p90x nutrition plan help

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alicewoman1
alicewoman1 Posts: 34 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm in week 11 of p90x but I see not any changes yet. I feel stronger but I want to lose weight and getting a toned body.
I did not follow the nutrition plan and I did not count the calories , I think thats my biggest mistake during p90x.
So I want to start round 2 with the nutrition plan and I want to count my calories and see If it helps.
I do not skip any excersice and I go to the max during the excersices.
Im 5'7" and I weigh 156 lbs

How many calories should I eat at a day?
I think I need 2472 calories at a day (Level II) Am I right?
Or do I need to follow Level 1 because I want to Lose weight?

body weight 156
resting metabolic rate (weigh x10) 1560
daily activity burn(rmr x20%) 312
exercise calories 600 calories a day
required calories a day (rmr+dab+600) 2472

Replies

  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    The P90X formula does not account for a calorie deficit. I would start at a 500 calorie a day deficit and make small changes from there depending on what the scale does.
  • alicewoman1
    alicewoman1 Posts: 34 Member
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    Thank you for your reply :)
    So I need to start with 2472 - 500 - 1972 calories a day = level 1.
  • CartoonChris
    CartoonChris Posts: 10
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    You'll find all your answers here:

    http://teambeachbody.com/connect/message-boards

    Experts will help but from what you said is that you didn't follow the nutrition plan OR count calories.
    80% of your results start in the kitchen. Follow the nutrition guide next round and you WILL see results.
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Give me your age, height and weight and I'll run some numbers for you and give you a real good idea of where you should be.

    I also agree with Chris, 80% of your results are nutrition. If you're going to do something as hard as P90X you might as well eat the plan to get the results. Like Tony said, If you eat twinkies and do P90X you'll get fitter but you'll still look like a twinkie...something like that.
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 21,711 Member
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    P90X will help tons with strength and flexibility, but I agree with the others who say it's how you eat that matters most when it comes to your weight. Beachbody has a fairly new tool, the Meal Plan Wizard, that might help you get a more accurate calorie goal than what's in the Nutrition Plan:
    http://teambeachbody.com/eat-smart/meal-plans/diet-wizard
  • alicewoman1
    alicewoman1 Posts: 34 Member
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    Give me your age, height and weight and I'll run some numbers for you and give you a real good idea of where you should be.

    I also agree with Chris, 80% of your results are nutrition. If you're going to do something as hard as P90X you might as well eat the plan to get the results. Like Tony said, If you eat twinkies and do P90X you'll get fitter but you'll still look like a twinkie...something like that.

    I am a female 24 years 5'7" and my weight is156 lbs :-)
  • tgh1914
    tgh1914 Posts: 1,036 Member
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    I would NOT assume that the P90X workouts are burning 600 cals like they say. That is a number that they throw out there for the general population; and, frankly, I'm not sure it's an average either. If you're 5'7", (like me), you're probably burning a lot less than 600 per workout.

    I finally broke down & got a HRM and the results were that my burn was about half that number. Granted I was in pretty good shape to begin with, but not spectacular shape. A smaller person will burn less calories doing the same exercise than a larger person.

    After adjusted my caloric intake down by about 250-300 then I started seeing more weight come off (more than i wanted in fact).

    Just my 2 cents.
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Ok, you BRM is 1490 (1500 for easy math)
    This is how many calories you'd burn in a 24 hr period if you just layed still all day.
    Now let's add 20% to that cuz I doubt you lay still all day. This 20% represents walking, talking, and so on.
    So 1500 + (300) 20% = 1800 That number is your maintenance calories. From that we need to make a calories deficit.
    Let's say 500 calories a day because 500 a day x 7 days is a 3500 calories a week deficit and 3500 calories = 1 lb.
    So with no exercise you will lose 1 lb per week eating 1300 calories a day. So what if I exercise? Good question.
    Because 1300 calories is not a lot of food you can eat your exercise calories which you will probably need to do
    doing P90X but is you choose to not eat them all you will have further weight loss.
    Now doing P90X burns a lot of calories. The women I coach burn between 350 - 450 calories (some more) during the workouts. You'll need a HR monitor that calculates calories burned to be sure.
    Now here is another thing. I don't reccommend you eat less than that 1300 to lose more weight and honestly 1 lb per week is a perfect number to help keep the weight off for the long run.
    Any more questions? I'm happy to help.
    I'm a beachbody coach and have helped lots of people reach their goals with P90X / Insanity.
  • kpfister
    kpfister Posts: 7
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    Great response laddyboy! I did 2 rounds of P90X and lost a total of 30lbs doing it! It really works if you know what you need to eat and how much. Great breakdown to help ppl understand it better. I may message you if that's ok, I still have some unanswered questions myself. Trying to lose my last 30 and I'm at a plateau. :)
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Please do. I hate Plateaus.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    I don't necessarily agree with P90X not working off a deficit. I used to feel that way before learning more about calories and eating your exercise calories back from MFP. The reason I say this is because here on MFP, I am supposed to eat around 1280 calories on those days when I am not working out. When I add back in exercise calories from P90X, the number gets very close to the 1800 calories that the P90X nutrition guide tells me to be at (my HRM monitor says that I burn about 450-550 calories per P90X workout usually, and 1280 + 450-550 is 1730-1830 calories). So technically, by following the P90X guidelines I am working at the same deficit as any other workout.

    The reason that the number of calories seems really high for P90X as opposed to what most people who use MFP think is because MFP defaults to the number of calories you should be eating BEFORE exercise, while the P90X nutrition plan is calculating what you should eat AFTER adding those exercise calories.

    That being said, you don't really have to follow the three phases of the P90X diet to be successful with P90X. Just watch your calories as usual, eat those exercise calories back that MFP allots you, and make sure that your diet is healthy and balanced.

    P90X is an awesome program, and I feel like the nutrition plan is basically written for beginning nutritionists...since you are already on MFP...you are not a beginner. IMHO. :flowerforyou:
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Tony will tell you that P90X is not a weight loss program. Thus no calorie deficit is accounted for. P90X is a fitness program with a side affect of weight loss if you figure a calorie deficit. I calculate to a level II at 2499 calories and no where does is say eat less to lose weight. The theroy here is to build muscle and muscle burns fat thus you get smaller but the scale moves less.
    I agree some what with what you are saying but the people that have the most success follow the nutrition guide to a T when it come to food ratios.
    Personally I didn't follow the nutrition guide my 1st round and even though I got great results I didn't get my best results. I also ran 60-80 miles a month those 3 months.
    Now I set my ratios and try to hit them as best as possible.

    I guess there are a lot of factor so we can agree to disagree....LOL
  • alicewoman1
    alicewoman1 Posts: 34 Member
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    Thank you for the quick respones :)
    I have a hart rate monitor but I only use It with Plyometrics and Kenpo X. I haven't take a look before at the calorie burn option op my hart rate monitor (shame on me :smooched: ) So the next workout with plyo or kenpo X I will take a look at the burned calories.

    So I have to eat 1300 calories on the non workout days ,and between 1750-1850 calories on workout days right?
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    So I have to eat 1300 calories on the non workout days ,and between 1750-1850 calories on workout days right?

    That's what worked for me. I've done P90X numerous times in the past. One time I did the full fledged meal plan (very expensive, btw), one time I did the portion plan, and then after that I simply counted calories and stuck to my macronutrient goals much like on MFP.

    To be very candid with you, since I am a 7 time P90X graduate and I actually have my pictures on one of their informericals, I disagree with the above poster that claims the best results come from following the nutrition plan to a T. In my personal experience, the best results came from sticking to the calorie level listed above (I am 5'5" and I never weighed over 150 when doing P90X) and sticking to a ratio of 55% carbs, 30% protein, and 15% fat for the entire program.

    When I did the meal plan approach in the guide eating those specific meals, I spent way too much money on food, way too much time cooking, and saw the exact same results as doing the portion plan approach or simply counting calories and watching the ratio (which was more difficult before I found MFP, thank good ness for this site!!!).

    Others may have different experiences, but that's mine. :flowerforyou:
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Everyone is different so results will vary. I know a lot of people that used the portion plan and have gotten great results. The key is the ratios and calorie intake.
  • ChrisMeece
    ChrisMeece Posts: 2 Member
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    Thanks guys for this info. I had done a P90X run 2 years ago but stopped about 10 weeks into it due to taking a job that required a daily 3 hour round trip commute. I didn't adhere to a strict diet, I just simply watched my calories more closely. I saw great results in between my month one and month two pictures. I still work the same job along while running a kung fu school part time and I've decided that I simply will have to make the time to do the workouts. I've also talked several of my coworkers, my girlfriend, and some off her coworkers into doing a round.

    I had bought a few different iPhone apps to track my calories. I was looking for something to share with some of my coworkers who didn't have iPhones. I was still a little wary of using this site until I figured out how to set custom goals and read your thread here.

    Thanks again.
  • droppin_lbs
    droppin_lbs Posts: 107 Member
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    Bump - thinking of purchasing P90X.

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