Dial it in
Put in your weight and where you want to be, and the numbers on this page set themselves to you. Think of this whole plan as a starting point. The first few weeks are about dialing it in: watch the scale and your lifts, then nudge your food up or down until you're gaining about ½ to 1 lb a week. Everybody is a little different, and your body will tell you what it needs.
Showing an example: 130 lb now, 150 lb goal. Put in yours.
Starting calories are an estimate from your weight. The scale is the real judge. Not gaining after 2 weeks? Add about 250 calories a day, like a second shake. Gaining more than 2 lb a week? Pull back a little. Your numbers save on this phone as you type.
Your daily protein
This is the one number you don't skip. Find the weight you're working toward on the chart, and that's your range for the day. Split it across your meals and snacks.
Protein builds the muscle, but calories are what let it grow. If the scale isn't moving, you need more food, not more protein.
If you want, our app shows your protein target on the Today screen and adds it up as you log.Open app.formedlabs.co
Your week
Three lifting days, three easy walking days, and one day off. Take a 10-minute walk after your biggest meal every day. Next week flip it to B, A, B and keep switching back and forth.
The workouts
Two full-body workouts. Do the exercises in order, finish all sets of one before moving to the next, and write down every weight. Each picture shows where you start and where you finish. Tap the video link to watch a trainer do it first. At the gym, tap each set when you finish it and your rest timer starts on its own.
Workout A
Mon and Fri this weekGoblet squat
At home: squat down to a chair holding a water jug
Watch the demoBuff Dudes on YouTubeDumbbell bench press
At home: push-ups, with your hands on a counter if the floor is too hard
Watch the demoScottHermanFitness on YouTubeOne-arm dumbbell row
At home: row a backpack loaded with books, one hand on a chair
Watch the demoScottHermanFitness on YouTubeDumbbell Romanian deadlift
At home: same move holding the backpack
Watch the demoNASM on YouTubePlank
At home: same, on a rug or towel
Watch the demoWell+Good on YouTubeWorkout B
Wed this weekSplit squat
At home: same, one hand on a chair for balance
Watch the demoMichelle Adams PT on YouTubeSeated dumbbell shoulder press
At home: resistance band press, standing on the band
Watch the demoBuff Dudes on YouTubeLat pulldown
At home: band pulldown, with the band anchored over a door
Watch the demoSilverSneakers on YouTubeHip thrust or glute bridge
At home: glute bridge on the floor, bodyweight
Watch the demoBuff Dudes on YouTubeFarmer carry
At home: carry two full grocery bags
Watch the demoBuff Dudes on YouTubeWarm up
5 minutes of easy walking or biking, then one light set of your first exercise.
Effort
Stop every set with 1 or 2 good reps left in you. Hard, but never sloppy.
Move up
Hit the top of the rep range on every set? Go up 5 lb or grab the next dumbbell.
Eat after
Have a shake or a meal within an hour or two after every workout. That's when your body wants it most.
Ease into it
Weeks 1 and 2 are 2 sets of everything while you learn the moves. From week 3 on, it's the full 3 sets.
Prefer an app? Ours times your rest, calls out your next lift, and keeps every personal record.Open app.formedlabs.co
Eating when you're not hungry
Most days you're not going to feel hungry, and that's okay. Don't wait for it. Eat on a schedule and make every bite count.
Eat by the clock
Every 3 to 4 hours, hungry or not. Set phone alarms so you don't have to remember.
Drink it
A shake goes down way easier than a plate. One a day, two if the scale isn't moving.
Protein first
Eat the protein on your plate before anything else, then the rest.
Pack it in
Add olive oil, nut butter, cheese, or avocado. Same size bite, a lot more fuel.
Water between meals
Big drinks at the table fill you up fast. Sip with food and drink the rest in between.
Walk first
A 10-minute walk before you eat helps wake your appetite up.
Keep it in sight
Boiled eggs, cheese sticks, jerky, nuts, and yogurt cups at eye level in the fridge.
Go bold on flavor
Salsa, lemon, garlic, spices, and hot sauce make food a lot more appealing.
Go cold
When nothing sounds good, yogurt, cottage cheese, and shakes still go down easy.
A sample day
Here's what a full day looks like for someone working up to about 150 lb. Nothing on here is a big meal. On lifting days, work out 1 to 2 hours after breakfast and drink the shake right after. Adjust the portions to hit your own protein number, and add a second shake if the scale isn't moving.
| Time | What to eat | Calories |
|---|
If you'd rather not count by hand, our app logs meals in seconds. Scan the label, search it, or just say what you ate.Open app.formedlabs.co
What to eat
Every meal and every snack gets protein. Carbs are fine. Just pick the slow ones and always eat them with protein. Don't be shy with healthy fats, they're the easiest way to add calories without adding more food. Here's how to build a plate.
Go-to carbs
Oatmeal, beans, lentils, quinoa, sweet potatoes, berries, brown rice, whole-grain bread, and high-fiber tortillas.
Easy calories
Olive oil, avocado, nuts, nut butters, cheese, whole milk, and whole-milk Greek yogurt.
Skip these
Juice, soda, sweetened coffee drinks, candy, pastries, and store-bought mass gainer powders. They're mostly sugar.
Check the label
Buy plain yogurt and unsweetened milk alternatives. Protein powder and jerky should have 5 g of sugar or less per serving.
Breakfast
| Idea | Protein |
|---|---|
| Protein oatmeal½ cup oats cooked in 1 cup milk, 1 scoop whey stirred in after, 1 Tbsp peanut butter | |
| Breakfast burrito2 eggs, ¼ cup black beans, 1 oz cheese, salsa, high-fiber tortilla. Make 6 and freeze them. | |
| Greek yogurt bowl1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt, ¼ cup berries, 2 Tbsp walnuts, 1 Tbsp chia seeds | |
| Egg scramble2 eggs scrambled in butter, 1 oz cheese, spinach, 1 slice whole-grain toast, ½ avocado | |
| Cottage cheese toast½ cup cottage cheese on whole-grain toast with tomato, olive oil and black pepper |
Lunch
| Idea | Protein |
|---|---|
| Chicken hummus wrap3 oz chicken, 2 Tbsp hummus, 1 oz feta, greens, high-fiber tortilla | |
| Turkey chiliLean ground turkey, beans, tomatoes, peppers, cheese on top. 1½-cup bowl. Make a big pot. | |
| Tuna salad1 can tuna, 2 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt, 1 Tbsp olive oil mayo, on lettuce or whole-grain crackers | |
| Chicken and rice bowl3 oz chicken thighs, ½ cup brown rice, roasted vegetables, 1 Tbsp olive oil | |
| Lentil soup and sausage1½ cups lentil soup with 1 chicken sausage link |
Dinner
| Idea | Protein |
|---|---|
| Shrimp stir-fry4 oz shrimp, ½ cup shelled edamame, stir-fry vegetables, ½ cup brown rice | |
| Taco bowl3 oz cooked lean ground beef or turkey, ¼ cup black beans, 1 oz cheese, salsa, avocado, greens | |
| Salmon plate4 oz salmon, ½ cup quinoa, 1 cup broccoli roasted in olive oil | |
| Pork tenderloin plate4 oz pork tenderloin, roasted carrots, ½ cup brown rice | |
| Sheet pan chicken4 oz chicken thighs, ½ cup sweet potato, green beans, olive oil |
Snacks
| Idea | Protein |
|---|---|
| Turkey and cheese roll-ups3 oz deli turkey, 1 slice cheese | |
| Shelled edamame1 cup, sprinkled with salt | |
| Tuna pouch and crackers1 pouch, 5 whole-grain crackers | |
| Plain Greek yogurt cup5.3 oz single serve, add a handful of nuts | |
| Cheese stick and almonds1 cheese stick, 1 oz almonds | |
| Hard-boiled eggs2 eggs | |
| Toast and almond butter1 slice whole-grain toast, 2 Tbsp almond butter | |
| Beef jerky1 oz, low sugar |
Shakes
Blend each one with ice. These are your easiest calories of the day.
| Shake | Protein | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Peanut butter power1 cup ultra-filtered whole milk, 1 scoop vanilla whey, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, pinch of cinnamon | 460 | |
| Mocha½ cup cold brew coffee, 1 cup ultra-filtered whole milk, 1 scoop chocolate whey, 1 Tbsp almond butter | 370 | |
| Berry1 cup unsweetened soy milk, 1 scoop vanilla whey, ½ cup frozen berries, 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed, 1 Tbsp almond butter | 375 |
Reading your progress
Once a week, same morning, step on the scale and look at your workout log. Here's how to read it.
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Weight dropping or stuck for 2 weeks | Add a second shake, or add 1 Tbsp of olive oil or nut butter to two meals. That's about 250 more calories a day. |
| Up ½ to 1 lb a week, lifts going up | Keep going. It's working. |
| Up more than 2 lb a week, 2 weeks in a row | Drop the evening snack and keep everything else the same. |
| Lifts stuck 2 weeks in a row | Check your sleep and your calories first. Then drop the weight 10% and build back up. |
Want a second set of eyes? Our coaches in the app read your log every week and tell you exactly what to adjust. Start free at app.formedlabs.co.
If you use the app, it does this math for you.Open app.formedlabs.co
Stay safe
Run this by your doctor before you start, especially the protein amount and any daily medication you take.
Never work out on an empty stomach. Keep a small snack in your gym bag, like cheese and crackers or a small apple. If you get shaky, dizzy, sweaty, or suddenly weak during a workout, stop and eat it.
Sharp pain means stop that exercise. Being sore for a day or two after is normal.
Your first 4 weeks
Fill this in as you go. Weigh in once a week, check off every workout, and write down the weight you used on your last set. It saves in this browser as you type. When a week is done, you can text it with one tap to anyone you want keeping you honest.
| Week | Weigh-in (lb) | Mon | Wed | Fri | Protein days hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | |||||
| Week 1 | |||||
| Week 2 | |||||
| Week 3 | |||||
| Week 4 |
Weight used, last set
| Exercise | Unit | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |
|---|
If you ever want to, our app keeps your numbers for good and the coaches read them every week.Open app.formedlabs.co
Run this plan in our app
Totally optional. If you like tracking on your phone, everything on this page lives in our app at app.formedlabs.co. It opens right in your phone's browser, and you can add it to your home screen like any other app. Sign in and your log follows you from your phone to your computer.
Your workouts
Build Workout A and Workout B once from the exercise library, put them on your days, and log every set as you go. The rest timer counts down between sets, and the app can call out your next lift, weight and rest out loud. Want it done for you? Set your goal, experience, training days and the equipment you actually have, and it builds a program that rebuilds every week.
Your food
Log food by searching it, scanning the label, saying it out loud, or one tap for what you usually eat. It runs on the USDA food database. Your protein target sits right at the top of the Today screen, and it can lay out a week of meals under your targets and turn it into a grocery list by aisle.
Appetite and reminders
Rate your appetite each day and it sits right next to what you actually ate, so you can see the pattern. Reminders for meals, water and the scale only go off if you haven't logged it yet, which is exactly what eating by the clock needs.
Your progress
It tracks your estimated max on every lift, your personal records, weekly sets per muscle, and progress photos. It also uses tape measurements to split your weight change into muscle and fat, so you can see the muscle you're adding, not just the number on the scale.
Peptides and prescriptions
The app is also a full peptide tracker. If your doctor has you on a GLP-1 or another prescribed injection, turn on the peptide side. It logs every dose, shows when the next one is due, tracks what's left in the pen or vial, rotates your injection sites, and lines your weight trend up with your doses. Leave it off and the app stays all training and food.
Your crew and your doctor
Train with a crew of up to 8 people, with one of them as the trainer, and earn badges from your real numbers. When you see your doctor, print your full record or send a read-only link that expires on its own.
Get the app on your phone
Open app.formedlabs.co in Safari, tap the Share button, then tap Add to Home Screen.
Open app.formedlabs.co in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu, then tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
Just open app.formedlabs.co and sign in. Your log is the same everywhere.
Meet the coaches
Four AI coaches live inside the app, and you can chat with any of them. Each one has a job. Once a week all four read your last two weeks and each brings back one thing to work on.
Dakota Jane
Form, control, consistencyYour anchor. She welcomes you in, notices your patterns before you do, and she's the one who checks on you after a missed day, a broken streak or a comeback. No guilt and no lectures. She'd rather see three good sessions a week for a year than six for a month.
Titan Kane
Strength architectHe owns the bar. He handles your weights and how fast they go up, calls out your personal records, figures out what's wrong when a lift stalls, and tells you when it's time for a lighter week. Technique first, then load. He writes your next week of training.
Shaniqua
Performance coach, runs the floorGoes by Shay in the app. She plans your sessions, hypes you up after every workout, and walks you through your weekly review. One cue at a time, never embarrassing, and she'll make you laugh while you work. Show up after a rough week and she says so first.
Nova Reyes
Performance nutritionHandles food, water and recovery. She speaks up when your protein runs low, your water or steps fall short, a weigh-in looks off, or your progress stalls. She goes by trends, not one morning on the scale, and there's zero food guilt with her.
Curious? You can chat with any of them in our app.Open app.formedlabs.co
Our sites
We built all three. Here's what each one is for.
Your training, food, progress and coaches all in one place. This is where you'll run this plan every day. Log your workouts and meals, watch your numbers climb, and chat with the coaches.
Where formed labs sells research peptides made with our two US labs. Every vial is sealed and batch-coded, held to a 99% purity floor, and you can look up any batch's test result by its code. Everything there is sold for laboratory research use only, not for people to take, and you have to be 21 or older to go in.
A free crossword game that plays right in your browser, nothing to download. Play the daily puzzle everyone gets, run the 5-minute Gauntlet where every grid gets harder, race a friend by sending a link, or make a custom grid for someone. A good brain workout for your rest days.
Stick with itSee you in the app.