Welcome to 1-3-1 Fridays, my weekly newsletter, where I reveal evidence-based strategies to get lean, strong, and create optimal health.

You'll receive one personal health insight, three actionable tips, and one concrete action step. Let's dive in.

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Here's what's new this week:

• ​Ep 3: The hidden vegan protein playbook (Podcast)
• ​The Ultimate Vegan Muscle Building Guide (New Guide)

Enjoyed recording this week's episode on vegan protein.

It's an in-depth review on protein intake, how much to eat, and how to create fitness success using an evidence-based approach.

In other news, I finished my November project (3+ weeks) of writing a brand-new muscle-building guide.

It has everything you'll need to build muscle (and strength), and I'm biased, but it might be the most comprehensive vegan muscle-building guide on the internet.

(You can be the judge of this)

Hope you enjoy listening and reading.

Finally, on December 6th, we close down the doors for our Black Friday (Beat the Clock) Special.

Free coaching till the end of the year, plus lock in 2025 tuition rates.

4 spots left.

There's a $500 tuition discount off ALL 1:1 coaching programs for 48 hours.

It's an extra special Black Friday discount add-on for those of you who like to save.

If interested, message me 'VFR' below or apply directly here (applications received first will be reviewed first).

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What's in store for today:

• The nutrition pyramid for fitness success and how to use it correctly.
• Supplement fads and why buying another supplement won't solve your fitness problems.
• The right way to approach fat-loss and weight loss rate of progress for sustainable and permanent results.

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As I write this, it's one day before Thanksgiving.

It's an interesting time of year for me.

I've been full on with a health experiment that's spanned multiple years.

At the turn of last year, I finally started to see positive effects from the experiment.

At the end of this year, the effects have compounded even more.

It's hard for me to believe.

I've been healing from a chronic autoimmune disease called psoriasis.

It's not possible to heal from this...

At least that's what I was told for nearly 20 years.

So I believed the claims.

And I went along with it.

Until I had my breaking point back in 2021.

After I got off the stage, in the best shape of my life, at my leanest, at 5% body fat.

The psoriasis had gotten even worse during my bodybuilding prep.

It had spread to my upper back, and open wounds started to stare back at me in the mirror each day.

Previously, it was hidden in my joints and on the back of my scalp, so it was more well hidden.

So I could live with it.

They say that until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change, only then will you change.

This was true for me.

So I began my health and healing journey.

Four years later, I know I will be fully healed.

With almost 80% of my skin clear from psoriasis, it's been one heck of a journey.

Regardless of how much longer it takes, I'm leaving a changed man.

Life will never be the same for me.

I'll be sharing a full deep dive in the near future into every strategy, tactic, mindset, and techniques I've used to conquer and beat a chronic autoimmune disease.

That 'they said' could never be healed.

If you're one of the 13 million people who suffer from psoriasis or 10 million from eczema, or millions of others who silently suffer from a chronic symptom or condition that's incurable, have faith.

Know that your body can heal and wants to heal.

We just need to give it the right nutrients, support, systems, and care.

Believe in health - it's always possible.

Lesson: Health is a choice, not an accident.

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Here's Your 1-3-1 Friday:

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1.) The real nutrition pyramid

Plants are among the most effective ways to immediately uplevel your health.

But as mentioned, there’s a correct way and an incorrect way to do this.

Here’s the correct way to approach your plant-based nutrition:

(credit to Dr. Eric Helms for this pyramid)

The incorrect way to approach your nutrition would be to do the inverse of this pyramid like this:

Most people focus on supplements and food timing first.

Focusing on the Nutrition Pyramid's inverse, as shown above, will likely lead to the same results that 90% of plant-based eaters see.

Their results: overwhelmed, exhausted, tired of diet hopping, and almost ready to give up on their body and health goals.

Your results: depend on which path you take.

But having been vegan for a decade lends me some perspective here.

I was in the 1st group of people who was frustrated, tired, and overwhelmed with all things plant-based and vegan nutrition.

It sucked.

I remember my first 18 months after I went vegan.

I spent hours each week researching the best way to eat vegan, add plants, and of course, add more protein.

I also stressed about my micronutrients and thought I needed to add 50 new supplements to my diet each week due to perceived deficiencies I felt I would have.

(Author’s note: I never questioned my deficiencies when I ate animal products and ate meat for decades…)

So let’s come back to the Nutrition Pyramid as presented by Dr. Helms.

When you focus on the right order of priority in your health, your checklist should look like this:

1. Energy Balance
2. Macronutrients
3. Micronutrients
4. Nutrient Timing
5. *Supplements (master the prior 4 first)

Focus on your nutrition in the right order.

Then, master each level one at a time.

Consistency is how you progress, not perfection or fads.

2.) Supplement fads (and what to do)

The truth is, the fitness (and health) industries are run by companies that don’t truly care about our health.

In today’s world, many allopathic organizations, like Big Pharma and Big Medicine, aren't effective with their products.

For now, I’ll focus on health and fitness. I won’t wander into other areas, even if they’re all linked.

So, it’s not in the supplement, fitness, or biohacking companies' best interests for you to focus on your health in the right order.

It’s in their best interest to sell their product even if it doesn’t mean you’ll actually solve your health or fitness challenges.

As you’ll notice from the checklist above, supplements are at the bottom of the list or the top of the pyramid.

They’re the LAST thing you should focus on after you master the prior four layers of the pyramid.

But what do over 90% of people do?

Focus on supplements first.

It’s not your fault. It wasn’t mine either.

It’s just good marketing.

(depending on which reports you read).

Regardless, it ain’t slowing down. Which means you and I will continue to be bombarded with ads to buy more supplements.

As humans, we’re obsessed with shiny object syndrome (quick and easy results without effort).

But the best fitness experts on the planet all preach a similar choir:

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

When you focus on proper nutrition and training, your health will improve over time.

It’s like investing in index funds for years. The results will add up consistently.

So the first layer of the nutrition pyramid is simple:

Energy Balance.

This is the scientific term for describing how much you’re eating.

The three main levers to eat for energy balance are:

1. Energy balance: eat at your maintenance calories. This is the amount of food you need to keep your body weight and composition stable.
2. Negative energy balance happens when you eat fewer calories than your body needs. This creates a caloric deficit. When this occurs, your body uses stored fat for energy.
3. Positive energy balance means eating more than your maintenance calories. This creates a caloric surplus. With this surplus, you can build new muscle if you’re training. If you’re just overeating without training, you may gain body fat.

Energy balance is the foundation for your health because of these 3 levers.

It’s why every diet in some way has leveraged one of these levers.

It'll work for you, too.

3.) Weight loss speed (how fast can you go)

When you’re dropping weight (cutting), you have two main objectives:

1. Drop body fat tissue (adipose tissue)
2. Retain muscle tissue (as much as possible)

Look at the base foundation of the Nutrition Pyramid presented by Dr. Eric Helms above.

The foundation was energy balance.

Why is this so important?

Because this is the primary lever to leverage either fat-loss (cutting) or muscle-building (building).

Just like any good house that’s built to last, you’ll want to focus on having a sturdy and firm foundation under your feet first before diving deeper into the deep end of the nutritional pool.

So we start with energy balance first.

A guideline I've adopted (credit to Andy Morgan) is to aim for no faster than 0.5-0.75% of your bodyweight per week.

The fatter you are, the closer you can push toward 1% per week.

The leaner you are, the closer you should be to 0.5% per week.

 

Tracking your data.

How this looks in application:

• I suggest most clients aim for 1-1.25 pounds of fat loss per week.
• If a client is obese or highly overweight, aiming for 1.25 to 1.5 pounds per week might help. However, based on Morgan's work and my experience, most clients usually lose about 1 pound each week.
• For clients who are smaller or lighter, it may make more sense to aim for 0.5 pounds per week.

The numbers above may seem fast or slow to you.

But sustainability has to be pre-built into your strategy before you start cutting fat and dropping weight.

Otherwise, you're setting yourself up for long-term failure.

The failure rate in the fitness industry is over 90% for results KEPT over 3 years or more.

In other words, most people create results that are temporary and never meant to last.

Which is why dropping fat (or building muscle) needs to be sustainable from the get-go for it to work for the rest of your life.

Sure, you can drop 10 pounds in a week or gain 10 pounds in 2 weeks.

But keep the 10-10-10 rule in mind:

Can I do this for 10 years?

Can I do this for 10 months?

Can I do this for 10 weeks?

If you can’t answer yes to all 3 of those questions, then you don’t have a sustainable fitness practice.

You just have a fad.

Own it and let it go.

You’re here to create a permanent body transformation.

So let’s do this the right way.

1 Action Step

Do a mini fitness audit of your past 30 days. How well did you follow through on your commitments? How can you improve to end the year strong?

Client of the Week

Is it possible to get lean and strong even as a busy vegan?

Jennifer did.

She’s a busy student, working full-time and becoming a veterinarian.

Her schedule is typically maxed out every week.

Yet she was keen to prioritize her health and shed the stubborn weight that had crept on.

She felt unhappy with her body and looks. Still, she wanted to be a positive role model for her family, especially after going vegan.

Her packed schedule was a challenging obstacle. However, she remained committed to her health and the changes she wanted to see.

One of the biggest shifts for Jennifer was learning to let go of her perfectionism.

Getting consistent workouts in wasn't an issue.

It was learning how to be 'okay' with missing a random workout or not performing her best.

It's interesting how much of our mind is intertwined with our body.

They both hand in hand.

It's similar to training and nutrition.

They aren't two separate entities but rather two deeply connected areas.

So we got to work.

Our strategy: We started initially with 4 days of lifting and tracking her nutrition 5 days a week. In the moderate deficit, we also started working on her self-language and how she spoke to herself.

She was an overachiever and a perfectionist. Often, she was her own harshest critic, even when she improved.

We later added silent meditation. This improved her sleep and helped her positively release stress.

Our wins: She has lost 21 lbs of body fat, is at her leanest body fat percentage, and feels stronger than ever. She also set personal records, like a leg press of over 680 lbs.

While working overtime, she took care of her family during tough times. She also learned to love herself and let go of her perfectionism.

She’s a testament to what it means to be coachable and open-minded, even in difficult times.

Looking forward to seeing what she creates in 2026.

One Quote To Finish Your Week Strong

As a reminder, there's a $500 tuition discount off ALL 1:1 coaching programs for 48 hours.

If interested, message me 'VFR' or ​apply directly here​ (applications received first will be reviewed first).

The $500 tuition discount ends in 48 hours.

4 spots. Grab your spot and apply above.

As promised, get leaner on plants in under 5 minutes.

Till next week,

Whenever you're ready, there's 3 ways I can help you:

1. Connect with me on ​Facebook ​and ​Instagram ​and let's be friends.
2.  ​Join our free Facebook Group​. Get free trainings on how to get lean and strong with plants.
3. Want to drop body fat and build lean muscle in a fraction of the time with ease? ​Apply for Accelerator 1:1 coaching.​