DO NOT try to diet if you plan on going ALL OUT with this program. This is what has made me fail at it THREE times. I would get through half of the second phase and just collapse.
Don't necessarily follow a calculated "big boy bulk" with this, but don't restrict yourself by any means. Eat a lot. Believe me, if you put 100% into every set, your body will tell you it needs it. I was just too damn dumb/determined to lose weight then that I shut it out and restricted my cals too much.
Eat a lot. Don't pile on the burgers. Instead, make things like lean proteins (chicken, steak, tuna, salmon, egg whites, etc), carbs (sweet potatoes, beans, corn, brown rice, moderate fruit (berries)), and fats (egg yolks, walnuts, flax seed, meat fats) your fuel. Nothing else is really necessary.
Their diet plan is HARD to follow. They don't give you a general way of eating. They give you 90 days worth of meals to eat. And A LOT of it is off the wall, like seared mahi with avocado sauce and rice pilaf with asparagus yada yada yada. If you want a big grocery bill and wanna spend all of your time in the kitchen, by all means. But basically, eat at maintenance levels to assess through the first phase, and then add foods in from there naturally. You'll need to most likely.
And as far as the exercises, I got to where I had to do weighted pullups/pushups. However, you don't have to do this every week. I tried to stay in the 8-10 rep range for pullups and not go above 15 reps for pushups. You don't have to do this. I found that when I weighted myself, sometimes I sacrificed form a bit for power. Be careful with that, and also, doing this can "burn you out" as well if you add too much weight too fast. There are a lot of sets each workout. Do one lower rep weighted/power week and one non-weighted form-focused week. Remember, weighted or no, not every set has to be done to failure. That'll also burn you out.
I may not be right about this. But this is just the approach I'll take the next time I try and hopefully complete the program.
Good luck. I'll be watching for sure.:head: