I’ll admit, this first week of the P90X Cycle, it’s not the workouts that have been eating up the time, it’s the mealprep and planning. We’ll cover the workouts we did this past week in another post, but I figured I couldn’t be the only one struggling with meal ideas on this plan- especially since we didn’t want to follow the “menu plan” included in the Nutrition Guide and opted instead for the portion approach.
Ps. I’ve been Twittering the food photos as-they-happen on my @smurfcore account and, whenever I get around to it, on @FitLifeSF as well. Please, do follow us and tell a friend! (Also, this is why the photos are more utilitarian than food porn.)
First, let’s address the issue of Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks. We’ve been keeping these mostly the same for ease of preparation. Besides, when you are eating this much and this often, it really feels more like Human Kibble (TM) than it does like an actual MEAL. If you are following along on portions, Rob is doing Fat Blaster Level II, or about 2400 calories per day. I am eating about half of that, shooting for about 1300-1500/day.
Breakfast: Rob’s been having the egg white scrambles consisting of about 8 egg whites, 2 oz ham, once slice of Jarlsberg light swiss cheese or 1 oz light cheddar and veggies. I’ve been having a protein shake: 1 scoop Wellements Protein Powder (got this from Costco- it is super inexpensive and really tasty!), 1 cup nonfat milk and some frozen berries, plus two tsp of Benefiber.
Snacks: We’ve been having theP90X Wildberry Bar (a full one for Rob, a half one for me), partskim string cheese and an orange as our main snackfoods. Yesterday, we splurged a little and had a nonfat tart frozen yogurt with fresh fruit.
Lunch: Salad has been the go-to item for lunches. Since Rob needs 8 oz of lean protein in his lunch, I bought a whole turkey breast and baked it up in a turkey bag on Tuesday and it’s lasted most of the week. WAY cheaper than turkey lunchmeat and WAY lower in sodium (plus, tastier!) He gets a “bucket” of mixed greens and fresh veggies topped with 8 oz of a mix of turkey and ham, plus 1.5 oz of lite cheese and lowfat dressing. I get half that- and I’ll admit to making mine into “Turkey Salad” like chicken salad with lemon juice and lowfat mayo, celery, etc. It’s pretty tasty! Today, I made chicken veggie soup, which was nice for a change of pace. Used up a chicken carcass from last week to make a simple stock, then added LOADS of veggies- carrots, zucchini, kale, etc.- and then portioned the appropriate amount of roasted turkey into the bowl and topped with soup. Great with a bunch of Tabasco or Tony Chachere’s on top!
Dinner: This has been the biggest challenge, since we do love to eat great food, so here’s the dinner rundown for the week:
MONDAY
Grilled Flank Steak and Green Beans with Roasted Red Pepper and Celery Root Soup
Flank steak is a great lean meat choice. I rubbed it up with some salt, pepper, garlic and Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy. The green beans were doused with salt, pepper and some lemon juice and grilled alongside the steaks.
For the soup: Put some red, orange and yellow peppers on the grill as it was heating up. Waited for them to get charred and then peeled the skin and discarded the seeds. Added this to some cubed celery root that I had boiling in a carton of chicken stock with a few carrots and some onion. When the celery root was soft, I pureed it with an immersion blender and added some lemon juice, a few dashes of Tabasco and salt and pepper to taste. I put mine through a mesh strainer, which gave it great mouthfeel, but you certainly don’t have to.
Rob got 10 oz of flank steak and as much soup and green beans as he wanted.
TUESDAY
Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Onion/Fennel Quinoa and Green Beans
Just soaked the tenderloin in unsweetened apple sauce, soy sauce, garlic, salt and pepper for an hour or so, then seared it and roasted over top of some partially-cooked quinoa, sweet onions and sliced fennel. Added a splash of extra chicken stock mixed with some applesauce to make sure the quinoa cooked up right. Once it was done, took everything out of the pan and added some more chicken stock and lemon juice to make a sauce. To drink? Crystal Light Grapefruit Sunrise (since it has added calcium and I’m trying to get as much as possible these days) with fresh bubble water.
WEDNESDAY
Chicken Fajita Tostadas
Easy, just some chicken breast, onion and peppers and fajita seasoning (I get the kind in the small packet with the spices, so it doesn’t have salt or sugar added. I add my own salt and loads of lime juice.) Rob gets 3 tortillas, sprayed with some olive oil spray and baked till crispy. I got one. Plus loads of lettuce and some lowfat cheese and sour cream. Yum!
THURSDAY
Chicken Parmesan and Grilled Artichokes
I used the same light chicken parm recipe that I’ve posted before. It works out to about half a serving of whole wheat panko per serving, so this was served with 2/3 cup whole wheat spaghetti vs. the one full cup pasta allowed on the P90X plan. Also, I used Classico Roasted Garlic sauce- no sugar added and nothing you can’t pronounce in the jar. A nice trade-off for as much time as I’m already putting into cooking these days! The Chokes were steamed then tossed with salt, pepper and balsamic and grilled.
FRIDAY
We went out to eat with friends to Catch, a great fish restaurant in the Castro. I had some kind of a white ocean fish with shaved brussels sprouts and grilled asparagus, which I had prepared without any butter. You can tell they intended butter to pretty much carry the dish, so it was a little bland, but the fish was good and it was nice to not have to cook! Rob had the black cod in miso with boy choy and some udon noodles (his starch for the day.)
SATURDAY
We ate out again, this time at Moki, another fish place. One of these days we are going to see if Rob can handle 10 oz of sashimi. I bet he can!
SUNDAY
BBQ Pork with Grilled Corn, Coleslaw and Heirloom Tomato Caprese
About a month before Rob left for Kiev (he still needs to update you on that, doesn’t he?), we got in the pleasant habit of Sunday afternoon’s at Baby Blues BBQ. This meal was my attempt to scratch the BBQ itch. Pork Tenderloin painted with the lowest-sugar BBQ sauce I could find, and rubbed with chili powder, garlic and spices, then grilled. Plus, grilled corn, a caprese salad easy-on-the-olive-oil and the P90X coleslaw recipe. This was OK- didn’t quite scratch the itch, since we’ve spoiled ourselves with some awesome BBQ, but, as Rob would say, “Good enough for government work.”
I’ll keep on posting our meals as we go through this cycle… Who knew EATING could be so tough?
14 responses so far ↓
1 Edison Sullivan // Jun 8, 2009 at 6:32 pm
outstanding – great work!!!!
2 Glenn Jones // Jun 9, 2009 at 5:04 am
Mmmm. Looks delicious! I am always amazed at the ingenuity that you display when putting these simple menues together!
3 Wendy // Sep 2, 2009 at 10:44 am
Thanks so much! My husband and I are about to start p90x , and I was scared that we wouldn’t have that many food choices, but you have given me hope.
4 Oscar // Dec 20, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Wow! Where do you find the recipes for all these tasty meals? I’ve been trying to mix it up in the portion approach and love your ideas. do you use an outside grill?
5 Arno // Dec 31, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Starting P90X and looking for some tasty recipes as the ones in the nutrition guide don’t really get me too excited. This looks great though and I can’t wait to try some of them. Thanks for posting.
6 Armissa // Feb 19, 2010 at 1:04 pm
My husband and I are in our second week of p90x and I was so happy to stumble upon your posting. I had no idea the prep and meal planning would require so much work. Great job on pictures and being realistic about the amount of work this new program can be. Keep up the great work!
7 Joe // Feb 24, 2010 at 8:41 am
I’ve had a problem staying on P90x mostly because I can’t seem to figure out the diet. and I realized what my problem is. And thought you’d be able to help.
Shopping guide for each phase. Since the nutrition and menu require a lot of pre planning and I’m a single guy that works long hours I have to prepare and take snacks, lunch and sometimes dinner with me so it’s rough. I’ve seen that others have put out shopping guides but they are laid out as just a food shopping list and leave it to me to figure out what and how to put it all together. I have a spreadsheet shopping list of the actual P90X shopping guide but it’s not laid out, it’s just a shopping list and besides the P90x menu isn’t that good and has alot of food that most people just wouldn’t eat and you menu is so much better.
Here is where your expertise comes in. Since you’ve got the phases & levels worked out as well as some really good meals maybe you can put it all in a spreadsheet or DOC format put the two together along with the calorie counts and how many proteins, dairy, fruits, vegetables, fats, carbs and snacks for each meal plan.
Example Phase I or Phase II or Phase III
Day 1:
Breakfast 400 calories – 2 proteins, 1 dairy, 1 vegetable & 1 carb
Ingredients
Egg omelet, 8 egg whites, 2 oz ham, light cheese, etc.
Prep/cooking info
Lunch:
Turkey Salad 500 calories – 2 proteins, 2 fruits, 1 fat
Ingredients
8 oz protein (lean turkey), light mayo, etc…
Prep/cooking info
Dinner …
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Day 5:
Day 6:
Day 7:
Weekly Shopping list…
Lean Turkey
Light Mayo
2 DZ Eggs or Egg sub
Lettuce
12 Carrots
4 Apples
Clove Garlic
Tabasco
Soy Sauce
Crystal Light
1 lg Sweet Onion
10 oz Slices Fennel
fajita seasoning
whole wheat spaghetti
Etc…
Etc…
Etc…
Something like that. I figured since you’ve got all the information, know the plan and all the meals, calories counts and proteins you’d be able to make this useful tool that I am sure so many others could use.
Thanks for what you’ve posted and great work…
8 Rob T // Feb 24, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Thanks for the feedback. We’ll do a little digigng on our end, and see what we can come up with.
-Rob
9 Will V. // May 11, 2010 at 10:40 am
Your portions are way to big. 8-10 oz of meat to much healthy = just as bad, you might as well be eating that big mac and fries. P90x is a life style change remeber 70% diet 25% program 5% willpower.
Go X!
10 Smurf // May 11, 2010 at 11:25 am
Will- Do you have the P90X Nutrition Guide? For Rob’s level, that is how much lean protein is called for. I don’t like eating high protein, which is essentially what the P90X Fat Blaster nutrition program is… but those portion sizes are not “way *too* big” if you are following the P90X Nutrition Guide Level 3 to a T.
Personally. I believe the P90X nutrition guide is set way to high in calories in the for your “average person” looking to lose weight. Rob, on the other hand, is a lifelong athlete and heavy lifter looking to maximize muscle gain not lose weight, so he can eat at that Level 3.
And, I would argue that there is a VAST difference nutritionally between 8 oz of flank steak or 8 oz of chicken breast and a Big Mac and Fries. Not the least of which is about 550 calories, boatloads of fat and hours of satiety.
11 Karri // Jul 12, 2010 at 10:59 am
Did anyone ever respond to Joe or come up with his requested list? I am just getting started, day one, and think if this has already been created for someone I could really use it! My husband and I are both doing it, and he’s not much help in the kitchen area, so any help is greatly appreciated. OH- and we’re huge coffee addicts (for now) what is the healthiest option to get out of this habit but not suffer caffeine headaches? tea maybe? is tea allowed, and later is decaf iced tea allowed?
12 Smurf // Jul 12, 2010 at 11:13 am
Karri- We haven’t heard back from Joe, and I am nowhere near the level of Excel Ninja required to put something like that together.
I do, however, find that I get into a flow where my meals are all sort of “mix and match,” which makes it easy. I have 4-5 go-to proteins, 2-3 go-to grains and 5 or so go-to veggies and use the components to make most of my meals. I’m also a big fan of making a big pot of soup or chili on Sundays so I have it on hand all week. After the first couple weeks, it get a lot easier. And, frankly, it gets easier if you get into a habit with a few meals to just totally take any guesswork out of them– My dinner is the only meal of the day that really ever changes. It makes things easier.
As for kicking the coffee habit– so long as you aren’t putting cream or sugar in there, coffee is calorie-free and allowed on the program, and caffeine has been shown to increase endurance and actually have a positive impact on workouts. If you want to kick the habit for personal reasons (or because you simply can’t have your coffee without cream and sugar), then you can try something like diluting it with decaf to wean yourself, or drinking tea instead, which has a slightly lower caffeine level. Unsweetened tea, hot or iced, caffeinated or not, are all fine. And, frankly, thinking in terms of “allowed” or “not allowed” is not really the best way to approach any food choice– even if you drank a double-shot caramel machiatto mochachino with whipped cream every morning, and if that was really something you loved and needed to continue, there are ways to work around it. It’s not the most efficient use of calories, sure, but it could be a part of your diet if it was really that important to you.
13 FitLifeSFRob // Jul 12, 2010 at 11:55 am
Karri,
TeamBeachBody.com has a number of great tools. The diet plan tool will let you select the meals you want fo rth eweek, and generate a shopping list for you. There are downloadable worksheets online for you to print out so you can track each workout. And the Excel P90X tracker is a great tool as well.
As for coffee, you are find drinking it. Black. It is the milk and sugar that are the calories there. The caffine would be good to get off of, and you will have to wean yourself off. But, better black coffee than soda. (Except for that aweful coffee breath! YUCK!) Even diet soda is a no-no. We drink a LOT of water and herbal teas. (You get the right tea, and you don’t need sweetener) We also have a Soda Club (Soda Stream) CO2 injector. We make all the soda water we want! Great for making teas and such “sparlking.” [And it is CHEAP and fantastic for cocktails. You never run out of soda water!]
When you sign up on TeamBeachBody.Com, make sure you add me as your coach. FitLifeSFRob. Then add me as a buddy there!
http://beachbodycoach.com/FitLifeSFRob
14 Jennifer // Jul 19, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Hi there! Wonderful post… it’s quite helpful. We are starting the program this week. I just went to the grocery store and spent far too long shopping, looking for everything we need. I’m level 1, and my husband is level 3. We also have three young children to feed too- so this is going to be challenging. Besides your site, are there any others you can suggest that have recipes and menu ideas broken down according to levels and phases? I just don’t have the time (what with my busy brood) to spend hours pouring over the portions and trying to figure out recipes to fulfill our needs.
Thanks!
Leave a Comment