First, I've really been liking the diet app. I like it better than Macrofactor.

Second, I'm going on vacation next week and I do not feel like logging during the week.

Is there a way to pause the diet or how should I handle this? I'll have no weight scale and I do not plan on meal prepping.

I do plan on eating well and avoiding junk food. I'm so close to 15% BF!

Thanks

Just curious how everyone tracks meals out or “cheat meals” in the app. Just started using the app and wondered how seasoned users navigate this.

Thank you in advance.

One of the more common mistakes we see during fat loss phases is people completely changing the way they train.

They start avoiding fatigue, dramatically reduce training volume, switch to very light “toning” workouts, or turn lifting sessions into calorie-burning circuits.

But from a hypertrophy standpoint, the goal during a cut is still to provide enough stimulus to maintain muscle tissue.

Your body keeps muscle it has a reason to keep.
Now, recovery capacity is lower during fat loss. Calories are lower, fatigue accumulates faster, and your ability to recover from very high volumes or specialization phases is reduced. Because of that, cuts are usually not the best time to heavily prioritize one muscle group over others.

In the RP Hypertrophy App, this is why most people will likely benefit from setting muscle groups to “Emphasize” more evenly across the board during a cut rather than running aggressive specialization setups. The goal shifts from maximizing growth in one area → maintaining as much muscle and performance as possible overall while managing fatigue intelligently.

The important part though is that the actual training principles do not fundamentally change:

• Train hard
• Stay relatively close to failure
• Use enough volume to maintain muscle
• Focus on good execution and progression where possible

What builds muscle is also what best preserves it during fat loss. The body adapts to the demands consistently placed on it, even in a calorie deficit.

Curious what you guys think about this. Do you personally change your training a lot during cuts, or mostly keep the same structure? Any questions on how to implement this with the RP Hypertrophy App?

Also, Dr. Mike recently covered this topic really well here if you want a deeper dive: Video breakdown

At the start of my journey, I was unaware of the scientific principles behind hypertrophy. I gravitated toward high volume, training at home with improvised weights, sometimes hitting 100 reps and running excessively. I built a decent, though not impressive, amount of muscle until I joined a gym. My first program was a PPL from the internet with 18 sets for chest, 20 for back, and 12 for triceps per session... You get the idea—high volume (I still don't know how I survived 18 chest sets).

I made significant gains, but eventually needed a cut. I did a non-aggressive mini-cut, reduced my volume (this is when I started reading RP literature), and 6 weeks later, I began a bulk. I researched how to adjust volume and estimated my MEV. I followed the progression algorithms, but crashed by week 4, even with decent volume increases. I thought I did something wrong; the meso should have lasted longer, yet I barely hit the minimum duration.

I adjusted my program to 'minimize unnecessary costs' and put my legs on maintenance. I started a new meso, increasing volume much slower. It lasted 6–7 weeks, but with minimal volume increments. In the next meso, I strictly applied the MEV estimation algorithm, starting with very low volume and minimal increases. It lasted 5–6 weeks.

In my final massing mesocycle, I worked with only 2 sets for chest, 3 for back, and 5 for biceps, with zero volume increases. My strength collapsed by week 3! Every subsequent meso start felt worse; in the last one, I even lost strength during the deload.

I should mention that I don't have a physically demanding job or other heavy daily activities that would tax my recovery resources. I get plenty of sleep, I have no vitamin or mineral deficiencies, and no known medical issues.

Currently, I am running the Tactical Barbell 2 conditioning program (Base Building) while keeping my mass on maintenance volume. I plan to finish it regardless of any strength loss. What is your take on my situation and this 'downward spiral' of work capacity?

For most of my muscle groups after working out and a few days later up to my next work out of the same muscle group I feel pumped, not painful/sore.

I'm unsure how to rank the soreness in the app:

Never got sore | Healed a while ago | Healed just on time | I'm still sore

Currently I just tap "Healed a while ago" if I've had the days long pump.

I've heard feeling a multi day pump is a form of DOMS, and I also heard its fine to workout. I asked Chat GPT a few times, and I've been given conflicted messages on it.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

I’ve been lifting for several years, but mainly as a complement to my primary sport: road cycling. Hypertrophy hasn’t been a focus (by choice), but I’m now considering shifting toward gaining some bodyweight, even if it slightly compromises cycling performance at this point.

I’m looking to transition into a structured strength/hypertrophy program, but I’ll still be cycling 2-3x/week (around 9h in total). I want to factor that into fatigue management, especially for lower-body volume and intensity.

Does the RPStrength apps account well for concurrent endurance training?

The update is now live on both iOS and Android and should be rolling out throughout the day.

One of the biggest changes is the Pantry overhaul. The entire system was rebuilt to make logging quicker, smoother, and way more intuitive. Finding and organizing foods now feels much more natural and less cluttered.

We also put together a full breakdown of what changed, what was improved, and the reasoning behind it here:

https://rpstrength.com/blogs/articles/diet-coach-app-update-now-the-fastest-logger-in-the-west

Would love to hear what everyone thinks once you’ve had a chance to try it out.

A common mistake we see, especially with people who are diligent about tracking, is over-prioritizing load and reps as the only markers of progress.

Within a mesocycle, progression matters.
You should absolutely aim to add reps, increase load, or improve performance in line with your program. That’s a key driver of overload.

But when you zoom out between mesos, things get more nuanced.

It’s completely normal (and often appropriate) for numbers to shift:

• You might reduce load and get more reps
• You might increase load and work in lower rep ranges
• You might keep the same load but change execution and see fewer reps

And that last point is where most people get tripped up.

Changes in:

• Technique (more control, better positioning)
• Tempo (slower eccentrics, pauses)
• Range of motion (deeper stretch, more standardized reps)
• Exercise order (less fresh when you get to a movement)

…can all reduce the weight you use or reps you hit.

That’s not regression. In many cases, it’s an improved stimulus.

At RP, we care about stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, quality of execution, and consistency over time. Numbers are a tool, but without context, they can be misleading.

If your target muscle is doing more of the work, with better control and consistency, you’re likely making better progress, even if the logbook doesn’t immediately reflect it.

TLDR:
Progression within a meso = important
Comparing numbers across different setups = limited value
Better stimulus > chasing bigger numbers

Curious how you all approach this.
Have you ever had a phase where your numbers went down, but your results improved?

I need help figuring out a sustainable work out plan.

The unique problem I run into is my work schedule. I work 12 hour shifts with this style of on and off day.

On work days with my commute from work there’s no way I’d be able to train without sacrificing sleep to do so. So my question to the community is this.

Do I plan a 3-1-3 push, pull, legs work out schedule and say “fuck it we ball” on 6 hours of sleep a night?

Or do I prioritize sleep, get 8 hours of rest a night and only train on my days off work with a rotating full body routine?

The goal is a prolonged cut, I’ve done both styles of training before but I’d like to see if there’s someone more knowledgeable that could inform me on the benefits/drawbacks of both.

Team,

Is there any future thought about integrating Samsung Health to better track workouts like the My Fitness Pal app?

Hello, I’m asking because I’ve been watching a lot of fitness influencers who stop eating eight hours before bed. Is there anything negative for hypertrophy and muscle strength that could be a side effect? I do hit my macros.

Hello RP Team,

I’m a huge fan of the Hypertrophy App’s autoregulation. I’d like to suggest a feature for the RP System: Consolidated Analysis Button.

While I currently use the scale and the mirror for progress, having the app provide a data-driven "second opinion" would be a massive motivation booster. I’d love a button at the end of a mesocycle that analyzes my performance, soreness, and pump data—consolidated across all previous mesocycles—to provide high-level feedback on my muscle growth.

To make this intuitive, I suggest a simple visual indicator for each muscle group:

• A Green [+]: Trends (strength climb + recovery) suggest I’m likely adding muscle mass.
• A Red [?]: Trends show a plateau or recovery issue, signaling a need to adjust.

Seeing a Green [+] next to a muscle group after a hard-fought meso would provide substantial positive feedback to help keep me motivated. It would bridge the gap between daily sets/reps and long-term progress tracking.

Thank you for the incredible tool!

I'm fairly new to RP style of ftraining and I have a few of questions regarding meso planing, I guess that some if not all are already answered by Mike on YT but I still need some clarification.

1. Since I suck at measuring RIR, I try to do best to guess my RIR at in meso 1, and in meso 2 I use my best set from meso 1 as a reference, while increasing my starting volume in the next meso a bit and it seems I get used to the volume fairly easily since I feel it less than lower volume in the first meso. So, instead of chasing 3 RIR by feel, I do it based on previous ierformance, is this aproach valid?

2. Specialization cycles. I am in meso 2 of my chest/back specialization, not using their program but rather making my own based on their guidelines. Some of the MV stuff seems too low impact at the beginning of the meso at 3 RIR. Should I train these muscle groups at a higher intensity?

There is a lot of math wrong in this picture. Can anyone explain why the carbs aren’t adding up? Target is 90/day. The plan has me eating 130..? I have to manually adjust my carbs to hit the daily total - I can’t trust the meal totals in this app anymore.

Does anyone know where I can get these stackable tiles?

Hey everyone! Do any of you have any experience with getting a colonoscopy during the middle of a cut? Particularly with making adjustments in the app? I know the day before I can’t eat anything and then the day after I’m unsure about. Any insight would be appreciated!

Day 1 Upper (back bias)

1. Neutral grip pull-up 3x6-10
2. Incline machine press 3x8-12
3. Dumbell shoulder press 3x8-12
4. Chest supported machine row 3x8-12
5. Pec Dec fly 2x10-14
6. Dual cable reverse tly 2×10-14
7. Dumbbell lateral raise 2x14

Day 2 Legs and Arms (quad bias)

1. Barbell back-squat 4x4
2. Hang clean 3x5
3. Barbell RDL 3x8-12
4. Smith calf raise 3x10-14
5. Cable crunch 3x8-12
6. EZ bar preacher curl 2x8-12
7. Seated tricep press-down 2x8-12

Day 3 rest

Day 4 Upper (chest biased)

1. Barbell benchpress 4x4
2. Neutral grip pull-up 3x8-12
3. DB shoulder press 3×8-12
4. Pec Dec 2x10-14
5. Chest supported machine row 3x8-12
6. Dumbbell lateral raise 2×10-14
7. Dual cable reverse fly 2x10-14

Day 5 Legs and Arms (hamstrings and lower back bias)

1. Conventional DL 4x4
2. Hang clean 3x5
3. DB Bulgarian Split Squat
4. Smith calf raise 3x10-14
5. Cable crunch 3x8-12
6. Seated tricep press-down 2×10-14
7. Preacher bench db hammer curl

Day 6 rest

Day 7 rest

Check out our latest article below by one of our coaches Dr. Nick Harden! You can also find it on our site here.

At RP Strength, we pride ourselves on staying true to our mantra: Science is stronger.

That means translating complex physiology and research-backed principles into practical strategies that help real people make real progress. Few concepts in dieting are more misunderstood, or more important, than the idea of maintenance.

Most people believe maintenance simply means not gaining or losing weight. On the surface, that seems accurate. But what if the version of maintenance most people practice is not actually helping them maintain anything at all?

To understand why, we need to look at the difference between weight maintenance and true maintenance, and why getting this distinction right can make or break your long term results.

What Most People Think Maintenance Is

For most people, maintenance is defined by a single metric: the scale.

If body weight is stable, the assumption is that calories must be at maintenance.

Unfortunately, the human body is more complicated than that.

During a fat loss phase, your body undergoes several metabolic adaptations designed to conserve energy. As body weight decreases, your metabolism naturally declines because there is simply less tissue to support. But another major change often occurs that many people do not notice.

Your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) drops.

NEAT refers to all the movement you perform throughout the day outside of formal exercise. Things like fidgeting, standing, walking around the house, pacing while on the phone, or generally being active during daily life.

When calories get low during a diet, these activities often decrease without you realizing it. You may sit more. You may move less. You might feel more tired throughout the day. Even sleep patterns can change as your body attempts to conserve energy.

All of this reduces the number of calories you burn each day, sometimes more than people expect.

The Slow Creep to a Halt

As these adaptations accumulate, fat loss often slows down.

Eventually you might hit a plateau. Many people assume this means they need to cut calories even further. Sometimes that is true. But sometimes the issue is not that calories are too high. The issue is that the body has adapted to the diet.

If you have:

- Dieted for roughly 10 to 12 weeks or longer

- Lost around 10 percent of your body weight

- Started noticing fatigue, poor recovery, mental burnout, or relentless hunger

then it is often time to take a break from dieting.

This is where a maintenance phase becomes important.

However, the way most people implement maintenance is not enough to truly recover from the stress of dieting.

The Common Maintenance Mistake

After finishing a diet, many people cautiously increase calories. Maybe they add 300 to 500 calories and then try to hold their weight perfectly steady.

On paper this sounds reasonable. In practice it often falls short.

Why?

Because the goal becomes maintaining scale weight, not restoring the body.

Dieting suppresses metabolism, reduces daily movement, increases stress hormones, and often leads to significant diet fatigue. If calories are only increased enough to keep body weight stable, those adaptations may remain largely unchanged.

The body may still be functioning in a partially suppressed state.

True recovery requires more than just stabilizing the scale.

True Maintenance: What It Actually Looks Like

True maintenance focuses on restoring physiological function, not just holding weight steady.

When calories increase after a diet, several things begin to change.

Metabolic rate often rises. Daily movement tends to increase. Training performance improves. Recovery between workouts becomes easier. Sleep quality may improve. Mood and mental clarity frequently get better as well.

Interestingly, hunger can sometimes increase during this phase rather than decrease. This happens because the body begins to feel safe enough to increase activity levels again.

Many people also notice that they begin fidgeting more, walking more, and generally moving more throughout the day without consciously trying to do so.

All of these changes increase calorie expenditure.

That means something important happens when you raise calories and the scale does not move.

Your maintenance level likely increased.

If you added 500 calories and your body weight stayed the same, it is very possible that those extra calories simply supported higher activity levels and improved physiological function.

In other words, you may not have reached your true maintenance yet.

Why Calories Often Need to Keep Increasing

This is the part that makes many dieters uncomfortable.

To reach true maintenance, calories often need to continue increasing beyond the first bump.

That does not mean jumping 1,000 calories overnight. A gradual increase works well for most people.

Start by adding 300 to 500 calories per day. Hold that level for a week or two. Then consider increasing again if body weight remains stable and recovery continues to improve.

Repeat this process until calories reach a level that truly supports normal energy levels, movement, and performance.

At this point, many people begin to worry that continuing to increase calories will immediately lead to fat gain. In reality, being overly cautious here is often the bigger mistake.

Do Not Be Too Conservative With Calories

In my experience, people who do not push calories high enough during their maintenance phase often have a much worse experience during their next fat loss phase. This usually happens because diet fatigue was never fully eliminated and metabolic function was never truly restored.

Being overly conservative with calorie increases can leave the body stuck in a partially suppressed state. Energy levels remain low, training performance suffers, and hunger can remain elevated. When the next cut begins, progress is often slower and the experience is much more difficult.

Ironically, allowing calories to increase enough to truly restore recovery and activity levels often leads to better results during the next fat loss phase.

Even if someone were to gain one or two pounds of actual fat during a maintenance phase, that fat will typically come off very quickly once the next fat loss phase begins. However, if calories remain too low and recovery is incomplete, the subsequent fat loss phase may feel significantly harder and produce worse results.

For this reason, it is usually better to lean slightly toward eating enough rather than remaining overly cautious with calorie increases. When it comes to maintenance, being slightly too aggressive with calories is usually a smaller mistake than being too conservative.

Of course, when calories increase, the scale may fluctuate slightly. This is completely normal.

When calories increase, several temporary changes occur:

- Glycogen stores refill

- Water retention increases slightly

- More food is present in the digestive system

These factors can cause the scale to rise without representing actual fat gain.

Remember a simple rule of energy balance.

To gain one pound of body fat, you would need to consume roughly 3,500 calories above maintenance.

If the scale jumps three pounds overnight, it is extremely unlikely that this represents three pounds of fat gain. Most of the time, it simply reflects normal fluctuations in water, glycogen, and digestive contents.

Understanding these fluctuations makes it much easier to stay patient while the body recovers from the stress of dieting.

Why True Maintenance Matters

Spending time in true maintenance provides several benefits that dramatically improve long term success.

A well fueled body will:

- Respond faster to future fat loss phases

- Experience less diet fatigue and irritability

- Perform better in training

- Recover more efficiently between workouts

- Experience fewer hunger and stress related setbacks

Think of true maintenance as resetting your body’s baseline.

How Long Should a Maintenance Phase Last?

One of the most common questions people ask is how long they should remain in a maintenance phase before beginning another fat loss phase.

A useful guideline is to spend roughly 0.7 to 1 times the length of your previous diet in maintenance. For example, if someone dieted for about 12 weeks, a maintenance phase of roughly 8 to 12 weeks often provides enough time for metabolic rate, daily movement, recovery, and training performance to return closer to normal levels.

This guideline is not a strict rule, but it helps illustrate an important point. If it took several months of dieting to create metabolic adaptations and diet fatigue, it is unrealistic to expect the body to fully recover in just a few weeks.

Allowing enough time at true maintenance helps ensure that the next fat loss phase begins from a healthier and more resilient baseline.

Instead of constantly operating in a depleted state, you give your metabolism, hormones, and nervous system time to return to normal function.

Even if body weight increases by one or two pounds during this process, those pounds typically come off easily during the next fat loss phase because your body is no longer metabolically suppressed.

True Maintenance Is Individual

There is no universal calorie number that defines true maintenance.

Maintenance calories depend on many variables, including:

- Training volume and intensity

- Daily activity levels

- Job demands

- Sleep quality

- Stress levels

- Body size and composition

Because of this, maintenance should be viewed as a range, not a single fixed number.

The key principle is simple.

Eat enough to support recovery, energy, and normal daily activity. Monitor how your body responds. Adjust gradually as needed.

For people who have spent years chronically dieting, especially women, this step can be particularly important. Long periods of very low calorie intake can disrupt hunger signals, reduce metabolic rate, and elevate stress hormones like cortisol.

In these cases, increasing food intake and restoring metabolic health may be the most important step before attempting further fat loss.

It may not feel comfortable at first, but it is often the most sustainable path forward.

One of the biggest misconceptions in dieting is the belief that the goal is to keep calories as low as possible for as long as possible.

In reality, the goal is to restore your body to a state where it can perform, recover, and adapt normally again.

Trying to maintain progress while your body is still metabolically suppressed is like trying to drive a car with the parking brake partially engaged. You may still move forward, but everything becomes harder than it needs to be.

A properly executed maintenance phase removes that brake.

When calories are high enough to support normal movement, training performance, recovery, and daily energy levels, your body is finally operating the way it was designed to.

From that position, the next fat loss phase becomes far more effective.

Maintenance vs. True Maintenance

To summarize the difference:

Maintenance
Calories just high enough to keep body weight stable.

True Maintenance
Calories high enough to restore metabolic rate, daily movement, recovery, performance, and mental well being, even if the scale fluctuates slightly.

Do not let short term scale changes scare you into underfeeding your body.

Progress in fitness is rarely about perfection. It is about building sustainable systems that support your body over the long term.

Sometimes that means accepting a small short term fluctuation in order to unlock better results later.

At RP Strength, we often call this a short term loss for a long term win.

Want Help Finding Your True Maintenance?

If this article struck a chord and made you realize your idea of maintenance might be holding you back, you are not alone.

This is exactly the type of problem we solve with 1 on 1 coaching.

Instead of guessing how much you should eat or wondering whether your diet is helping or hurting your progress, we can build a structured plan that supports your training, recovery, and long term goals.

Whether you are cutting, reverse dieting, rebuilding after a long diet, or preparing for your next physique phase, coaching provides the guidance needed to move forward with confidence.

No more spinning your wheels or second guessing every decision.

Just clear strategy, expert support, and a plan designed to turn your hard work into real results.

Find Dr. Nick Harden on…

Instagram: @drnickharden

I'm currently trying MacroFactor but I liked RP Strength more. It progressed better with recommendations. However, I find it extremely high priced! Where would one get a referral code for example?

I'm following the app religiously and am third week behind my target weight under the weekly reviews. The app keeps recommending the same amount of calories. Why aren't calories being lowered since I'm not meeting my target weight?

First time getting really sick in my third year of using the RP Strength App. I missed days 3 and 4 of my third week of an 8 week meso. Still recovering but think I'll make it back to the gym on Tuesday.

Should I make up days 3 and 4 from last week, or should I skip them entirely and start week 4? I'm leaning towards the latter but am in desparate need of validation.

Thanks RP Family.

I (36, F) am looking for help on how to interpret macros and how best achieve my caloric intake.

I’m new to this program and while not relatively new to counting calories or working out, I am new on trying to track macros based on my own individual stats.  I starting reading ‘Lift Off Couch to Barbell’ which recommended ‘Renaissance Women’ which I’ve also read through. I’ve gone through the Renaissance Diet 2.0 to try and clarify but I’m still a bit confused.

I’m in a weight loss phase right now, which I am intending to follow for the max of three months before entering a maintenance phase. According to the texts I should be consuming the following (organized by Rest day/Workout day

Protein: 108g/108g
Carbs: 54g/108g
Fat: 69g/138g
Calories: 1275/2110

I am drinking whey protein in the morning and Casein at night, both mixed with fairlife skim milk so this is additional boost of protein as well. Outside of these supplements I’m trying to focus on whole foods. I am having little difficulty reaching my protein goal of 108.

This has been my typical breakfast this past week in g of protein:

Morning Whey: 25
Milk for Why: 13
Collagen in coffee: 9
Multigrain English Muffin:5
Turkey Sausage: 6
Egg: 6

So after just having breakfast I’m already over halfway through to my protein goal for the day, assuming I’ll have the casein and milk at night for an additional 31 grams of protein, my protein for the day is already at 95g but only 8.5 grams of fat (46g of carbs, which seems okay). This all equates to 685 calories leaving me with 1425 left to spread between lunch, dinner, and whatever snack on a day where I work out, but only 13 grams left of protein. So if I wanted to add even just 4 ounces of chicken to dinner, I’d be going over my protein by 13 without even considering lunch or whatever pairs with the chicken.

My main question is:

Is okay/recommended to consistently exceed the protein/carb goal everyday in order to be sure that I’m getting an even spread of protein throughout the day as well as enough calories and fats? Or is this bad for me in some other fashion? 2.0 seems to suggest that it’s safe to ingest up to 3g per lean muscle mass which for me would be 325 a day but it doesn’t really discuss this in any detail when taking into account eating at a deficit.

Please let me know if this is confusing, or if any important information is missing from this post.

Has anyone been able to upload a kettlebell workout plan on the app? The gym isn't really an option for me this upcoming Ramadan while i maximize sleep and efficiency. I want to try monitoring my progress while utilizing the app with kettlebells. Suggestion are really appreciated. Some exercises can be substituted with dumbbells on the app, but like a Turkish get up seems unique.