Anyone NOT seen results with P90X?

I know that many people say it is not a weight loss program, but that should be amended by saying that it IS a FAT LOSS program. While most people want to lose those pounds on the scale, P90X is more about increasing your overall fitness by putting some lean muscle on your body and stripping it off excess body fat. This may lead to a minimal weight loss, but since you are smaller and leaner you have achieved fat loss which is more beneficial to you anyway.

That being said, on my first go-round with P90X, I lost *maybe* 3 pounds. However, I went from a size 12 down to a size 8. I continued on and did the program again, this time I dropped to a size 6 and also dropped 10 pounds (because women typically benefit from the program later than men when it comes to "weight" loss.)

I followed the food plan with 1 cheat meal a week, drank only water, and did my best to not miss a workout (but did on occasion cause nobody's perfect).

I also have helped a few of my friends get started on P90X and lose lots of fat and weight...

The ONLY person that I helped get started with P90X that did not change their body composition did NOT follow the food plan at all. She actually told me that she refused to change how she ate. I tried to tell her that no amount of exercise was going to help her change her body comp. if she didn't alter her food intake...but now she thinks that even though she was warned and helped and told to eat right, that it must be the program that doesn't work. Hmmm.

ALL exercise programs will work as long as you are required to workout and eat right. :flowerforyou:

I think that people also tend to confuse WEIGHT loss and FAT loss. Especially on programs such as P90X and ChaLEAN Extreme, your weight will not necessarily show your true results so you should not use weight as your sole measure of progress.

Muscle is more dense and compact than fat, so it is possible to be smaller, yet weigh the same or sometimes more as you add muscle. Fat is less dense, so as you lose fat, you will get SMALLER even though the scale may not reflect the change. The idea is to build muscle (GAIN) and drop fat (LOSS) - the two may not necessarily cancel each other out. If you have more fat to lose to start with, you may see a larger drop on the scale. If you don't have as much fat to lose, the change in the scale may be less or even go in the other direction - however you will see a change in body fat percentage or the size of your waist - which is really what we are all aiming for anyway!

And women - you can not bulk up from doing these programs. Bulking up requires testosterone, which we just flat out don't have enough of to end up looking like a she-Arnold. Not gonna happen.

As to whether or not to choose P90X or ChaLEAN? Both are good, solid , muscle building programs. Yes, you can get the same results if you have a good solid lifting program in a gym. Yes, strength training to build muscle should be part of your exercise strategy. Why? Two very big reasons: muscle requires more calories to maintain (50 cals per day seems to be the quoted average), so it significantly raises your metabolism and burns more calories just by existing on your body. The other reason is that after the age of 35 (I've also read as early as 30), your body starts to lose up to 5% of muscle per every decade after if you don't do anything about it. That means that after age of 35, if you don't do anything to build and maintain muscle, you've got to start eating less or you'll gain fat. (Don't believe me? Look it up on Dr. Oz's website).

Regardless of the exercise program you choose - you must, you must, you must clean up your diet or you won't get results.