We have all had times where someone or something didn’t meet our expectations. It can be a crappy feeling, especially if when we worked hard thinking that it was going to pan out.

Think of that time.

It would be wise for us to talk about expectations before starting The Athlete's System to set reasonable expectations.

By the end of the 3 months, we all expect to see a positive result.

We are logical people and know that our expectations will only be met if we 1) follow the program (compliance) and 2) give it time.

What coaches have witnessed in the past is that after a couple of weeks of little progress, those once logical people start acting illogically. They doubt the program and begin making changes they “think” they should, like exercising more and cutting out food.

More so, those same logical people don’t look back at the data they've gathered--their food logs--where they often see that they weren’t being as compliant as they thought they were!

Whatever results you seek, here’s what you must know about your expectations and this nutrition system:

Understand that COMPLIANCE is key,
Be patient and know that TIME is essential to your results and
Actions dictate expectations. In order to have, you must do.

The macro system works best and fastest when you eat the right foods, in the right quantities.

Scenario 1
You eat, meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no added sugar 90% of the time and you keep intake to levels that support exercise but not body fat 90-100% of the time. Those quantities are the numbers that make up your macro targets for protein, carbs and fat. This works best and fastest.

Scenario 2
You eat mostly eat meats, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit little starch and no sugar 80% of the time but hit your numbers 90-100% of the time. This still works and can work well.

Scenario 3
You sometimes eat meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar 70% of the time AS LONG AS you’re still hitting your quantity targets 90-100% of the time. Even this still works!

The common thread through all the scenarios is compliance, hitting numbers 90-100% of the time. There is no escaping this fact: without compliance, you most likely will not see results.

Compliance is getting your daily intake within +/- 5 grams of your targets for protein, carbs and fat.

You can have results without being complaint 90-100% of the time, just don’t expect them to come fast and maybe not even all that much by the end of 3 months.

If you want results faster, compliance is not a Monday-Friday thing. It’s 7 days a week. Consistency is key.

And depending on your expectations, a weekend cheat meal CAN affect your overall progress, depending on how much you have.

I eat this a few times, so when do results come.......

Here’s an example:
Let’s say your calorie target for the day is 2000. You’re good Monday-Friday. Saturday you have a cheat meal and it ends up bringing your total daily calories for the day to 2500. (500 extra calories is not all that much food, especially in cheat meal format like pizza, donut, ice cream etc.) Sunday, you’re back to 2000.

Your per day average for 7 days was ~2071. Keep doing that every week, after 4 weeks you end up with 1,988 extra calories eaten. That caloric surplus seems so negligible, but it’s not. “It was only a little extra, and only one day!” Be prepared for little results when you are compliant less of the time.

None of this is meant to scare you. But it must be said and known how this system works.

It’s also important to know that you may not be perfect on Day 1. I certainly wasn’t. But you will learn and you will make changes in your lifestyle, and those choices will produce the results you want.

We’re here to support you throughout this entire journey and want to see you have the success you desire. If you're not sure of something, having doubts or troubles, talk with us and talk with each other on the Facebook group.