Thrive journey

First of all: I really really liked Thrive. It has been an amazing thing to acquire and I didn't regret it for a second!

There have been quite a lot of changes in my nutritional habits. On the one hand because I ate with the "bodybuilder"-mentality of getting calories every 2-3 hours. On the other hand I did achieve this quite often through junk or insane amounts of nuts and stuff like that (e.g. Coke Zero instead of water).

So at first I really was like "OMG how can I maintain even a tiny bit of mass" and was feared of getting so hungry even my keyboard would look quite delicious. But just a few weeks later I was astonished by how well it went for me. I almost never felt hungry and still had more energy than the whole time of training before! And even though it might not be asked yet to remove anything inbetween meals, I did reduce the size and frequency of my usual snacks. All that happened just because I didn't really feel in the need for them. Also I didn't lose any muscle or strength at all and still got no hunger or lacks of energy because of that. It's truly amazing how those seemingly little changes can affect you THAT much!

Besides your programming is really well thought in my opinion. Replacing bad food/drinks step by step was just THE way to go for me. Each step I was like "hm, 1l of water instead of coke. You can do that". And it worked out. No lacks of motivation, I don't even miss a lot of that food I used to eat. The weeks just pass by and you wake up surprised how easy and naturally you adapted so many tiny steps into one big change.

Can't wait for Thrive Level 2!

Daniel,

Thanks and I am glad you made such great progress. Cool!

It sounds like you had a huge "mindset" to overcome. The notion of eating every 3 hours, calories in calories out is something very difficult to let go of. Great job!

@Daniel Sesselmann : I hope you don't mind that I use your topic to sum up my Thrive experience  (not sure everyone should create his own topic or not).

@Jeff Serven Here is my experience with Thrive 1.

My yo-yo diet history:

• 0 - 23 yo : I grew up eating decent meals (vegetables+ rice/potatoes... + meat or fish) but with a LOT of junk food for dessert or snacks. My mum's place was filled with chocolate, biscuits, yogurt... Feel hungry or sad? grap some sugary snacks... + Some Belgian beers from time to time.
• 23-26 yo : Getting more into sport & GST. I wanted to improve my nutrition habits and started following the paleo diet as much as I could (nonetheless I was still eating too much sugary & unhealthy snacks). Then I  worked with a nutrition coach (a student from Charles Poliquin). My goal was just to be healthy and maintain my weight. He put me on a paleo/bodybuilder diet : 6 to 7 meals per day with animal protein in everyone. LOTS of pills/supplement.  I was around 10% BF (according to him) but I didn't see the point in eating all the time and so much animals. After almost 1 year something broke in my mind. I couldn't stand eating meat /fish anymore.
• 26 - 29 yo : Trying to find how to eat a close to vegan diet. I was eating mainly fruits & vegetables + some junk food at work (pastries, chocolate...). I had to eat ALL the time and was never satisfied. I tried some Recipes from Brendan Brazier's book with cholrella/spirulina, chia seeds, hemp seeds... Better but still relying on a lot of sugar (ex: dates + coconut oil; smoothie with chlorella, hemp oil, fruits ...). Almost no alcohol. No soda. Just water /  vegetable juice & some tea..
• 29 yo +: I came across Thrive 1. There was supposed to have a vegetarian option (at first it wasn't that clear that vegan /vegetarian couldn't follow Thrive 1 completely). I decided to trust Coach Sommer and follow Jeff advices.

What I liked in Thrive 1

• Jeff replies to your forum posts & message. He seems passionate about nutrition & human performance. Jeff is about what works and what does not : he is not following blindly a diet guru.
• Easy to follow.I like the gradual increase in "difficulty" (ex: 1L water then 2L...)
• The reason behind every step is clear. It sounds even logical when you read it now.

My difficulties

When I realize that I needed to include back some animal products for the next step I had some rough nights. Lots of thinking. Questioning my ethics and my sense of priority.... After 2-3 days I made up my mind and then it was ok. I decided to go back to an "omnivore diet" and to not give a f*** about what some plant-based friends will say. Ethics is personal. End of story.

I now eat organic eggs, wild smoked salmon, organic cottage cheese and from time to time chicken or beef.

Results

• No big physical change for me.
• Less drama with family (who didn't like having a vegetarian around the table, even a quiet one ^^)
• Less sugar cravings

What I need to work on now

• eliminate junk food (chocolate and such)
• Sleep more (which means finding a way to work less and/or remove non important activities)

In Thrive 1 it was only about adding things which makes it easy to follow in my opinion. I expect Thrive 2 to be tougher when I will have to remove some food

Good stuff here! I will get ya' a full reply tomorrow as it will be a bit long. 

Romain, 

Great introspection! Reflecting back on your eating patterns throughout life and assessing how those affected you is great. Of particular interest to me is the eating meat 6-7 times a day. That is a prime example of why people fail at nutrition, loser coaches who have never walked the walk. 

I remember one of your first post you mentioned being a vegetarian and it gave me the idea that you were eating a lot of junk food and hiding behind that title. I very bluntly hit you with that truth and you took it on board and got right down to it with Thrive. That takes something special to do.  Its funny because after your first post I called Coach and said "here is what I want to say to this guy" and Coach said "just tell him the truth" and, I did and, you stepped up and made it happen. Good for you!