Eat MTNTOUGH: ongoing review of their nutrition program!

Jordan Budd

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Hey everyone,

The last couple of years @Matt Cashell and I have tackled the MTNTOUGH programs, both post-season and pre-season models. In the last few months they have released a few other programs including their 30-30 Program built for workouts with no gym needed and Spring/Fall training camps to fill in the spring and fall hunt season gaps. With those additions it makes their program 365. The obvious addition they saw to the grinding workouts was a nutrition plan to match so they created Eat MTNTOUGH.

As a disclaimer, the Eat program was comped to me but only because we're reviewing the workout programs and the Eat is included in their All Access package. Absolutely no strings attached for the Eat program, I'm starting this thread because I really believe if someone is struggling with where to start for nutrition this source will be tough to beat.

So, curious of what they had going on I opened up the module for the Eat program and watched through the videos. They BY FAR take the most practical and simplistic approach on nutrition over some other programs that I've seen. I don't want to rant, but a lot of videos and podcasts you hear on nutrition these days are all about some crazy "diet" where you only eat meat, or you completely cut the carbs out. While I agree that those diets can and do work for some people... for the average person they are pretty extreme and in my opinion not very sustainable. Then when you fall off of those diets and don't have a good nutrition base to fall back on, you fall all the way off.

Now, I'm not really a health nut (I'm a fan of the oreo, sour patch kids and the occasional zebra cake) and I'm certainly not licensed but I've done this dance a couple of times with nutrition programs trying to figuring out the best way for me to do it and sustain it. The best thing I've found is to keep it simple, balanced and eat normal things. That's why I loved the layout of this program so much. It's extremely simple and you aren't eating a bunch of crazy named vegetables that you need a Whole Foods to find.

Starting the 17th of February (when trade show season wraps) I'm going to start the program for 30 days with no cheat days/meals and see how I feel while also doing the post season program. I'd like to shed a little excess fluff, probably from said oreo, off as well but I'm mainly focused on how I feel with the numbers/ratios that I figured out on the videos. When I looked at the proposed menu for a week, it was all things that we already eat but I think I just eat too much of it. So I think portion control will be the biggest thing for me to dial in. Anyways, this will be the update thread and I'll leave some links below to check it out further. The nutrition portion is $100 for lifetime access and if you bundle with the 30-30 program you can save $40, so that gives you a pretty awesome combo to get started.

 

robby denning

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Messages
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Hey everyone,

The last couple of years @Matt Cashell and I have tackled the MTNTOUGH programs, both post-season and pre-season models. In the last few months they have released a few other programs including their 30-30 Program built for workouts with no gym needed and Spring/Fall training camps to fill in the spring and fall hunt season gaps. With those additions it makes their program 365. The obvious addition they saw to the grinding workouts was a nutrition plan to match so they created Eat MTNTOUGH.

As a disclaimer, the Eat program was comped to me but only because we're reviewing the workout programs and the Eat is included in their All Access package. Absolutely no strings attached for the Eat program, I'm starting this thread because I really believe if someone is struggling with where to start for nutrition this source will be tough to beat.

So, curious of what they had going on I opened up the module for the Eat program and watched through the videos. They BY FAR take the most practical and simplistic approach on nutrition over some other programs that I've seen. I don't want to rant, but a lot of videos and podcasts you hear on nutrition these days are all about some crazy "diet" where you only eat meat, or you completely cut the carbs out. While I agree that those diets can and do work for some people... for the average person they are pretty extreme and in my opinion not very sustainable. Then when you fall off of those diets and don't have a good nutrition base to fall back on, you fall all the way off.

Now, I'm not really a health nut (I'm a fan of the oreo, sour patch kids and the occasional zebra cake) and I'm certainly not licensed but I've done this dance a couple of times with nutrition programs trying to figuring out the best way for me to do it and sustain it. The best thing I've found is to keep it simple, balanced and eat normal things. That's why I loved the layout of this program so much. It's extremely simple and you aren't eating a bunch of crazy named vegetables that you need a Whole Foods to find.

Starting the 17th of February (when trade show season wraps) I'm going to start the program for 30 days with no cheat days/meals and see how I feel while also doing the post season program. I'd like to shed a little excess fluff, probably from said oreo, off as well but I'm mainly focused on how I feel with the numbers/ratios that I figured out on the videos. When I looked at the proposed menu for a week, it was all things that we already eat but I think I just eat too much of it. So I think portion control will be the biggest thing for me to dial in. Anyways, this will be the update thread and I'll leave some links below to check it out further. The nutrition portion is $100 for lifetime access and if you bundle with the 30-30 program you can save $40, so that gives you a pretty awesome combo to get started.


This is great Jordan, I’m glad you’re taking this portion of the program on. I didn’t know you were going to. So let’s get you real fattened up at the expo, just in time to launch this. Nothing like losing 10 pounds of Oreos the first week on a program


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Tallfeller454

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
219
Looking forward to this thread. I have my own “at home” workout I follow with a decent diet. Have been interested in their program for awhile now. Can’t wait to see how you like it.





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Jordan Budd

Jordan Budd

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Alright everyone, today was my first day actually tracking my caloric intake and macros for the program. For me, I'm trying to hit 2,030 calories per day. Which is actually a 500 calorie deficit according to the calculations I did while watching the Eat program videos the first day. I'm running a deficit to cut some fluff off to start with. I imagine I'll be running that -500 calories the whole 30 days then adjust according to how I feel and the changes I've made. Along with the calorie mark, the macros I've decided to go with via the program guidance is 30% protein, 20% carbs and 50% fats. After this first week if it needs adjusting I'll adjust it but after today I think I'm pretty close. I tracked a typical day last week and I was about even with all macros around 30-35%.

So here's what I had today and I feel great energy wise. I worked out this morning lifting weights, no real cardio, and since then I've been catching up on office work.

Breakfast - 438 calories
2 large eggs
3 oz Venison Sausage
2 tablespoons Medium Salsa
1 oz of raw cheese

Snack (this pretty much morphed into Lunch) - 488 calories
3/4 cup Great Value Greek Plain Yogurt (we get this stuff at Walmart and it has a lot of protein per serving with descent fats. Great for a snack type concoction like I made today and can curve a sweet tooth)
1/2 scoop MTN Ops Magnum Banana flavored protein powder
1 tblspn Peanut Butter - - mixed all of this together for 268 calories
Later on I had 1 oz of raw cheese curds left over from the drive yesterday to add another 220 calories.

Dinner (taco-ish bowl)- 754 calories
6 oz Elk Burger
3/4 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 1/2 cup Rice
2 tbl Medium Salsa
2 tbl Sour Cream
1 tbl Spicy Pickled Relish

As I write this I still have 350 calories to go before I hit my 2,030 mark. I can come up with a protein shake to hit that before bed but since I basically sat at my desk all day and I'm not hungry right now I think I'll call it a day and see how I feel in the morning. I hit my carbohydrate allotment pretty much on point with 4g to spare. I'm still 25g shy on protein intake, which a scoop of protein powder would about take care of. For fats I'm shy 33g. I now realize fats are going to be the toughest thing for me to hit with what I'm currently used to eating. We'll be picking up coconut oil and some almonds tomorrow at the store to help that out. I'm not a big raw almond eater but we're planning on grounding some up to use as a flour.

The point I hope this long post makes is that you don't have to starve on this program and you don't have to have an all organic household to eat healthy. It's really pretty simple.
 
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Jordan Budd

Jordan Budd

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An update on this.

Been going well, I’ve lost 3 lbs thus far. One portion of the program is they want you to cut out carbonated drinks, as they say it causes inflammation. I had done so throughout the program but yesterday I had a monster ultra (0 cal, no sugar) and last night I could tell my knees and quads burned/ached much more than normal. I’ve been on my feet all day everyday for the last couple weeks as we’re calving cows so it wasn’t like I had been easy on my legs until now.

Thought it was super interesting and I challenge everyone to try cutting out carbonation for a while and see how you feel.

Other than that the “diet” has been great. For the percentages I chose, upping the fat content was my beginning issue and limiting carbs just a bit more than I had been. Adding more almonds/almond putter, peanut butter and using coconut oil (I can’t even taste coconut) has helped that a lot. If you choose your foods you can really eat a lot and stay within the parameters.


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robby denning

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Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
14,990
Location
SE Idaho
An update on this.

Been going well, I’ve lost 3 lbs thus far. One portion of the program is they want you to cut out carbonated drinks, as they say it causes inflammation. I had done so throughout the program but yesterday I had a monster ultra (0 cal, no sugar) and last night I could tell my knees and quads burned/ached much more than normal. I’ve been on my feet all day everyday for the last couple weeks as we’re calving cows so it wasn’t like I had been easy on my legs until now.

Thought it was super interesting and I challenge everyone to try cutting out carbonation for a while and see how you feel.

Other than that the “diet” has been great. For the percentages I chose, upping the fat content was my beginning issue and limiting carbs just a bit more than I had been. Adding more almonds/almond putter, peanut butter and using coconut oil (I can’t even taste coconut) has helped that a lot. If you choose your foods you can really eat a lot and stay within the parameters.


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Thanks for the updates on this Jordan. Sounds like the 2000 cal/day is keeping you satisfied and full?


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CJF

WKR
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
388
Location
CO
Alright everyone, today was my first day actually tracking my caloric intake and macros for the program. For me, I'm trying to hit 2,030 calories per day. Which is actually a 500 calorie deficit according to the calculations I did while watching the Eat program videos the first day. I'm running a deficit to cut some fluff off to start with. I imagine I'll be running that -500 calories the whole 30 days then adjust according to how I feel and the changes I've made. Along with the calorie mark, the macros I've decided to go with via the program guidance is 30% protein, 20% carbs and 50% fats. After this first week if it needs adjusting I'll adjust it but after today I think I'm pretty close. I tracked a typical day last week and I was about even with all macros around 30-35%.

So here's what I had today and I feel great energy wise. I worked out this morning lifting weights, no real cardio, and since then I've been catching up on office work.

Breakfast - 438 calories
2 large eggs
3 oz Venison Sausage
2 tablespoons Medium Salsa
1 oz of raw cheese

Snack (this pretty much morphed into Lunch) - 488 calories
3/4 cup Great Value Greek Plain Yogurt (we get this stuff at Walmart and it has a lot of protein per serving with descent fats. Great for a snack type concoction like I made today and can curve a sweet tooth)
1/2 scoop MTN Ops Magnum Banana flavored protein powder
1 tblspn Peanut Butter - - mixed all of this together for 268 calories
Later on I had 1 oz of raw cheese curds left over from the drive yesterday to add another 220 calories.

Dinner (taco-ish bowl)- 754 calories
6 oz Elk Burger
3/4 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 1/2 cup Rice
2 tbl Medium Salsa
2 tbl Sour Cream
1 tbl Spicy Pickled Relish

As I write this I still have 350 calories to go before I hit my 2,030 mark. I can come up with a protein shake to hit that before bed but since I basically sat at my desk all day and I'm not hungry right now I think I'll call it a day and see how I feel in the morning. I hit my carbohydrate allotment pretty much on point with 4g to spare. I'm still 25g shy on protein intake, which a scoop of protein powder would about take care of. For fats I'm shy 33g. I now realize fats are going to be the toughest thing for me to hit with what I'm currently used to eating. We'll be picking up coconut oil and some almonds tomorrow at the store to help that out. I'm not a big raw almond eater but we're planning on grounding some up to use as a flour.

The point I hope this long post makes is that you don't have to starve on this program and you don't have to have an all organic household to eat healthy. It's really pretty simple.
Cook your eggs with 1 tbsp of butter (12g fat) and throw a diced avacado (20g fat) in that taco ish bowl and you'll make up most all of your missing fat without changing your carb/protein intake.
 
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Jordan Budd

Jordan Budd

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Thanks for the updates on this Jordan. Sounds like the 2000 cal/day is keeping you satisfied and full?


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It is keeping me full. There’s been a couple days where I end up short about 300 calories but I feel satisfied. Thus far there hasn’t been a day where I meet that caloric intake and still feel hungry.


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Joined
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Messages
17
Transferring this daily diet to something that can be packed into the mountain is the toughest part. I tried Keto for awhile mainly because you can pack it easily, but has since returned to a simple low carb diet. Also, how do you track increased calories needed while on the mtn verse everyday life.
 
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Jordan Budd

Jordan Budd

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Transferring this daily diet to something that can be packed into the mountain is the toughest part. I tried Keto for awhile mainly because you can pack it easily, but has since returned to a simple low carb diet. Also, how do you track increased calories needed while on the mtn verse everyday life.

MTN Tough has a backcountry calorie calculator. It’s free. You can enter your weight, pack weight, avg distance and avg elevation gain and it’ll give you a caloric number to aim for. Great resource for a starting point


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JCohHTX

FNG
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May 6, 2019
Messages
77
Jordan, what were you final thoughts on this program? Was it hard to stick with? Did it help with energy levels, weight loss, muscle gain, etc? Thanks!
 
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Jordan Budd

Jordan Budd

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Jordan, what were you final thoughts on this program? Was it hard to stick with? Did it help with energy levels, weight loss, muscle gain, etc? Thanks!

I really liked it. Simple and easy to stick with. I ate pretty clean before that, so my deal was cutting carbonated drinks out and basically all sugar. I did have plenty of energy, I wouldn't say a large increase just because I had already been eating similar just not counting the calories. If a person needs a routine and meal ideas I don't think it gets better with this program. Takes the guess work out and isn't complicated. I'll be going back through it soon as I tighten up my fitness through the summer.
 

JCohHTX

FNG
Joined
May 6, 2019
Messages
77
I really liked it. Simple and easy to stick with. I ate pretty clean before that, so my deal was cutting carbonated drinks out and basically all sugar. I did have plenty of energy, I wouldn't say a large increase just because I had already been eating similar just not counting the calories. If a person needs a routine and meal ideas I don't think it gets better with this program. Takes the guess work out and isn't complicated. I'll be going back through it soon as I tighten up my fitness through the summer.
Great, thanks for the update and for the other great content you put out!
 

Piranha37

FNG
Joined
Oct 3, 2020
Messages
27
This is a great review. I tried this program as well, but I didn’t stick with the macro% recommended because that low % of carbs really had me hitting a wall. This program had me taking in quite a bit more calories than i was used to (as I was trying to lose weight, and my old wrestler brain told me to cut calories severely). By about 12 months later I had actually put on 15 lbs. most of this was muscle, but I wasn’t losing the fat I thought I should be. I ended up going and getting a metabolic cart last month to see what my RMR actually was and I found out that my RMR is 2550 kcal per day, vs 1900 as estimated by most of the estimating calculations, and that I am a very fast metabolizer. It also showed that I was burning exclusively carbs in my fasting state, not fat. I looked back at my diet intake and saw I’d been increasing my carb intake quite a bit.
The diet that was recommended based on that info was the exact same as recommended by MTN TOUGH, 40/40/20. The only difference is that I needed to increase my caloric intake because I was down in the “medical supervision” calorie intake range based off my new RMR. It’s now been 3 weeks since I started making these adjustments and my strength work is still good, my endurance was tough for a week or so but now I’m doing better, and I’ve lost 9 lbs (5 of water weight, then 4 more slowly).
So I guess the moral of the story is that the macro and whole food approach by MTN TOUGH definitely works, you just have to actually do it :)
 

pcrossett

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Joined
May 9, 2022
Messages
91
Location
Colorado
Is this program still around? I have the subscription app for working out but when looking through the app did not see anything along nutrition lines.
 
Joined
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Messages
71
Location
Central Oregon
Is this program still around? I have the subscription app for working out but when looking through the app did not see anything along nutrition lines.


Looks like! I'm working on getting myself on a month of personal training/nutrition so that I can trust myself to sign up for a program that costs a bit more than self-motivation, but I'm looking forward to giving MTNTough a go.
 

robby denning

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Messages
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Looks like! I'm working on getting myself on a month of personal training/nutrition so that I can trust myself to sign up for a program that costs a bit more than self-motivation, but I'm looking forward to giving MTNTough a go.
it's a good group of guys. I did one of their in-person workouts at the '21 Western Hunting Summit. KICKED MY TAIL!
 

v8rider

FNG
Joined
Dec 1, 2022
Messages
32
Location
Conroe, Texas
As a New
Hey everyone,

The last couple of years @Matt Cashell and I have tackled the MTNTOUGH programs, both post-season and pre-season models. In the last few months they have released a few other programs including their 30-30 Program built for workouts with no gym needed and Spring/Fall training camps to fill in the spring and fall hunt season gaps. With those additions it makes their program 365. The obvious addition they saw to the grinding workouts was a nutrition plan to match so they created Eat MTNTOUGH.

As a disclaimer, the Eat program was comped to me but only because we're reviewing the workout programs and the Eat is included in their All Access package. Absolutely no strings attached for the Eat program, I'm starting this thread because I really believe if someone is struggling with where to start for nutrition this source will be tough to beat.

So, curious of what they had going on I opened up the module for the Eat program and watched through the videos. They BY FAR take the most practical and simplistic approach on nutrition over some other programs that I've seen. I don't want to rant, but a lot of videos and podcasts you hear on nutrition these days are all about some crazy "diet" where you only eat meat, or you completely cut the carbs out. While I agree that those diets can and do work for some people... for the average person they are pretty extreme and in my opinion not very sustainable. Then when you fall off of those diets and don't have a good nutrition base to fall back on, you fall all the way off.

Now, I'm not really a health nut (I'm a fan of the oreo, sour patch kids and the occasional zebra cake) and I'm certainly not licensed but I've done this dance a couple of times with nutrition programs trying to figuring out the best way for me to do it and sustain it. The best thing I've found is to keep it simple, balanced and eat normal things. That's why I loved the layout of this program so much. It's extremely simple and you aren't eating a bunch of crazy named vegetables that you need a Whole Foods to find.

Starting the 17th of February (when trade show season wraps) I'm going to start the program for 30 days with no cheat days/meals and see how I feel while also doing the post season program. I'd like to shed a little excess fluff, probably from said oreo, off as well but I'm mainly focused on how I feel with the numbers/ratios that I figured out on the videos. When I looked at the proposed menu for a week, it was all things that we already eat but I think I just eat too much of it. So I think portion control will be the biggest thing for me to dial in. Anyways, this will be the update thread and I'll leave some links below to check it out further. The nutrition portion is $100 for lifetime access and if you bundle with the 30-30 program you can save $40, so that gives you a pretty awesome combo to get started.

Hey everyone,

The last couple of years @Matt Cashell and I have tackled the MTNTOUGH programs, both post-season and pre-season models. In the last few months they have released a few other programs including their 30-30 Program built for workouts with no gym needed and Spring/Fall training camps to fill in the spring and fall hunt season gaps. With those additions it makes their program 365. The obvious addition they saw to the grinding workouts was a nutrition plan to match so they created Eat MTNTOUGH.

As a disclaimer, the Eat program was comped to me but only because we're reviewing the workout programs and the Eat is included in their All Access package. Absolutely no strings attached for the Eat program, I'm starting this thread because I really believe if someone is struggling with where to start for nutrition this source will be tough to beat.

So, curious of what they had going on I opened up the module for the Eat program and watched through the videos. They BY FAR take the most practical and simplistic approach on nutrition over some other programs that I've seen. I don't want to rant, but a lot of videos and podcasts you hear on nutrition these days are all about some crazy "diet" where you only eat meat, or you completely cut the carbs out. While I agree that those diets can and do work for some people... for the average person they are pretty extreme and in my opinion not very sustainable. Then when you fall off of those diets and don't have a good nutrition base to fall back on, you fall all the way off.

Now, I'm not really a health nut (I'm a fan of the oreo, sour patch kids and the occasional zebra cake) and I'm certainly not licensed but I've done this dance a couple of times with nutrition programs trying to figuring out the best way for me to do it and sustain it. The best thing I've found is to keep it simple, balanced and eat normal things. That's why I loved the layout of this program so much. It's extremely simple and you aren't eating a bunch of crazy named vegetables that you need a Whole Foods to find.

Starting the 17th of February (when trade show season wraps) I'm going to start the program for 30 days with no cheat days/meals and see how I feel while also doing the post season program. I'd like to shed a little excess fluff, probably from said oreo, off as well but I'm mainly focused on how I feel with the numbers/ratios that I figured out on the videos. When I looked at the proposed menu for a week, it was all things that we already eat but I think I just eat too much of it. So I think portion control will be the biggest thing for me to dial in. Anyways, this will be the update thread and I'll leave some links below to check it out further. The nutrition portion is $100 for lifetime access and if you bundle with the 30-30 program you can save $40, so that gives you a pretty awesome combo to get started.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to watching the progress. As a newbie to high-elevation back country hunting I'm looking for all ways to make sure I'm mentally and physically prepared.
 

lamarclark09

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 22, 2022
Messages
109
Yeah, I tried that only eat meat diet and I realized soon enough that it just wasn't for me. And I agree that it was so hard to get back on track after that.
 
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