P90X and counting calories

RattieLove

WOO!!! just completed my day 2 of p90x (classic)!! These workouts are kicking my butt! whew!! I've got a question though: I don't have a hr monitor and I don't want to guess on how many calories I should be taking in. Should I just listen to my body for the next 90 days, eat healthy food only of course, and not worry about counting cals?

On a side note, I'm still living with my family so I can't follow the nutrition plan but I make healthy choices with what is given to me. MFP has me eating 1350 calories a day (w/out exercise cals) because I'm "lightly active"

Thanks!!
~Mae

committomittxoxo

Hey girl!! You say lightly active lifestyle?? But you're doing P90x.. you are no longer lightly active! That program is crazy! Eat those cal girl!! And, you should double check your target caloric intake on this site...

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ (you can get your body fat percentage on the same site)

Remember, if you're doing the P90x program you should be eating your earned calories!!

MaryDreamer

Doing P90X I'd bump your calories to 1500 a day and stay in the "green"

Tamstar1985

Doing P90X I'd bump your calories to 1500 a day and stay in the "green"

^^^^ this.

you will see amazing results.

my HRM is broken, so i had been using MFP's entry for circuit training for the p90x workouts and eating back most (if not all) of the exercise calories.

WickedGarden

I don't understand the 'eating calories back' theory. If I am burning calories, and eat them back, then aren't I just 'maintaining'?

I'm about to finish my 3rd week of p90x...increased my protein, and have lost 5 inches, 4 lbs.

This is so confusing!

RattieLove

Okay thanks! So I'll keep counting, but up my intake to 1500 and not guess on how many calories I'm burning through my p90x workouts?

RattieLove

Like, do I up my calorie intake to 1500 and just forget exercise calories, or do I up my intake to 1500 and add "circuit training" as a p90x workout, eating back those calories plus my initial 1500?
Thanks so much:)

committomittxoxo

Depends on your stats.. for example.. I'm 5'6," 119 pounds, not actively trying to lose but have my goal weight set to 115. I have mine set at 1300 calories and I eat every calorie I earn from working out! The fit2fat site said I could be eating around 1500 and I just chose to go under.. I'm no expert.. I'm sure someone else will weigh in.. but it does depend on your current and goal weight. I would assume 1500 + earned calories would be the way to go for you.. Also, think about changing you carbs to 40%, and fat and protein to 30%.

committomittxoxo

Also, any doctor would be happy to answer these questions for you. Or a friend of mine went to a gym and pretended to be interested in a membership and got them to *kitten* this for her a while back... just sayin.

13nicholas

Good luck on your journey . . never give up! I would not bother keeping track of your calorie burn. It probably won't be accurate. I would stick to the higher protein lower fat diet for some time.

aggie613

amongstwaves: It depends on your RMR. If you burn higher than average because you are working out so hard, then you may be cutting back too many cals by eating less and exercising so much. Back when I was doing more intense workouts 5-6 days/week, then I was only netting about 600-700 cals. Since my RMR was about 1600, I could eat 1200 cals/day and still lose (400 cal/day x 7 days=2800 cals - almost 1 lb/wk loss). By limiting it SO much, I wasn't losing.
Now, however, I'm not working out as much due to time constraints, so my nutritionist isn't allowing me to eat my exercise cals. She's estimating my RMR around 1420, so by eating 1300/day, I use 120/day, plus I burn about 700 cals/week exercising. I'm on track to lose about 1/2 lb per week. Hope all that math makes sense!

aggie613

I just realized even I couldn't understand the math! lol. I forgot to add in the activity level, so I'm burning an additional 300 cals/day just movin' around. So I'm currently at 1300 cals day, which is 100 cals under my RMR, plus the 300 cals I burn is a 400/day food deficit, plus 100 cal/day exercising (700/wk). That's 500 cals/day x 7, so 1 lb a week.

That said, my RMR is around 1400. Anyone doing P90X or intense workouts could be 200-300 cals/day higher and should eat those cals to avoid dipping below 1200/day!

WickedGarden

aggie613: i will have to figure out my RMR and play around with numbers.

I lost a few pounds the first week when I started working out and was eating my calories back, Then I kept eating my calories back, and my weight kept creeping back up to my starting weight. So I started not eating my calories back, and I stopped gaining, and and now stalled. I have lost 5 inches (consistently over the past weeks). I want to make sure I'm going in the right direction.

junyr

If you read the p90x documentation for calorie calculation it says to add 600 calories on workout days.

nlehmann

I have found with P90X it is the mix of food that is the most important along with the ratios of protien, carb and fat. Refer to the food guide for suggestions on what to pair and what not to pair together. Logging your food and calories will help you keep it in check. The workouts vary a lot as well, if you were on day 2 with Plyo you should eat a couple hundred more calories than if you do kempo. But remember it doesn't take much to eat 200 calories. It is more about the qualitiy of food to fuel the next days workout. Good luck! My experience with P90X in the last 3 years on and off is that the weight will really start to come off when you gain more strength and muscle tone.

martineskyy

Just did another day of p90x - did shoulders and arms! I think I need heavier weights than the 5lbs im using because only some of the exercises felt hard ...