Before metabolic typing became a trend, before apps tracked your macros, there was a system that helped thousands of people individualize their fat loss based on oxidation rate, lean mass, and behavioral patterns.
It wasn’t just a diet. It was a framework. And it shaped the way I think about nutrition to this day.
I’m talking about NutritionAnalysis, a coaching model influenced by Dr. John O. Lawder, Dennis Remington, and most importantly developed in the 1980s and 90s by Jon Logsdon, a pioneer in practical fat loss coaching long before it became software-driven.
Let me tell you what he taught me. And why it still matters.
I. The Day I Met Jon Logsdon
It was at the California Athletic Club in Hayward, California. I was early in my career and working under the NutritionAnalysis system. That day, both Jon Logsdon and Neal Spruce came to speak because we had become one of the top-performing clubs in supplement sales.
Logsdon didn’t look like a bodybuilder. He wasn’t there to impress. But what he shared changed the way I viewed coaching. I remember him saying something his father told him:
“You only get paid for what you know that someone else doesn’t know.”
And he meant it. He wasn’t just selling a plan. He was offering a system that translated deep nutrition science into client results, before anyone was calling it bio-individuality.
II. The Original Toolkit: IN Diet and Fat Thermostat
When you enrolled in NutritionAnalysis, you were given two books:
- The I.N. Diet: Individualized Nutrition by Dr. John O. Lawder
- How to Lower Your Fat Thermostat by Dennis Remington
These weren’t trendy wellness books. They were blueprints for understanding the role of brown fat, oxidation types, metabolic adaptation, and the psychological impact of food.
Logsdon taught trainers to classify clients into fast, slow, or mixed oxidizers based on a detailed intake form. This method was grounded in the research of Dr. George Watson, whose book Nutrition and Your Mind explored how psychochemical imbalances impacted energy, mood, and even schizophrenia.
I later bought that book myself. It was the first time I saw nutrition presented as something that could stabilize mental health and fat loss at the same time.
III. The “Fictic Acid” Story and What It Really Meant
During his lecture, Logsdon began talking about enzyme inhibitors, long before most people had heard terms like lectins or phytic acid.
At one point, he asked the room:
“Does anyone here know what fictic acid is?”(slight lisp)
We didn’t even know how to spell it. None of us raised our hands.
He paused and said, almost offhandedly, not trying to be funny:
“You travel around the country and you know… you young kids don’t know nothing.”
We all started laughing. Not because he meant it as a joke, but because he had unknowingly roasted the entire room.
I don’t remember exactly what he said about it, but I do remember him mentioning King Tut’s tomb in the same breath. Maybe he was drawing a parallel to the resilience of certain grains over thousands of years. Maybe he was speculating. I don’t know for sure. But the point landed:
Phytic acid is resilient. Unless you soak, sprout, or ferment these foods, those enzyme inhibitors stay with you.
Back then, I didn’t fully grasp what he meant. But years later, after learning more about anti-nutrients and digestion, I realized Logsdon had been way ahead of the curve.
IV. Why I Never Forgot Him
Logsdon passed away in the mid-90s, but what he built never left me.
He believed in:
- Brown fat activation
- Stabilizing mood and energy through nutrition
- Individualized fat loss strategies
- Metabolic typing as a clinical tool, not a fad
He was even offered exclusivity with Gold’s Gym Venice at one point. But when they asked for an exclusive deal, Logsdon declined. Later, Neal Spruce would adapt the framework into Apex, which became the system sold through 24 Hour Fitness under the name 321 Program.
But the heart of it was the logic of oxidation rates, lean mass analysis, and nutritional behavior, and it came from Logsdon.
And it planted the seed for what eventually became PlateauBreaker.
✏︎ The Bottom Line
Before apps, before calorie obsession, before “reverse dieting” became a hashtag, Jon Logsdon was building real nutrition systems based on psychology, physiology, and practicality.
He understood that food wasn’t just fuel. It was feedback. And he passed that on to trainers who went on to build companies, coach thousands, and challenge the calorie-deficit model long before it became trendy.
I was lucky enough to learn from him directly.
And what he taught me is now built into the PlateauBreaker Diet.
