P90x3 - 2400 meal plan.

allanrjudge

I'm 212 and I should be consuming 2700 cals according to the p90x3 nutrition guide, but i'm having 2400 instead. I'm on week 4 and my nutrition has been awful, I haven't anywhere newr enough, so it's my own fault I haven't really lost weight (i've seen changes though).

What I want to ask is, when I input my calories into myfitnesspal (2400) and I have a 500 calorie meal (for example) it will say 1900 cals remaining. Then when I do a workout and burn 500 cals (for example) and input that onto MFP it will then say 2400 cals remaining again.

Why is that? I sort of have an idea, but I don't want to re-eat the calories i've burnt. Or should I eat them?

I hope this makes sense.

allanrjudge

212lbs that was meant to say.

nicoleagafitness

Mfp calculates the calories burnt so you replace them. If you're doing a plan, do not log your exercise on mfp, or just do the math.

qyy920

you should eat them back. MFP helps you to keep your daily NET Calorie intake at a level. If you decided to have 2400cals per day then you can:
-eat 2400 cals and do nothing
-eat 3000 cals and burn 600
-eat 3400 cals and burn 1000
etc.

kgeyser

I recommend following the MFP plan and eating back a portion of your exercise calories. I would eat back 50-75% depending on how hungry I was when I did that program, leaving the rest to account for logging errors.

allanrjudge

Thank you both for the replies.

So if I ate 2400 cals and did nothing but sit around all day would I lose weight because i'm eating like under 1,000 cals that my BMR recommends? I'm a complete novice where 'healthy' weight loss is concerned. I've gained and lost weight for years on silly diets, hence the confusion.

kgeyser

Your MFP calorie goal is set for you to lose weight without exercise, so yes, if you did not exercise and ate the 2400, you would lose 2 lbs per week (which I am guessing is your goal based on the 1000 calorie deficit). When you exercise, you get extra calories. There's a lot of thoughts on whether or not to eat exercise calories back - I personally eat a portion back because I like to fuel my workouts and I do not want too large a deficit, as that can lead to more loss of lean body mass during weight loss. I like to hang on to muscle as much as possible, even if weight loss takes longer, because it's a pain to put back on, especially as a women.

Your calorie deficit is actually 1000 calories below your TDEE, not BMR. Your BMR is the number of calories you would need each day for your body to exist in a coma. Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is your BMR+daily activity+exercise. MFP uses the NEAT method to calculate your calories, which is BMR+daily activity (sedentary, lightly active, etc), which is why you input your exercise calories. I know figuring all this out can be overwhelming at first, but once you get the terminology down and understand the formulas it makes figuring out calorie needs a lot easier.

ana3067

I honestly do not recommend using the generic calorie number this program provides. You should ideally be calculating your estimated needs from a proper calculator and then deducting 20% from that calculator.

MFP uses a method that involves eating your non-exercise calorie needs, and if you exercise then you log it and eat back those calories (I eat 100% of them right now, but at least 50% should be consumed). If you are including your exercise activity into your calorie needs estimation, then you do not log and eat back exercise because it's already included.

I just did a quick estimated net calorie needs calculation based on only weight and age, assuming 8hrs sleep and 1hr walking/standing in a day, and 2300 is a possible amount that you could eat before logging exercise to lose ~1lb/week. So at 2400 cals, if this is not including exercise then that means you should be losing weight, and if not then simply lower your net intake. If you are including exercise into your calculation, then it could be at least a few hundred cals higher, meaning you could lose on more calories every day (but same total weekly amount). So if you are not losing then your intake is simply too high, either from poor logging or because your body is just not actually burning as much as you estimate.

health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

allanrjudge

Thank you both very much.

MFP didn't actually set the 2400 for me, I put that number in myself based on the p90x3 nutrition guide.

If anything i've been eating less than what I should be, i've been so hungry sometimes but it's always in my mind 'eat less you'll lose more'... I only worked out how to track my nutrition with MFP yesterday so maybe this will work now.

I really do push hard with the workouts and use a Polar HRM. I just don't understand why i'm not losing weight. Up untill now i've just guessed how many macronutrients are in the foods im eating... I'll log everything now and see how that goes.

Is 2400 okay for me though? (And then i'll eat some of the calories back i've burnt making it about 2600 a day?)

allanrjudge

Another thing, I lead a very, very sedentary lifestyle outside of the half hour p90x3 workouts, due to a bad episode of depression. Maybe that contributes to me not losing weight? I've got a treadmill, should I add maybe a 30 minute brisk walk in each day alongside the workouts?

kgeyser

I would ignore the P90X3 guide and use MFP. I think it is a lot more accurate in calculating your calorie needs than the guide. Having done the program, you really do need to fuel your workouts properly. It's easy to overtrain and burnout from eating too little because the workouts are only 30 min and you don't always realize how intense the workouts really are because they are over quickly.

So I would try the MFP way with eating back a portion of calories and see how it goes.

allanrjudge

I've just done the MFP calculator, gave my age etc and should I choose 'very active' if i'm dong P90x3?

Based on very active it says I need 2,520 cals a day... 'Active' says I need 2,152 a day. Should I do the 2,520 cals a day?

Sorry for all the questions.

ana3067

I think you need to decide how you want to approach your calorie deficit. If you want to approach it with exercise being very stable and doing the same routine every week, then consider the TDEE approach. I have links on my profile that I highly recommend for these calculations. Then subtract 20% and eat at that amount daily, no logging exercise.

however, if you feel that you won't always be consistent, or you want to have the ability to change things up, then you can use net method where you calculate intake needs for non-exercise activity, then you'd log exercise. So exercise in both cases is not being used to create a deficit (as you are describing by asking whether to add in more exercise to lose more weight), it is considered when calculating one's maintenance and thus deficit needs.

allanrjudge

I will be consistent with my exercise. I do half an hour everyday, it's quite intense. I never miss a workout. After this I want to start another program by Beachbody, if not, then i'll exercise every other day either on the treadmill or bike rides, and i'll do weights.

This is all so confusing for me. Is 2,520 calories okay for me a day? Then when I burn 600 for example, I log that and then 300 of them calories back off. Is that okay?

allanrjudge

2,520 is what MFP recommended.

kgeyser

Your MFP activity level should not include exercise, just your other daily activities. For example, I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I spend my day running errands, doing chores, playing with the kids, etc, and had my activity set to lightly active. Then I would log my exercise and eat back a portion of those calories.

If you set MFP for active/very active based on doing P90X3, then also log and eat exercise calories, you'd be double-dipping those calories. That would mess up your deficit.

If you decide to go with MFP, select you activity level based on all your daily activities other than exercise, then log exercise and eat a portion of those calories back.

If you want to try the TDEE method that ana mentioned, follow the links in her profile and calculate your TDEE-20%. You do not eat back exercise calories with TDEE.

FWIW, the TDEE method and the MFP (eating exercise calories back) method seem to put people right around the same number on average, it's just personal preference as to which method to use. I did MFP method for a long time and switched to TDEE not long ago because I hated having less calories on rest days, and the results have been pretty much the same.

allanrjudge

Thank you so much for the replies they're very appreciated.

For now ill just stick to MFP recommendations because it's less complicated (for now).

Thanks again x

allanrjudge

I've recalculated my fitness profile in settings based on a sedentary lifestyle outside of p90x3 and said i'd be working out 7 days a week for 30 mins and MFP has said to consume 'Target Calories: 1440'... I'm confused now.