Logging p90x Calories

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kkova811
kkova811 Posts: 89 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I started p90x today, and I know youre supposed to do what you can with it, and I in no way did the entire workout. For the pushups I only did about half the reps that they did. How do I go about tracking p90x on here though?

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  • KCarpenter83
    KCarpenter83 Posts: 36 Member
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    I did p90x last year...i just didn't log it at all and just kept my cals at 1800. I did the whole nutrition plan as well, are you? In the guide book they say to estimate that each workout is like 500 calories i think but I am not so sure about that. The nutrition guide told me to eat 1800, so that is what i did, and didnt eat more if i exercised so logging it was really pointless. if you log it then you will think you have that much more to eat but the p90x nutrtion plan isn't supposed to have you eating back what you burn.

    If you aren't doing the whole nutrition plan along with the exercises, I would just log only your cardio days (kenpo, plyo,cardio x etc) as about 500 calories and just not log your strength days. Its better to underestimate your burn than over estimate it.
  • katcena
    katcena Posts: 326 Member
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    Either follow the nutrition guide that comes with P90X, it tells you how many cals to eat. If you aren't going to follow the nutrition plan, then get a Heart Rate monitor so that you can accurately track what you are doing. The nutrition guide will probably ask you to eat much more than 1800 cals (my guess) as you are a guy and will have a higher BMR. Other guys I know were told to eat 3000-3400 cals....when they didn't, they lost all energy and were unsuccessful in trying to do the workout. When they upped their cals to what P90X told them to do, energy returned and they started to see great results. It's important to eat, and eat healthy, when doing a program like P90X. Your body cannot build muscle on low or empty calories.
  • phillips9366
    phillips9366 Posts: 19 Member
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    I check my heartrate during typical portions of the workout to get an average heartrate. Then I use this link to estimate my calorie burn for each workout. I figure it's close enought to accurate for myfitnesspal entries and since the number of calories burned sort of amazes me I tend to round the minutes down (ie., don't include the warm up cool down time). Plyo is hands down the best calorie burn for me. Good luck and keep pushing play!

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    13114540.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • Samgramm
    Samgramm Posts: 41 Member
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    I use a heart rate monitor. It seems to be the most accurate for me. I used to just log the 500, but I wasn't sure I was really burning 500.

    Good Luck!
  • KCarpenter83
    KCarpenter83 Posts: 36 Member
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    A heartrate monitor will be inaccurrate during strength training. It only measures how hard your heart is working, estimating how much "work" you may be doing but strength training doesnt raise your heart rate as much as cardio does...so it will not be accurate. It is really not possible to accurately measure calories burned in strength training.
  • murraycharlie
    murraycharlie Posts: 37
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    i log the strength training days under strength training and it way underestimates the calories i burned. i do modified push ups (girlie style) and use 3-5 pound weights. still getting a great workout and good results. the ab ripper kills me but i know it works really well!
  • cleoleigh
    cleoleigh Posts: 76 Member
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    I have been confused by this too, becuase I am not able to do all the moves/reps to completion. I just ordered a bodybugg to help with figuring it out. It was on sale for $149 which included 6mo membership. I can't wait to get it so that I can get a better idea of what I am actually burning.
  • mcjabber
    mcjabber Posts: 374 Member
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    I use a heart rate monitor and then log it accordingly. My burn is drastically different depending on which day it is (Ex: Shoulders and Arms burns way less than Plyo, regardless of how much I get through).
  • bugnbeansmom
    bugnbeansmom Posts: 292 Member
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    you could log using calistenics (spelling?). I think there are two options to choose from. Probably closest existing option.
  • Josee76
    Josee76 Posts: 533 Member
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    A heartrate monitor will be inaccurrate during strength training. It only measures how hard your heart is working, estimating how much "work" you may be doing but strength training doesnt raise your heart rate as much as cardio does...so it will not be accurate. It is really not possible to accurately measure calories burned in strength training.

    This is just my experience, but I am on week 13 of P90X. I have used my HRM during strength training and I have lost 25 lbs and loads of inches. Maybe it's not as "accurate" but there is definitely a burn. The weight loss was very slow when I was eating 1200 cal a day. I started to lose when I upped to 1800 cals a day.
  • mmhenry28
    mmhenry28 Posts: 163 Member
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    I use a heart rate monitor to get my cals. All the cardio days burn alot more cals for me then the strength training days. I dont follolw the nutrition plan exactly but definitely eat healthily and have upped my cals.

    Good Luck
  • Bellyroll
    Bellyroll Posts: 316
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    Heart rate monitor?
  • Gee45
    Gee45 Posts: 171
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    I"m 45, 5`4, 149lb female and the strength training days burn between 350 to 450 and cardio days 400 to 650 as per my HRM. Just to give some idea. Yoga X was between 250 and 350.
  • Football_N_Guns
    Football_N_Guns Posts: 297 Member
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    Buy a heart rate monitor, then you'll know for sure what you are burning.
  • YogaPrincess1
    YogaPrincess1 Posts: 5
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    I agree with everyone, buy a heart rate monitor. The one with the chest strap is more accurate. But that way, you know exactly what you are burning.
  • cathyAprice
    cathyAprice Posts: 81
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    A heart rate monitor is your best option. I prefer a Polar. I have a Polar FT4 that I got on Amazon for $66. Definitely worth the investment...tried other HRM and they overcalculated my calorie burn--after research, I found others that bought those brands (Timex calculated twice the calories burned as Polar) had the same issues. Just my thoughts.
  • brothenberg
    brothenberg Posts: 2
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    I started P90x again two weeks ago.. go on amazon and get the $40< Timex heart rate monitor, a basic one with a chest strap works fine. I monitor mine during the workouts, sometimes he will say what his HR is too, so you can compare against 45yr old Tony. I use the nearest setting, as others said calisthenics at 55mns, which using my HRM comes out to about 650kcal during the session. I just keep using that same one, and you can add what EXACTLY you did in the comments section to keep track. I've been sticking to a 1700 cal diet, doing 600-800kcal workouts daily... and using fooducate to buy better foods.
  • KCarpenter83
    KCarpenter83 Posts: 36 Member
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    A heartrate monitor will be inaccurrate during strength training. It only measures how hard your heart is working, estimating how much "work" you may be doing but strength training doesnt raise your heart rate as much as cardio does...so it will not be accurate. It is really not possible to accurately measure calories burned in strength training.

    This is just my experience, but I am on week 13 of P90X. I have used my HRM during strength training and I have lost 25 lbs and loads of inches. Maybe it's not as "accurate" but there is definitely a burn. The weight loss was very slow when I was eating 1200 cal a day. I started to lose when I upped to 1800 cals a day.


    Oh yes for sure you burn calories doing strength training- i was just saying this is hard to measure so for me to be on the safe side, i don't even try to guess. I ate 1800 the whole time too.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I just ordered a bodybugg to help with figuring it out.
    I can't wait to get it so that I can get a better idea of what I am actually burning.

    Hate to tell you, this won't help much. it will read the arm movements as walking/jogging depending on how frequent it is.
    It will then base that movement on tables for walking/jogging and your weight, and what the calorie estimate is.

    You will get a greatly exagerrated figure.

    You should have seen my figures on it for a day's worth of cutting down a 6 headed tree and chainsawing the logs.
    Never much of a workout, never got too hot besides it being warm out, never a high heart rate, not moving fast.
    But plenty of arm movements up/down/around.

    Had estimates of cal/min burns almost twice what I've seen on a very strenous bike ride, or hill sprint running session.

    I stopped wearing it even though I prepaid for the yearly service to get a deal.

    Oh, the heat measurement it claims, not used in their algorithms right now. I've proven that. Besides the fact extrapolating the amount of heat coming to a possible square 1/4 inch of skin to what your body is actually doing would be so inaccurate anyway, probably the reason it never showed up.
    Galvanic skin response to see if sweating. Forget it, used to tell if you have it on or not. Just don't forget to put it on and allow it to touch the arm band where you laid it. That happened twice, and the company said indeed that will show as being on-body, and asleep since not moving. So while that senser is obviously sensetive if the armband reads like an arm, it isn't used either.

    For those doing the p90x with HRM, doesn't the HR actually get up to about 90 or above? I thought it was mix of strength and cardio?
    In studies, 90 bpm is like the lower limit for accuracy for HR to be calculated to calories, so it could be very valid to wear the HRM.
    You just aren't going to get the calculations for the all day fat burn you get from doing strength/interval type training.

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