Diet, Nutrition and SupplementationPost here for supplement reviews or nutritional advice. If you're trying to get "ripped abz" THIS is where you should be.
Dr. Christopher Mohr, PhD RD is a consultant to a number of media outlets and corporations including Discovery Health Channel, Clif Bar, and Fit Fuel. Through his company Mohr Results, Inc., he works with all types of individuals from soccer moms to collegiate and professional athletes. He can be heard weekly on WHAS radio in Louisville and often appears on WHAS TV as a nutritional guest expert. He has authored or coauthored several textbooks and book chapters to be published in 2007, including a book he consulted on with LL Cool J called “The Platinum Body.” He has written over 500 articles for consumer publications, such as Men’s Fitness, Weight Watchers, Men’s Health and Fitness, to name a few. Dr. Mohr has Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Nutrition from the Pennsylvania State University and University of Massachusetts, respectively. He received his PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Pittsburgh and is a Registered Dietitian and Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics.
What does this product claim?
Quote:
If you'd like to get better results in the next 30 days or less, learn how to quickly and easily create delicious meal plans in just 14 minutes and turn heads when people see the new lean physique you've developed, then this will be the most important letter you'll ever read.
Figuring out the calorie requirements and macros is typically pretty easy. Actually creating a meal plan for the week tends to be a pain in the ass. Half the time I eat the same thing or darn close to it near every day. I purchased this to see if it would help me meet my dietary goals and relieve a bit of the ass pain that comes along with those lofty goals.
Download and installation was easy enough. First thing you do is create a user (you can create several) and enter relevant information so that it can calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate). Next it tells you how many calories your BMR is (you can substitute a number of your own) and then asks if you want to lose\gain\maintain. Next comes the screen where you make out your plans. You select your macro breakdown (or create your own), it tells you how many of each food category to pick, you do, print, BLAM….you’re set.
The bad:
The biggest thing that really screams with this software is that it’s incredibly basic. It looks like something that an amateur created for their personal use. It’s not incredibly user friendly when you’re busting out with several thousand calories (23 servings of starches in ¼ bagel blocks) and the “create your own” macro doesn’t really seem to function like it should. It works…it just ends up with bizarre portions of things. The software expects you to keep track of what you’re putting in your log. It’d be really nice if after three fruit servings or 10 protein servings if SOMETHING would let you know where you stand!
The good:
It works. While it might require a little thought on your own everything works out like it should. You can easily go from 0-full weekly meal plan in 30min tops. If you’re willing to duplicate some meals you’re done even sooner. I checked the totals VS fitday and it came well within the realm of “normal difference”.
There’s a bit of a learning curve to it but after thinking outside the box a little bit (subtracting your shake calories from your total daily calories)…it works. It’s hard to bitch too much.
Final thoughts\Value:
It’d be nice if it were nicer. For damn near $100 you’d think it’d be polished up real good and be a little more…something. For people that follow a loose meal plan or don’t mind sitting down and figuring things out for yourselves…this isn’t going to make you happy at all. It’s not friendly or robust enough to be worth your time. For those of you that HATE coming up with meal plans or come up with a large number of them then this might be worth looking at.
I’ve personally used it a fair amount and wouldn’t even think of going back to pencil and paper. That’s not necessarily a praise for the product at hand, but it’s not a shot on it either. The product does what it claims.
Is it designed just for the individual, or can trainers use it to develop meal plans for their clients?
With multiple profiles you can make as many plans for as many people that you want. That would also be appropriate if you had different calorie goals for different days (that went beyond one or two minor changes). It would definitely be appropriate for developing several meal plans for several people.
For the most part I've used it mostly with whole foods. Chicken, green beans, ect are all fairly universal. During preparation I don't worry about a little bit of extra calories here or there since I don't typically go with calorie heavy sauces anyway. The food itself is broken down into "units\servings" which each have a standard calorie\macro breakdown, so all of your starches will be roughly 100c carb\fat\protein. If you were shooting for wheatabix VS. shredded wheat (or other similar but different processed product) then you might have to look at serving sizes\calories to get a parallel, but you're not talking freak show heroics. I can't buy frozen yogurt for whatever reason, but some of the low (fat or sugar) kinds are close enough.
You do NOT get the full breakdown...that's one of the things that I mean by it just not being as complete\professional a program as what you'd really think it would be. For the most part you do pretty well if you pick a variety, but you're not going to know what "exactly" is going on.
Example of what I'm talking about:
For a 2,700 day with a 60\20\20 carb\fat\protein split
Veg 5
Fruit 5
Starch 15
Protein 5
Fat 6
It tells you to pick X servings per group. Fruits and vegi's are pretty decent and the rest works itself out.
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this, Gobbla! I really appreciate it--very useful for all the readers. I thought I'd chime in since I co-created this product and hopefully can answer questions that you brought up. I answered your questions in all caps below.
Download and installation was easy enough. First thing you do is create a user (you can create several) and enter relevant information so that it can calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate). Next it tells you how many calories your BMR is (you can substitute a number of your own) and then asks if you want to lose\gain\maintain. Next comes the screen where you make out your plans. You select your macro breakdown (or create your own), it tells you how many of each food category to pick, you do, print, BLAM….you’re set.
The bad:
The biggest thing that really screams with this software is that it’s incredibly basic. It looks like something that an amateur created for their personal use. It’s not incredibly user friendly when you’re busting out with several thousand calories (23 servings of starches in ¼ bagel blocks)
MAKING IT SIMPLE WAS OUR EXACT GOAL. MOST FOLKS MAKE MEAL PLANNING WAY TOO COMPLICATED. LIKE YOU SAID, IT IS A PAIN TO PAINSTAKINGLY CALCULATE EVERY LAST CALORIE AND MACRONUTRIENT--OUR GOAL WAS TO TAKE THE GUESSWORK OUT OF IT FOR YOU, WITHOUT GETTING OVERLY COMPLICATED. A COMPUTER PROGRAMMER PUT THIS TOGETHER FOR US--THERE ARE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF CALCULATIONS "BEHIND THE SCENES"--AND THEN HIS JOB WAS TO MAKE IT AS USER FRIENDLY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. WHILE IT MAY NOT BE CONVENIENT IF YOU ARE EATING 1000'S OF CALORIES, BECAUSE YOU DO HAVE TO ADD UP A LOT OF SERVINGS OF EACH ITEM, THAT TEACHES FOLKS WHAT A REAL SERVING IS. I THINK UNDERSTANDING THAT 1/4 OF A BAGEL IS ACTUALLY 1 SERVING OF BREAD (VS EATING THE ENTIRE THING) IS VERY TELLING. THAT'S ALSO THE REASON WE CREATED 60 DIFFERENT MEAL PLANS, THOUGH (AS AN ADDITIONAL FEATURE TO PURCHASE WITH THE PROGRAM), TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE SIMPLE AND COMPLETELY TAKE ANY GUESSWORK OUT OF IT. OUR MEAL PLANS ARE FOR 3 DIFFERENT MACRONUTRIENT LEVELS, USING 100 CALORIE INCREMENTS, FROM 1100 ALL THE WAY UP TO 3000. YES, SOME FOLKS NEED MORE THAN THAT, BUT IT'S MORE THE EXCEPTION THAN THE RULE. THOSE RANGES MEET THE NEEDS FOR MOST FOLKS.
and the “create your own” macro doesn’t really seem to function like it should. It works…it just ends up with bizarre portions of things. The software expects you to keep track of what you’re putting in your log. It’d be really nice if after three fruit servings or 10 protein servings if SOMETHING would let you know where you stand!
THIS IS A GREAT SUGGESTION--WE'VE CONTACTED OUR PROGRAMMER TO SEE WHAT HE CAN DO
The good:
It works. While it might require a little thought on your own everything works out like it should. You can easily go from 0-full weekly meal plan in 30min tops. If you’re willing to duplicate some meals you’re done even sooner. I checked the totals VS fitday and it came well within the realm of “normal difference”.
There’s a bit of a learning curve to it but after thinking outside the box a little bit (subtracting your shake calories from your total daily calories)…it works. It’s hard to bitch too much.
Final thoughts\Value:
It’d be nice if it were nicer. For damn near $100 you’d think it’d be polished up real good and be a little more…something. For people that follow a loose meal plan or don’t mind sitting down and figuring things out for yourselves…this isn’t going to make you happy at all.
THESE ARE THE EXACT PEOPLE WHO IT'S PERFECT FOR--THE MORE SPECIFIC FOLKS CAN BE WITH THEIR MEAL PLANNING, THE BETTER THEIR RESULTS.
For those of you that HATE coming up with meal plans or come up with a large number of them then this might be worth looking at.
I’ve personally used it a fair amount and wouldn’t even think of going back to pencil and paper. That’s not necessarily a praise for the product at hand, but it’s not a shot on it either. The product does what it claims.[/quote]
I THINK THAT'S A GREAT AMOUNT OF PRAISE--IT DOES DO WHAT WE PROMISE. THANKS AGAIN, GOBBLA, AND PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO ASK ANY OTHER QUESTIONS!!!
__________________
Christopher R. Mohr, PhD, RD
Check out our NEW Grocery Shopping Made Easy DVD! www.MohrResults.com
You do NOT get the full breakdown...that's one of the things that I mean by it just not being as complete\professional a program as what you'd really think it would be. For the most part you do pretty well if you pick a variety, but you're not going to know what "exactly" is going on.
WE ACTUALLY SET IT UP LIKE THIS ON PURPOSE--THERE ARE PLENTY OF PROGRAMS AVAILABLE THAT ALLOW YOU TO DO THIS, BUT THEY COST AROUND $400+. WE WANTED TO MAKE SOMETHING THAT WAS MORE AFFORDABLE TO THE INDIVIDUAL...IF FOLKS FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES FOR EATING THE SERVINGS PROVIDED BY THE MACRONUTRIENT BREAKDOWN THEY SELECTED, NUTRIENT INTAKE WON'T BE AN ISSUE (UNLESS 100% OF THEIR CARBS ARE COMING FROM CANDY, PROTEIN IS ALL FROM BEANS, FOR EXAMPLE, AND FAT IS FROM LARD).
Example of what I'm talking about:
For a 2,700 day with a 60\20\20 carb\fat\protein split
Veg 5
Fruit 5
Starch 15
Protein 5
Fat 6
It tells you to pick X servings per group. Fruits and vegi's are pretty decent and the rest works itself out.[/quote]
__________________
Christopher R. Mohr, PhD, RD
Check out our NEW Grocery Shopping Made Easy DVD! www.MohrResults.com
It's great to see some new information about Meal Plans 101 and it's really rare to see a product creator joining in the discussion.
But let me get to the point. I'm writing on behalf of a Digital Products Database website and would like to invite you to share your experiences with meal plans 101 with our visitors. We would really appreciate any comment any of you might have.
Meal Plans 101
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