Grand Plan Stan/Stella

Tony Horton
Age: 53

Nate Evans (Me!)
Age: 32

So you want to be fit and lean and you want all the news on how to get there.  Well, I'm your plan man.  Tony Horton taught me, along with scores of other people, how to set up my plan and I would like to help you set up yours! (Make me your free Fitness Coach, and I will help you set up a plan for your specific goals)  Your plan must be simple. Exercise and eating right do not have to be convoluted. You just need a philosophy for getting there. Here are a few tips to help you on your journey:

1. Know ahead of time when you're going to work out. Write it on a calendar (I'm old school . . . that's what I do) or in your PDA and get into the Beachbody^® virtual gym, WOWY^® (Work Out with You), to be with a group of committed people. Schedule out the whole month in advance!
2. If you really want results, you have to stop with the FOOD PORN. Remove the porn from the house and buy fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. If switching over makes you feel deprived, then do what I do—I call it the 90/10 Plan. Ninety percent of the food I eat is in the top two tiers of Michi's Ladder (See Below). The other 10 percent of the time I dip into Michi's basement. I stay away from grease, fat, and salt, but I do relish in the sweet side of life. Can you say chocolate chip cookie? Another plan is the 50/50 plan. This is for people who have been eating poorly at every meal for years. Your job is to clean up your act just half the time while sticking with the old ways for the other 50 percent. You have to decide ahead of time which meals are clean and which are PORN. Three meals a day, seven days a week makes for 21 meals. Make 11 of them healthy (you know what that looks like) and keep the rest ugly. This plan will improve things immensely for many of you. The hope is that over time, the 11 good meals become 12 and 10 bad become 9, etc.
3. If you really struggle with your healthy diet, start writing down what you eat. Try this for just three weeks. Buy a small note pad or some 3" x 5" index cards and start keeping track of every morsel. Grade yourself at the end of each day. Healthy foods get no grades while junk/porn gets a negative number. That blue cheese dressing in your healthy salad gets a negative 1. Add bacon bits and you're at a negative 2. On a 1 to 10 scale, 8, 9, and 10 are best. Below 5 means you've been cheating all day long.

Self-improvement doesn't have to be complicated. Your simple plan is to schedule workouts so that you can stay consistent and find a food philosophy that works for you.  Email me at Nate.Evans79@gmail.com or comment here with any questions!


 Michi's Ladder is a diet guideline, but we leave it to you to decide. If you only ate from Tiers 1 & 2, you would have a near-perfect diet! 

 

Tier 1: The Pious Tier
Apples, with skin Artichokes   Arugula Asparagus Avocados Beans Beets Bok choy Boysenberries Bran Broccoli   Broccoli sprouts   Brussels sprouts Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower   Celery Cereal, whole grain Chard   Cherries Citrus fruits	Collard greens   Cottage cheese, nonfat Cucumbers Egg whites Endive Fish, cold water (salmon, mackerel, sardines) Fish, freshwater Flaxseed Garlic, fresh Granola, raw, no sugar Hemp seed Kale   Lettuce, romaine, green or red leaf Milk, nonfat   Milk, soy Muesli, raw, no sugar Mushrooms	Mustard Nectarines Oatmeal Olive oil Olives Onions Pears, with skin Peas   Peppers Plantains Prunes Radishes Raspberries Refried beans, nonfat   Rice, brown Salsa, natural, no sugar Seitan   Spinach   Squash   Strawberries Sweet potatoes	Tea, green or black Tempeh   Tofu   Tomato sauce, no sugar Tomatoes Vinegar Water Yams Yogurt, nonfat, no sugar
Tier 2: The Happy Tier
Apples, skinless Bananas Blueberries Bread, whole grain Cantaloupe Cheese, nonfat Chicken, skinless white meat Coffee, black or cappuccino with nonfat milk   Corn Cottage cheese, low-fat	Cream cheese, nonfat Duck, free-range Eggplant Fish, farmed Granola or energy bar Grapes Hummus Juice, fresh-squeezed with pulp, no sugar Kiwifruit Mangoes Meal replacement bar Melon, honeydew	Milk, 1% Nuts, raw Ostrich Pancakes, buckwheat Papayas Peaches Pineapple Plums Raisins Ricotta cheese, nonfat Soy nuts Soy sauce Squid String beans	Sunflower seeds Tortillas, whole wheat Turkey breast Vegetable juice Veggie burger Venison, free-range Watermelon Yogurt, no sugar Zucchini
Tier 3: The Swiss Tier
A1 Steak Sauce Angel food cake Applesauce Bagels Beef, eye of round Beef, London Beef, top round Canola oil Cheese, low-fat Chicken, dark meat Chicken sandwich, broiled Chicken taco, baked Clams	Coffee, cappuccino with whole milk Crab Cream cheese, low-fat Eggs, whole French fries, baked Fruit, dried Graham crackers Granola Honey Jam or marmalade Jerky, turkey Juice, from concentrate Ketchup	Lamb, lean Lettuce, iceberg Lobster Mayonnaise Milk, 2% Muesli Oatmeal, flavored Oysters Pancakes Pasta, plain Peanut butter, raw Popcorn, plain Pork tenderloin Potatoes, baked or boiled	Pretzels Refried beans, low-fat Rice cakes Rice, white Sauerkraut Soup, canned broth Steak, lean Sweet-and-sour sauce Veal cutlet Wine, red Yogurt, frozen, nonfat
Tier 4: The Dodgy Tier
Animal crackers Beef, filet mignon Beef, lean ground Beef, sirloin Beef Stroganoff Beer Bread, refined flour Buffalo Butter Caesar salad, with chicken Canadian bacon Cheese (including bleu and goat) Chili Chinese food Chips, low-fat, baked Coconut	Coffee, iced mocha latte with nonfat milk Coffee, latte with whole milk Coffee cake Crackers Grilled cheese sandwich Ham Hot dogs, turkey Ice cream, sugar-free or fat-free Jell-O Juice, sweetened Lamb chops Lasagna, with meat Macaroni and cheese Margarine	Meat loaf Mexican food Milk, whole Muffins Nuts, salted or roasted Peanut butter, not raw Pepper, stuffed Pizza, meatless or Hawaiian style Popcorn, with salt and butter Pork chop Potato salad or macaroni salad Pudding, with low-fat milk Reuben sandwich	Sherbet Shrimp Sloppy Joe, lean beef or turkey Soft drinks, diet Soup, canned creamy Spaghetti, with meatballs Sub sandwich Taco salad, with chicken Tortilla, refined flour or corn Tuna salad or chicken salad Vegetable oil Wine, white Yogurt, frozen
Tier 5: The Newburg Tier
Alcohol, hard liquor Bacon Baked beans Beef, ground, regular Beef taco, fried Breakfast sandwich, fast food Cakes Candy Cereal, sugared Chicken a la King Chicken, buffalo wings or nuggets Chicken or fish sandwich, fried	Chips, potato or corn Chocolate Cinnamon bun Coffee, mocha, macchiato, ice blended, frappé, triple caramel vanilla buzz bomb, etc. Cookies Cream cheese Creamed veggies Creamer, nondairy Doughnuts French fries Gravy Hamburger, fast food	Hot dogs Ice cream Jerky, beef, pork, or venison Juice, sugar added Lobster Newburg Nachos Onion rings Pastries Pies Potato skins, fried Potatoes, fried Potpie Refried beans, with lard	Salad dressing, creamy Sausage Soft drinks, sugared Tater tots Toaster pastries