Beachbody programs question..

vmrjj

Hi,

Do any of you follow a Beacbody program and instead of following the nutrition part, decide to count the alloted calories on My Fitness Pal instead?

AverageJoeFit

Hi,

I did. When I started my weight loss journey I was doing Insanity by Beach Body, but the booklet with nutrition information talked about drinking and using a lot of fat free milk. I'm allergic to milk so I filled the booklet away and only counted calories on MFP. It worked great for me.

My wife on the other hand did use the booklet at a later date and saw results, but as she isn't allergic to milk I can understand why.

I think either way they are making sure you count calories in a way and that is the key to losing weight.

singletrackmtbr

I've used Insanity and P90X but never followed their diet programs. Most are too strict and imbalanced, and are designed with 60-90 days in mind instead of the long haul.

StacywithaY

Same here, love the workouts but have never tried the eating plans.

lorrpb

Nothing wrong with that. There's no magic to their menus. The containers are just a tool that help many people with portion control.

bsbprincess

I'm glad I saw this! I just signed up for beachbody on demand, and I plan on sticking with myfitnesspal and calorie counting I just find it so simple and it fits into my life easily. I don't want to bother with those Tupperware things :P

STEVE142142

I've done the old P90 the new version of P90 and P90X. Started January 1st 2016 280 pounds current weight 208.

Never followed their nutrition guide yet I lost all the weight all they're basically doing is counting calories and selling you supplements which in my opinion are very expensive. All I did is calorie count on mfp plan and. It's just a matter of eating less calories than your body consumes until you reach your goal weight.

TavistockToad

i've done insanity and P90X3 - used MFP for nutrition

LeoT0917

I've done P90X both following their meal plan and using MFP. They both work.

jenven19

I have Piyo and 21 day fix. I tried using the containers but found it to be too restrictive. Counting calories makes more sense to me:)

vmrjj

Thanks everyone :-) For those of you who have counted calories instead of using the food plan with your program of choice, did you use the daily calories recommended by your plan?

I'm asking because I currently use 1,200 and Piyo wants me at 1,780 daily. BIG difference lol I understand I need to eat more because I'll be working out but, wow lol

TavistockToad

vmrjj wrote: »

Thanks everyone :-) For those of you who have counted calories instead of using the food plan with your program of choice, did you use the daily calories recommended by your plan?

I'm asking because I currently use 1,200 and Piyo wants me at 1,780 daily. BIG difference lol I understand I need to eat more because I'll be working out but, wow lol

If you use the calories given by the plan you shouldn't eat back exercise cals.

If you use mfp then you should, that's why the difference.

happysherri

I've done 3 rounds of P90X love it, still do the Plyometrics and Abs ripper sometimes. Tried Insanity, it wasn't for me. I did P90X3 I like it. I completed Body Beast and Holy Cow built some serious muscle. (started with P90X about 2012)

I did not follow the nutrition plan but ate healthy and on track for most of all the programs listed. I saw results with all.

Silentpadna

Is there an available source to estimate the amount of calories burned for each of the exercise programs? My Fitbit app seems to track all of it and add calories when my active minutes go up, so it seems automated, but I am early in my weight loss journey right now and I'm not sure how reliable that is. (Did P90X 7 years ago, but was terrible in terms of eating right).

This time, I think winning is done mostly in the kitchen, and I'm working back up to doing P90X again after I get through P90, which I am toward the end of my 3rd week in. Having a handle on calorie burn (or a way to estimate it) would help, realizing that I'm sure it depends on body composition at the given time.

Anybody have a handle on that?

LeoT0917

I'm currently on my 2nd round of P90X. I'm doing a hybrid P90X plus program and substitute/add Yoga and other cardio in at times.

I just use a HRM (Scosche Rhythm+ Heart Rate Monitor Armband) synced to my UA Record App to record my workouts and estimate my calories burned. Yes. I know that it is not super accurate for calories burned during weight training, etc. etc. But I don't usually eat any calories back to adjust for workouts. I'm eating a very healthy diet with respect to complex carbs, protein and healthy fats. I have also adjusted my daily/weekly calorie and macro goals based on my starting weight of 204lbs and my target weight of 160 lbs (I'm a 5'6" male). I cycle my daily caloric intake to try to maximize weight loss while maintaining/increasing lean muscle, so I eat more on weight training days and less on cardio days. See http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-basics-of-body-recomposition-how-to-lose-fat-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time/ for a great article.

I started in the last week of Nov 2016 at 204lbs and was at 177lbs this morning. I've run into a couple of minor plateaus that lasted about a week each, but have generally lost weight consistently, am a lot stronger and have had huge increases in muscle definition (though my beautiful wife claims my muscles have grown- bless her heart).

Hope that helps.

happysherri

Here is a calculator if you scroll down you can enter your weight, which P90X program you did and what intensity level. Then it estimates calories burned - however some of the estimates seem high (just like some of MFP calories burned database estimates). Not sure if this helps - http://p90xcalories.com/ Hopefully I added that link correctly (if not, just google search p90xcalories)

CurveAppeal86

I love the workouts, but don't follow the eating plan. I strictly use MFP. I am doing Cize and 21 Day fix exercise programs right now and hoping to try Core De Force soon!

esneer1

I'm doing P90 and bought on demand to move on to other programs once I complete this one. I just use MFP for nutrition. I do also work in shakeology into my calories though, because it is delicious and I love having a quick shake for breakfast. MFP says I should eat 1200 (5 foot nothing -- ) but I upped my calorie goal to 1330 prefer to fuel my body with more protein while working out!

andrea4736

Yes. I love the workouts but I've never followed any of the meal plans. I don't like being told what to eat.

Chunkahlunkah

I've never bothered following any workout's companion meal plan.

Chunkahlunkah

vmrjj wrote: »

Thanks everyone :-) For those of you who have counted calories instead of using the food plan with your program of choice, did you use the daily calories recommended by your plan?

I'm asking because I currently use 1,200 and Piyo wants me at 1,780 daily. BIG difference lol I understand I need to eat more because I'll be working out but, wow lol

It can be hard to get precise info on how many calories you burned. In your shoes, I'd probably start out by raising my calories half of the difference (so to about 1500) and not logging Piyo in MFP. Then I'd adjust my calories from there based on hunger & weight loss results.

andrea4736

It will depend on how many calories you specifically burn during each workout. When I do Drench, I burn over 600 calories. When I do Buns, I burn somewhere in the 300's. They calculate an average based on your weight.

princess7955

Hi there, I also am using Beachbody on Demand. Too scared to walk into a gym! lol

Anyways, Core de Force and 21 Day Fix have the EXACT same meal plan recommendations (same number of coloured containers each day). Probably most of their eating plans are the same, but those are the only two programs I have compared.

Beachbody meal plans teach you about eating "clean" and the coloured containers teach you about portion control. If you already have that knowledge, you don't need any of it. I prefer to count my calories using MFP.

Just for fun I counted calories for a few days AND tracked my food with the Core de Force food guide. By the end of the day, I was only at 1000 calories and I had followed their container recommendations perfectly.

So I guess my long winded response summarized: If you need to learn about portion control or how to eat "clean", go ahead and follow a BB meal plan. If not, MFP is a great place to be!

vmrjj

Princess7955
Just for fun I counted calories for a few days AND tracked my food with the Core de Force food guide. By the end of the day, I was only at 1000 calories and I had followed their container recommendations perfectly.

So I guess my long winded response summarized: If you need to learn about portion control or how to eat "clean", go ahead and follow a BB meal plan. If not, MFP is a great place to be!

I've used the containers. I've just gotten to a point where I wanted more flexibility with what I ate. I often thought of counting the calories in a day while using the containers - 1,000. Jeez! lol

BeeerRunner

I did P90X3 and used MFP to count calories. I'm kind of a picky eater so it's easier to find food I like and am used to eating. I lost 30 lbs in the 90 day program, and continued on to lose 42 lbs altogether. I've successfully maintained that loss for about a year using MFP.