P90X/Insanity Diet & Exercise Analysis - Feeling Stronger, b

lakergreat1

Sorry ahead of time for a long post, but wanted feedback.

To start I'm 31, 191lbs, 14.5% BF, 5'11 and relatively fit. Work as a Project Coordinator and sit in front of a computer all day, but have been working out regularly for many years.

Looking for some serious results, in both muscle definition/gain and weight loss/cutting - I'm half way through a 3 month P90X/Insanity Hybrid. I've dabbled in both prior, but never completed the full 90 days.

Currently my exercise looks like this
P90X Strength Workouts + Ab Ripper - 3x a week - burning about 500-600 cals
Insanity Cardio Workouts - 3x a week - burning between 600-900 cals
Basketball - 2x a week - burning between 600-900 cals

Using the Insanity Elite Nutrition Guide I calculated my calorie intake to be 1957. Multiplied it by 1.7 Hard exercise factor and came up with Total of 3310 Calories! Wow, seems like a lot. Even with subtracting 500 calories from it, I'm still at 2809.

1st Month

Was trying to stay around 2200 cals before exercise (2800 just seemed so high to lose weight), ate pretty clean - other then maybe 4-5 cheat days for the month when I went overboard (NFL playoff games with friends). Probably consumed 4000 calories those days.

Results - Better stamina, felt stronger, zero weight loss, but maybe 0.5 inch lost from my waist. Pictures look pretty much the same from day 1, other then toning of muscles. My friend also is doing the same hybrid, he's same height weight but ate much cleaner. Zero cheat days. His results? 12lbs lost, almost 4% body fat, now down to 12%.

So yes, I know I shouldn't have cheated, but everyone needs their days - even though I acknowledge I went a bit beyond.

2nd Month

Seeing his weight loss I wanted to "clean up" my diet. So tried to cut another 300 calls and eat around 1800 per day before exercise.

After two weeks I've seen a loss of 0.2 lbs and small BF% drop, but nothing major. And this is eating less and working even harder doing Insanity MAX cardio.

I don't want to go through another "wasted" month, and wanted to get everyone's opinion or suggestions on what I'm doing wrong/right.

Should I really be eating 2800 cals before exercise??

For supplements I'm taking
- Centrum multi-vitamin once a day
- GNC Tri-Flex Fast acting for joints
- Isagenix Natural Accelerator - http://www.isagenix.com/us/en/naturalaccelerator.dhtml?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
- GNC 100% Whey Protein 1.5-2 Scoops after my workouts (Now switching to GNC AMP Wheybolic Extreme)
- GNC Pro Performance L-Glutamine Powder - About a tsp with my post workout shake

I've lost weight quite successfully before doing the Isagenix 30 Day cleanse program. Dropped by weight to about 178, while doing almost the same exercise intensity, but it came back quite quickly after a trip to the Dominican. So I prefer doing the slower, lifestyle changes with eating instead of cleansing.. but just not seeing the results.

scagneti

Did you ask your friend how many calories he's eating?

Stooooo

To be honest some people don't see any weight loss until the 3rd month. I would bump back up to 2000, you may have been eating to little. However make sure you are eating clean. What you eat is as important if not more important then how much you eat. Look into Michi's Ladder and try to stay in the 1st tier, if you have to go to the 2nd tier. But no 3rd tier.

Hope this helps,
Stu

p.s. also make sure you compare your pictures from Day 1 to Now, you may see a visual difference. Remember muscle weighs more then fat.

phitme

Another thing to think about is that you may not need to drop your calories but eat more of the good, clean stuff. Those are hard workouts and your body needs fuel to keep up the hard work. Instead of focusing so much on your calorie count, why not really focus on eating whole foods?

Do you have any idea how many calories you're burning during your workouts? While you don't want to eat your way out of your workouts, you do want to make sure that your body has the right fuel for them.

lakergreat1

Yes, my friend is eating around 1800 calories.

I am eating pretty clean and following the insanity diet and nutrition plan. Check my diary for what I'm eating. Don't look at the valentine's day cupcakes though

td_ssam

I am doing P90X with my brother. Not sure his body fat percentage, but he started at 210. He is 6 foot as well. He is also down to about 190 lbs. That's damn decent if you ask me. He hasn't really been eating the most perfect either actually. He's just really watching how much he eats. He intakes 1700 calories before working out and (from what I have noticed from his trend) doesn't ever eat over about 2200-2300 calories a day. That's doing the P90X / Insanity hybrid.

It sounds like you really might be intaking a bit too many calories. Other then that I'm not really sure what to tell you because your exercising is amazing. I mean it's what I and my brother are doing.

My advice is to intake a total of 2200 calories. Do that for your last month. If you don't see the results, then we'll have to assess your situation again. If it works, then stick with it. :-)

mlb929

I'm just finishing up P90X in the next two weeks. I'm not big I started at 29.5% body fat as a 40 yo female. I've not lost a single lb on P90X and have followed the Beachbody plan to the T. I haven't stepped back on the body comp scale until I complete in 2 weeks, but do know that I've dropped another pant size. I'm from a 2 to a 0 but my weight is the same. I'm at 1700 calories per day and have difficulty eating back my exercise calories. I do run as well and complete a second work out 3x per week. I'm starting Insanity next and hoping that it will push these last 7 lbs off.

It sounds to me like the calorie counting isn't as important as eating well. I'd stick to the plan, but not count calories for a week or two and see what happens.

lakergreat1

I'll see how this week goes then, and if nothing I'll cut calories to 1500 or 1700 BEFORE exercise for the last two weeks and see what happens.

I think I'm eating pretty clean, egg whites, salmon, chicken, 100% whey protein, salads and insanity meals.. along with following michi's ladder pretty closely.. so must just be the extra calories