80 Day Obsession Nutrition Plan, Explained

When you’re ready to take your fit goals to the next level, you may feel like you’re playing a game of “Would You Rather:”

Would you rather blast body fat and get flat, defined abs? Or would you rather focus on healthy curves and a firm, sculpted booty?

You can have both — if you’re willing to work for it.

80 Day Obsession, the new fitness and nutrition program by Autumn Calabrese, is designed to flatten your abs and firm your butt using a timed nutrition plan and 80 unique, challenging workouts.

This isn’t a quick-fix plan. After all, you’re not just trying to lose weight — you’re striving for your best body, and that requires serious commitment.

“The ethos of this program is obsession,” says Paige Benté, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., and nutrition manager at Beachbody.

“There are no cheat days. There’s not a lot of wiggle room. It combines a strict nutrition program and intense workouts to get maximum results,” she explains.

But if you’re ready to get a little bit obsessed with your fitness and nutrition strategy, you’ll see the kind of jaw-dropping results that always seemed just out of reach.

Here’s what you need to know about the 80 Day Obsession nutrition plan before you get started:

How Timed Nutrition Works

Your body has peak windows of muscle protein synthesis throughout the day, and if you eat the right nutrients around those windows, you’ll build muscle and burn fat more efficiently.

“The benefits of timed nutrition play on your body’s metabolism,” Benté says. “With 80 Day Obsession, we’re supplying specific macronutrients at specific intervals to maximize muscle protein synthesis — so you’re gaining the most muscle and utilizing your food as fuel as optimally as possible.”

You’ll follow a strict meal schedule and use Beachbody’s Portion Fix containers to create meals that deliver the nutrients your body needs, exactly when it needs them.

The plan is structured so your pre-workout meal gives you the fuel to power through an intense workout, while your post-workout meal helps your body restore and rebuild muscle during the optimal window for muscle protein synthesis.

The 80 Day Obsession Glossary

When you get started 80 Day Obsession, you’ll get a detailed set of guidelines on how you need to schedule your meals for the week.

A few of the elements of this plan may be unfamiliar to you, so here are a few key terms you’ll need to know.

• CALORIE TARGET: Before you start 80 Day Obsession, you’ll calculate how many calories you need to consume each day, and choose a nutrition plan built around that calorie target.
• WORKOUT BLOCK: This is the four- to five-hour block of time before, during, and after your workout. The nutrition plan revolves around this window, and you’ll follow specific guidelines for which color-coded containers and supplements you can use during this block. You’ll also eat three small meals outside of your workout block, along with a Recharge supplement before bed.
• BEACHBODY PERFORMANCE: Our workout supplements — Energize, Hydrate, Recover, and Recharge — are built into the nutrition plan to maximize your results.
• REFEED DAY: You’ll boost your carb intake on refeed day — but it’s not a cheat day. “A cheat day is a free-for-all,” Benté says. “Refeed days are meant to give you a little boost in glycogen by supplying extra carbohydrates, but it’s still very much timed nutrition.”
• DEPLETE DAY: During the last week of the program, you have the option of reducing your carbs and increasing your protein to finish strong with an all-out “shed and shred.”
• REST DAY: These days should be taken as seriously as the rest of the plan. “It’s not an opportunity to go do another workout,” Benté says. “Your body needs that recovery.”

When Is the Best Time to Work Out?

That depends on what works best for your schedule — morning, midday, or evening. The most important thing is that you plan ahead.

Because your timed nutrition plan is built around your workout, you can’t just squeeze in a workout whenever — you need to choose your workout time first so you can build your meal schedule for the day around it.

It’s critical that you’re able to build that block around your workout, so if you normally roll out of bed and run five miles before you’ve eaten breakfast, you’re going to need to rethink your approach while you’re following 80 Day Obsession.

“You don’t do a workout at a time that you can’t build a block around. It’s not an option,” Benté says.

The one exception: If you really can’t stomach the idea of eating a full meal within 90 minutes of working out, you can swap your Meal Option 1, for the Pre-Workout Meal.

“That’s a smaller meal than the pre-workout meal, and that can help for people who work out first thing in the morning, or don’t like eating very much before working out,” Benté says.

Nutrition Tips and Tricks to Keep You on Track

80 Day Obsession is intense, so if you want to crush it, you’ll need razor-sharp focus and serious motivation — along with a few helpful strategies to set yourself up for success:

1. Prep your meals in advance

Meal prep can help you stick to your healthy-eating goals, and it’s even more crucial when you’re trying to navigate the super-strict schedule for 80 Day Obsession.

Fill your color-coded containers at the beginning of the week so you can focus on following your schedule without worrying about what you’ll eat at each meal.

2. Set meal reminders

You know when you get caught up in your work, forget to eat lunch, and suddenly it’s 3 p.m. and you’re starving? That’s not going to fly with a timed nutrition plan.

“Write out your workout block, write out the times for the rest of your meals, and put timers in your phone,” Benté says.

3. Make Shakeology part of the plan

Not in the mood to roast a chicken or wait for tempeh to bake? Whenever you see a red (protein) container on your meal plan, you can have Shakeology instead.

The superfood protein shake provides the nutrients you need to get the most out of this program.

80 Day Obsession Nutrition Plan FAQ

Because 80 Day Obsession is designed to help you reach your ultimate fitness goals, the nutrition plan may be a bit more structured and complex than other programs you’ve followed — you may still have a few questions about how the plan works and whether it’s right for you.

Here are answers to some of the questions we hear most often:

Is 80 Day Obsession beginner-friendly?

80 Day Obsession is an intermediate to advanced program for those who are already in good shape, but want to get seriously sculpted.

(If you’ve already completed 21 Day Fix or 21 Day Fix Extreme with Autumn, that’s even better!)

Not sure if you’re ready for this level of commitment? Try A Little Obsessed, a five-day introduction with 30-minute workouts and a sample nutrition plan.

Can I do 80 Day Obsession without Beachbody Performance supplements?

Yes. You’ll be provided with charts that explain how to adapt the plan if you decide not to use Beachbody Performance supplements.

For example, if you’re vegan, you may choose to replace the post-workout Recover supplement with Shakeology.

Or you may skip the supplements altogether and shift your meal times accordingly.

Can I use Portion Fix with the 80 Day Obsession workout plan?

You can — but without the 80 Day Obsession nutrition plan, you’re not going to see the same results. “You’re still doing a great workout plan, but it’s not the same thing,” Bente says.

Is it okay to swap meals if I’m craving something different?

Because this is a timed nutrition program, there’s not a lot of wiggle room if you want to get the results you’re looking for.

During your workout block, it’s important to follow the plan exactly. Outside your workout block, the three meals can be eaten in any order — as long as you don’t mess with the combinations of containers within each meal.

Can I do Deplete Days every week for faster results?

Nope. “Deplete days are only an option in the last week of the program, if you want to really shred out,” Benté says.

“It’s not something we recommend doing any other time, and it’s not something we recommend sticking to long-term.”

What should I do if I’m always hungry?

“If you get two or three weeks into this program, and you’re actually showing signs of true hunger — you’re tired, you’re dizzy, you have a headache, you’re having trouble sleeping, you can’t make it through a workout — you might need to bump up to the next plan,” Benté says.

The Bottom Line

And remember, it’s called 80 Day Obsession for a reason. If your goal is to shrink your core and chisel your booty, you need to be ready for 80 days of intense focus and rigid rules. It won’t be easy — but it’ll be worth it.

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