The Lean Muscle Diet: A Customized Nutrition and Workout Plan--Eat the Foods You Love to Build the Body You Want and Keep It for Life! Hardcover – December 23, 2014

The themes woven throughout this book - scientific, sustainable, customized and flexible - are a big part of what make The Lean Muscle Diet unique, appealing, effective, and a breath of fresh air.

It might sound unbelievable to say that The Lean Muscle Diet shows you how you can eat the foods you love and that eating the foods you prefer is precisely how to get lean and stay lean for life, but that's exactly what this book delivers - along with the science to back it up.

The diet industry today is rife with gimmicks, pseudo-science and out-right fraud. Co-author Alan Aragon is arguably the number one advocate for and authority on evidence-based nutrition, so there is no one better to debunk diet myths and misconceptions. If you want the truth about low carb, paleo, and anti-dairy, anti-wheat, anti-gluten, anti-meat and other forbidden food mentalities that pervade the industry today, then this book is for you.

The authors do not demonize individual foods or attack other programs. In fact, The Lean Muscle Diet acknowledges that all weight loss diet programs are right - well, at least about something - they all have their own way of getting you to eat less, whether they admit it or not. The difference in the Lean Muscle Diet is, you get the relief of knowing that unless you are intolerant or allergic, you don't have to obey any strict rules that involve cutting out wheat, grains, gluten, dairy, meat or any of the foods you love. You simply have to learn how to make the foods you prefer fit into the calorie, protein, carbohydrate and fat levels that are suited for your body, your goals and your activity.

Recent attempts by other experts to communicate the concept of flexible dieting have been commendable but too often, fall short or completely go off the rails, giving the impression that you can (and should) eat more junk food, as long as it "fits your macros." Alan's "80-10-10" system is the best "flexible eating" approach I've seen yet. That's because of how Alan quantifies his definition of flexible eating with specific numbers and (strongly) emphasizes food quality in the same breath as he encourages you to enjoy a little bit of "junky goodness."

Even knowing this is a by-the-numbers program that requires a little math, you can relax as the authors point out that in a human body living in the real world, none of this is a perfect science and it doesn't have to be. The big message is that calorie quantity and calorie quality both count.

The other author in this two-person collaboration is Lou Schuler, one of the most prolific fitness writers. Lou's writing style makes this book belly-laugh entertaining in parts, as well as informative. It's an easy read that a layperson can take in, absorb and apply quickly. You get just enough science to feel reassured, but not so much it feels like you're reading a clinical journal (readers who want more of the science should look up Aragon's research review).

In the second half of the book, Schuler gives you a full body training program made up of the most important barbell and dumbbell exercises, combined with some kettlebell, cable and body weight movements. There are three full-body workouts within each cycle to keep it interesting (good variety). There's a strong emphasis on core training, and warm up and safety are stressed. The training portion includes photos, excellent exercise descriptions with muscle function fully explained, as well as workout charts to take in the program at a glance. Substitutions are easy to make and exercise progressions are provided in the "need a bigger challenge?" sections, so even experienced lifters can get a good workout. It's not a bodybuilder style of training, but leaving out that 5-10% of the training population means its ideal for 90-95% of regular guys.

This book is written in the Men's Health style, but I'd recommend it to women as well, as long as the ladies don't mind the masculine references (and jokes). If you're female and you insist on a training book that speaks directly to women, check out Schuler's, the New Rules of Lifting For Women.

New readers as well as long-time fans of the authors may correctly note that this is not really a "diet" book at all - not only because nearly half the book is about training, but because it's more like an "anti-diet" book. Traditional "diet" book or not, it's refreshing to see this in the stores on the "diet program" shelves... because that means at least one less fad diet book is up there.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of the book prior to publication. I'm a fitness author and have been a follower of Lou since his 2003 Book of Muscle and Alan since 2006 when he started his research review.

This book was an excellent introduction to a good diet and exercise plan without all of the gimmicks and magic foods that will do all of the work for you. The topics covered in this book could have been expanded upon by 150 pages for each individual topic, but the author made it accessible and gave you just what you need to get it done. I was struggling to find time to prep my food and exercise; there was no way that I was going to find time to read a novel. To make it even better, I sent Mr. Schuler a question and he responded to me. I wish I could give this book and the author 6 stars.

I have been following IIFYM for about 3 months and the science has eluded me. I understood low-carb because I had followed that method for years - so introducing carbs is scary. This book explained everything and was entertaining to read - which honestly you can't say about too many health books. Well worth reading the actually science AND true definition of IIFYM - it's not all about poptarts!

Reasonable. Straight forward. Balanced. Effective. Those are the words I'd use to describe "The Lean Muscle Diet".

If you're looking for motivational pictures of 90 day before and after photos, lots of all-caps and exclamation points this isn't the book for you.

If you're looking for a paleo-crossfit-bulletproof miracle it's nowhere to be found. No metcons or cardio (interval or otherwise) either.

And if you're looking for more help with compliance or dealing with any psychological/emotional/medical issues you have with food, this isn't the book for you. At least not directly.

Where "The Lean Muscle Diet" shines is in its balance.

** The 80-10-10 approach with food quality...
** The "math" behind what's a reasonable amount of weight to lose in 6 months...
** The approach to eating protein and carbs based on what you like (gasp!) and what you can tolerate...
** The 3x week strength training program focusing on big compound movements while letting you have a bi's and tri's moment

I own the Kindle version of the book and the book seems "small" -- it's a very fast read. Others have commented on Lou Schuler's writing style and I couldn't agree more; Lou is a great fitness writer and the stories and conversational tone help you digest a lot of information quickly and effectively.

(When I saw the hardback in a local bookstore I actually thumbed through it to make sure the digital version wasn't missing anything obvious. It's all there but I have to say the Kindle version has the usual layout issue here and there, especially with the tables)

There are a lot of tables and examples in the book. This helps you get through the small amount of math needed and gives you a reference point for how other (sample) people approach figuring out what and how much to eat. This isn't a strict calorie cutting diet plan -- more of an awareness that you're getting the right amount of protein, overall macros, and calories for your particular goals.

There are no recipes in the book. Chapter 8 does include 4 sample meal plans, and previous chapters included lots of tables broken down by nutrition type ("Meg's Fabulous Figure Stopped Missing Fries" -- you have to read the book to understand, lol). Personally this is more than enough for me and I am sure if the book is a commercial success Rodale will follow up with The Lean Muscle Diet Cookbook and The Lean Muscle Diet Weightloss Planner. Until then, it shouldn't be hard for anyone to use the internet and the 1000s of recipe sites out there to find meals that fit Alan's overall strategy.

If you've read any of the recent "New Rules" books you'll be familiar with the structure of the training programs and the overall approach taken. There's an old Japanese expression that loosely translates to "same, not same" -- or inspired-by, but (a little) different. That's what the Lean Muscle Diet training program reads like to me.

Workouts are 3x a week and there are 3 training cycles ("phases"). Phase 1 increases weights every week. Phase 2 has you increasing weight on the primary lifts each set. Phase 3 uses wave loading / pyramids. Overall, workouts combine squat/hinge/push/pull/carry movements at various set and rep schemes and from week to week (and workout to workout) there is more than enough variety to keep even the most ADD person interested.

A given workout has a dynamic warmup, core training, and strength training. Each gets their own section with explanations of "why" and "how" complete with progressions and alternatives. The photos and explanations are excellent overall.

Truth be told the authors could have flipped the order of the book and have the training part come before the nutrution/diet sections and just changed the title -- while I don't think the training part actually takes up 50% of the book it does feel that way.

"The Lean Muscle Diet" is a good book and approach without the dogmatism that you see in most popular diet books out there today.

We are bombarded with so much "information" and directives to tell us we are doing it all wrong you have to do it my way. Oh and here's some fake study to back me up. This book and program cut through the crap and sensationalism to give you tools and techniques that are sound and true.

Lou and Alan never disappoint with the content they put out and this is no exception. I am a former client and long-time follower of Alan. Everything he taught me as a client was packed into this book, so think of it like having Alan as your personal nutrition coach. They go above and beyond with insightful nutrition plans and workouts to help you reach your goals. I recommend this book to all of my clients and anyone looking for the right nutrition solution. This is a long-term plan that will have you looking and feeling your best for years.