sex (women need higher volumes
of training) and genetic predisposition (some people just respond to less training) can affect what
precise level of volume is necessary.

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 Hypertrophy Training Outline for Muscle Growth
on a Weight-Gain Diet/Maintenance on a Weight-Loss Diet

Additional Resources

For further reading see RP’s Scientific Principles of Hypertrophy Training eBook.

(Also available in audiobook format or paperback)

RP also offers a variety of training options for different goals and budgets that you can refer interested
clients to. There are also credible online sources of programming. Encourage your client to find
training that works for their goals.