Women: Not Losing Weight on P90X?
After seeing all the discussion on our previous thread P90X: What Can a Woman Expect?, I thought it would be useful to pull some of the tips out into a separate thread.
The number one complaint seems to be that women aren’t losing significant amounts of weight on P90X.
Let’s be clear: P90X is not a weightloss program.
It is marketed as “Extreme Home Fitness,” not “Extreme Home Weightloss.” The people in the ads are going from “a little loose in the cage” to supremely ripped, not from “overweight” to “ripped” so step one is:
BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF: Are you already in pretty good shape? Have you been working out a few times per week for a while? If you already have the program, were you able to pass the fitness test? Are you in this to put the final finishing tweaks on your physique and get fitter than you’ve ever been? Do you have fewer than 20 lbs to lose/convert/tighten up? Yes? Great! Skip below to my tips for maximizing burning through that weight while on the P90X program.
However, if you have MORE than 20 pounds of fat to lose, I suggest you work on getting the fat off BEFORE fine-tuning your physique with P90X. Beachbody makes some great programs that ARE intended for significant weightloss, including Slim in 6 and even P90X’s precursor, Power 90. Here’s the thing to remember: Your body has two “modes”- Build Mode (anabolic) and Burn Mode (catabolic). P90X workouts and the eating program are geared towards putting you in Build mode. If you have a few pounds of flab to burn, sure, you’ll hit a tipping point where you can burn through that as your metabolism gets revved by the additional muscle, but it is not going to be enough to burn through more than a little fat. Men have an easier time burning and building simultaneously, probably because they have enough testosterone to build enough muscle to make a significant impact on their metabolism.
Look at it this way, as well: Why kick your ass for 90 days building muscle when nobody will see it until you get the layer of fat off?
Let me take a step back here and tell you my story: I started my P90X journey in January/February of last year at 145 pounds. I was quite active, going to the gym several times a week for most of my adult life. I already ate really well- lots of healthy foods- so Rob and I decided to start the program and see how far we could get on workouts alone. Two months later, he was definitely starting to show some definition and was stoked on his results. Me? I was still 145 and lumpier than ever because whatever fat I had was just getting smooshed by new muscle.
After another month, I hit a point where I knew that I needed to get the fat off before I should even concern myself with muscle, so I started swapping out some P90X workouts with running and cut back to 1300 calories a day. I was able to lose 5 pounds on my own, but then simultaneously fell in love with running and decided that “more workouts will help me lose MORE weight!” so I started training for a marathon, my weightloss stalled, and I developed a stress injury from too much running and not getting proper nutrition. At that point, I went to a nutritionist who explained to me the concept of Build Mode and Burn Mode, and that I can’t BOTH be training for a marathon, pushing my body for improvements AND be denying it calories to try and burn fat.
Thankfully, I landed at the nutritionist at a time where I was restricted on my activities anyhow because of the stress fracture, so he put me on a twofold diet: I was to limit my calories to 1500/day, a sensible mix of carbs, protein and fat, AND I wasn’t to burn more than 400 calories per day through exercise. This “easy does it” approach let me go from 142 lbs in July of last year to 127lbs in December. Once I stopped pummeling my body with too-low calories and too-intense workouts, the weight really started to come off nice and easy.
Fast forward through the Holidays, more running, another stress fracture (ugh!) and I am starting another modified cycle of P90X at about 130 pounds with a goal of getting down to about 125 lbs. This time, we are following the eating plan, though I am following my own advice (which, I swear, I am getting to in a moment) and modifying Level one to about 1500 cals. (Of course, just to highlight that this really is a MUCH different process for men than women, we are a week and a half in and I can already see the difference in Rob and he has already dropped several pounds. Me? Bah, not so much.)
What’s the lesson I learned over the past year? If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, you need to gently coerce it out of your body, not try to slam it out with a program like P90X or a super low-cal, high-calorie burn program. Look for a program like Slim in 6 that combines some resistance training with cardio, keep your calories balanced and around 1500 (for most people, check out some of the online Resting Metabolic Rate calculators to get a good sense for what your daily burn is.) In other words- if you need to get the fat off, do it gently, responsibly, consistently, and come back to P90X when you are ready to ice your cake.
If you DO fall in the category of “already in good shape, just want to use P90X to convert a few vanity pounds and get in the best shape of your life,” GREAT! Welcome, here are the rest of my tips:
Eating Plan Tips: 1800-2000 calories (level 1) is a fine level for maintaining weight and BUILDING muscle, but too high for BURNING fat (for most people- calculate your resting metabolic rate online if you aren’t sure.) I suggest 1500 calories as a pretty good generic calorie level for fat loss. Certainly don’t go below 1400 or you won’t be able to fuel your workouts and may do more harm than good. Don’t just track portions as the book suggests, but actually track your calories on a site like The Daily Plate.
Workouts: Buy a heartrate monitor and try to keep your heartrate in the 130s for weight workouts and above 150 for cardio workouts. If you’ve already done the workouts, you know that Tony talks A LOT. There is a lot of downtime in workouts and, if you use too high a weight, you might spend most of your workout resting between sets. Use a weight heavy enough to feel the burn, but light enough that you are moving for most of the workout. With Kenpo X and (shudder) Cardio X… Kenpo X, I found that you really NEED to force yourself to get your heartrate up there. It is all on you to make sure your heartrate is up. Cardio X? I suggest just throwing that one out and going for a run or some other cardio you enjoy. Plyo is a great interval workout, though!
I hope some people will find those tips useful, I’ll add to them if I come up with more during this cycle.
Wow, your situation is so much like mine! I exercise all the time (I run or bike 6 days per week for 1 hour, and I do weights about 3 days per week). I eat about 1200-1500 cals per day. I’ve been so stuck at 140, want to be 127, but nothing will get me there! Thanks for sharing your nutritionist’s tip. I’m going to try to eat 1300 cals and not burn more than 400 cals.
I am on day 3 of P90x. Do you think it will be enough for me to just do P90x to get down 13 pounds? I’ll stick to 1300 cals.
oops, I mean 1500 cals. That seems illogical. . . you always hear the only weigh to lose wt is to burn more than you consume. I really do not want to gain any more weight. I think my metabolism changed turning 30 this year.
I want to share my situation with you guys to see what you can recomend. I started P90X in April, my weight was 130 and my height is 5′ 6″. During my first round of P90X I didn’t lose a pound. I did get bigger though, my legs and arms are bigger but I lost 5 centimeters in my bubbs, waist, and hips. I tried to follow the nutrition guide, but I have to confess that I didn’t do strictly. Last week I started my second round, because for me it is hard to believe that P90X won’t work for me. It is such a great program that I don’t want to stop doing. This time though I am trying harder with the food, but it is so hard for me to know how many calories I eat in a day. How do you guys know that you are eating X amount of calories??? Well, thank you very much for the tips, and if you can suggest anything else, I would really appreciated.
Thanks again
I have been hearing so many great things about P90X, that it just makes me want to try it. After doing some research and watching some transformation videos (testimonials) they were all men and wondered to myself ‘well, what about the women? What do their success stories look like?’ Then I found myself here and was truly curious about how I would get results or if I would indeed get any.
Hopefully someone here can help me out?
I’m 23 5’9″ and almost 160. This is the absolute worst shape i have been in my entire life. I played very competitive soccer and volleyball for 15 years of my life but was forced to stray away due to 2 serious knee injuries that to this day I still have some trouble with(tendonitis). I was in absolute EXQUISITE shape ( 5’9″ and about 128-132 lbs) up until the last 2 years when the weight really started to pile on. I desperately would love to get back in shape but was wondering, would any of the “P90′s” or “Slim in 6″ be as competitive as the workout I once had with soccer and/or volleyball and will provide me with the results that I want to get me back to that weight again? Is it a safe process that can help strengthen my knee or would it cause some more damage? I would love to to lose weight, have some diet changes, and tone my body back to the way I was known for it. Will these programs help? which ones? any advice to my questions would be greatly appreciated as I have become a little bit lost without having a coach run me through drills after so long.
Thank you!
P90X is a great routine, and you will see results if you stick to the program. What has me concerned is the state of your knee. This is not a low impact workout program, and you CAN modify the moves to be less stressful on your injured knee, that being said, it might not be the program to jump into right away.
There are a number of other programs to look at that will allow you to improve your fitness level, and let you test the strength of your knee.
What I would recommend doing is the following:
1.) Start documenting your daily food intake on Daily Plate. Track everything! You will see how you need to make adjustments pretty quick.
2.) Get in a pool 3 times a week, whether you are walking laps or swimming them, it is low impact and will let you get your knee moving and used to exercise.
3.) Whatever program you do, use resistance bands the first cycle through. Weights are great, but for rehabbing your body, the bands are a good place to start.
4.) Especially if you decide to use P90X, make sure your doctor says you are ready for intense activity. I want to see you get fit, not hurt.
And finally, when you are ready, ask questions! We are more than happy to help answer them. No matter what the program, you need to do exercises and movements that work for your body, injuries and all. Until you are 100% modification is the key!
-Rob
[...] get you on the right track to live long, healthy, and a quality life. But you already knew that. Women: Not Losing Weight on P90X? – fitlifesf.com 06/09/2009 After seeing all the discussion on our previous thread P90X: What [...]
I am hoping someone can give me some advice. I started doing p90x almost three weeks ago, doing the workouts and the diet very strictly and I lost about 8 pds, and a few inches. I have quite a physical job training horses I do a lot of walking and riding, all day long so I am fit in that aspect but other wise I am not at all. I am 5’7 and 177 pounds, quite over weight and I just found this forum wondering if I should get off p90x completly and try a new program or just replace some of the strength training with more cardio and lower my calories, but how low? Really liking p90x and can feel my self getting tighter and fitter but I would like to lose abiout 40 pounds..
Thanks for any tips!!
Kaylee- 8 lbs in three weeks is exactly where you want to be weightloss-wise. In fact, it’s a little quick- you want to shoot for 1-2 pounds per week. So, I would say keep on doing what you are doing… CONGRATS, it sounds like it’s working perfectly for you.
HELP!
I just started my 8th wk. I started at 157 lbs, 25 years old and I’m 5’3″. I was doing elliptical/treadmill intervals 3 times a wk and had plateaued when I started. I’m tracking my calorie intake on daily plate and taking in 1300-1400 calories daily high protein and low carb. I’m stuck at 150lbs. Weight always came off so easily I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I haven’t missed a day. What can I do?
Tara- If you are in your 8th week and have dropped 7 pounds, that’s right in line with what is to be expected for healthy weightloss. If your past week is showing a wonky number that has you thinking “plateau,” just wait it out and stick to the program. You shouldn’t be thinking “plateau” or looking to change things from what has been working until you’ve been at a dead standstill for 3+ weeks (and, 7 pounds in 8 weeks is not just “working,” it’s “working quite well!”) Myself, for example– I’m in a phase now where every other week, my weight is UP, so I gain 2 pounds one week and loose 3 the next. For a net loss of .5 a pounds a week, which is what my goal is, but it doesn’t make those every-other-week spikes any more pleasant to see! Look at things month-by-month vs week-by-week… this process is a marathon, not a sprint.
Cheers,
Smurf
I’m trying to think positively, except the 7 lbs that I’ve lost were all in the 1st 3 wks. So now I’m 5 wks stagnant. Time to make changes?
I have a question for all the ladies using p90x…
what amount of weights do you guys use?
What free weights range should you have?
Right now I have 3′s(which i dont use cuz way to easy) 5′s and 8′s.
I am thinking i need to get 10′s and 12′s
and i also have the resistance bands.
I started with 10′s and 15′s and now use 15′s, 20′s and 25′s (for things like lawnmowers.)
ok thank you I am gonna go get some this weekend. Next week is my rest week so I will be ready for my second block.
BTW Thanks smurf for all the info and tips….It helped me change my view point on things and I am more motivated now!
I am a 37 year old mother of 2. I am 6’0 tall and weighed 189 when I started P90x Classic Version on 4/17/10. I wanted to get back down to about 155 or 160 (about 30 ibs). I just completed Phase I (my first 30 days) and I have lost a total of 9.2 ibs and 10.5 inches. I eat about 1600 to 1900 calories a day mostly following the nutrition plan but added more carbs since I workout really hard and burn around 600 to 850 calories a workout. I have tried the other beachbody programs and they work good too, however, I have never had as good results as I have with P90x. My body has already dramatically changed in 30 days and I cant want to see what the next 60 will do. People who havent seen my in a couple weeks are commenting on how thin I look and how flat my stomach is getting. I never got these kind of results on the other programs. Stick with P90x and as my husband says, “P90X gets rid of the jigglies”.
wow Michelle! THats awesome! its true it does get rid of the jigglies!
I am very active. I am deligently doing the P90x every day. So far this is my 12day,and I have not dropped 1pound. I cycle and run, play vollyball, and soccer. I am very active. I am 5.7 and weight 160lbs., I would love to lose 15-20lbs. I found that the begining phase Fat Shrudder is too much protein, and LOTS of calories. Itsn’t it too much for a women? I do burn abou 600 cals doing cardio, sometimes up to 800-1000. So, am I doing too much cardio? I am so confussed, and fear of gaining more weight. Can someone please shed some light on what I should be doing. Do I need to eat more calories, or less? I used to eat about 1500-1800 cals. Sometimes more. I am ALWAYS hungry, every 2-3hours, I need to eat something. But I have to be doing something wrong? Can you please give me some tips?
Hey Mimmi-
I feel your frustration! Let’s see if I can help…
1) When moving from a largely-cardio regime into more weight training, it is not at all unusual to have waterweight obscure weight loss for a few weeks. The reason is that water moves into the muscles to repair the microdamage of working out. At 12 days in, this could be what’s going on. But…
2) I absolutely do think the P90X eating program is way too many calories for most women looking to drop some LBs. May I ask how old you are? I can plug your numbers into a Harris-Benedict equation and give you some calorie numbers based on your likely RMR. I would suspect, though, that those numbers are going to be somewhere right around 1500ish, which is a great “generic” calorie intake for weightloss– not too little, not too much. Ifyou have days where you run or cycle a little longer, go up to that 1800 if you need to.
3) It’s great that you are eating every 2-3 hours. Keep that up! If you are feeling hungry all the time, there are a couple things you can do. One is to mess with the volume of food you are consuming by bulking your meals up with high-volume, low calorie foods– loading extra veggies onto your sandwiches, eating a big bucket of mixed veggies with very-low-calorie dressing with your lunch (I like to mix balsamic and dijon mustard as a dressing- it is nearly non-caloric), make a pot of super-brothy veggie soup to have with dinner. Also, while I know the the P90X plan is A LOT of protein (too much for me, personally), protein is very hunger-abating. If you increase your protein and get it all from “real food sources” (ie. not a shake or a bar), I bet you’ll find your hunger lessening. Also, what is your fat intake like? Lots of folks looking to lose weight eat far too little healthy fats (I know I am guilty of this)- you want to make sure each snack has a blend of carbs, protein and FAT- the fat has been shown to keep the food in the stomach a little longer and keep you feeling fuller.
At 12 days in, I wouldn’t change too much up (other than bringing the calories into that 1500-1800 range.) A lot of getting onto reduced calories is getting your body used to it.
Someone wise once said “Hunger is not an emergency.” This is especially true if you just ate an hour and a half ago and know you have a snack coming in another hour and a half. You just need to find ways to cope for a while- drink water or hot tea, chew gum, do something active to get your mind off it- eventually, you adapt.
Hope that helps!
I have been doing P90X for 5 weeks and feel even bigger than when I started. I am 5’6 and weigh 154 pounds. I have been eating a lot of fruit and veggies and still not losing any weight. I have been sticking around 1800 cals a day. should I decrease my cal intake? should I incorporate more jogging into my workout?
Kiley: Yes. Drop to 1500 calories a day. And make sure you are at 40-30-20 (Carb-Protein-Fat) ratio.
Your calories in must be less than your daily burn for you to lose weight.
Simple equation.
Good luck and keep pushing play!
I just started p90x a few days ago and was very motivated and excited and now after reading this blog i am not so sure. I am almost 40 5.2 and 175lbs i am now worried i am going to be wasting my time. Do i need to lose weight before i start p90X. I have tried many weight loss things and nothing has seemed to work and i am hoping this is the “thing” to get me in shape and healthier. Any words of encouragement would be helpful.
Hey Momx2!
I don’t think you are wasting your time at all… In order to get that weight off, you are going to have to do similar things to what is in the P90X program anyhow to get it off, so there’s no reason you can’t start in on the program now. I would suggest you do Lean. I’d also suggest you do as much “lifestyle activity” as possible… walking, gardening, cleaning out the garage… all that fun stuff. I know I say this about nearly everyone, but I cannot emphasize enough how much for you this is going to be about what goes in your mouth. Frankly, with fat to lose, you could do any workout that is a blend of cardio and resistance training… it’s 99.9999% the calories-in part that is going to have the impact for you.
For your height, weight and age, 1492 calories is right in the “sweet spot” that, with the addition of P90X-type workouts, should have you seeing a nice pound/pound and a half of loss per week. I wouldn’t want to see you go below that intake, so that’s where that “lifestyle burn” comes in.
Here’s the thing… this “thing” isn’t going to get you in shape. YOU are going to get you in shape, using this as just one tool. At the end of the day, the DVD can’t cook you dinner and pack your lunch, and that is the real “secret” to having success here. The fact that you bought the program shows that you already have the commitment to take that first step!
Now, if you do find that the DVDs are a little too hardcore for you right now, you COULD opt to select some other kind of aerobic activity, do 45 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week of intervals on that, throw in one upper body P90X DVD and one lower body DVD and two Ab Ripper X sessions every week and wait until you get some pounds off to start the real “program.” If you are balancing your calories correctly, though, that option shouldn’t be taking weight off any faster than going the P90X and lifestyle activity route. It’s just a matter of where your head is at.
If you want to take on this 90 days and absolutely crush it, I bet you’ll be really proud of yourself and see some awesome results. If you want to have an informercial-esque set of photos where you go from looking average to looking SLAMMIN’, you might want to get some lbs off before you start the 90 days.
Make sense?
I am ready to start on the p90x program, i am 35 yrs old, 5’2 and 125 lbs (of tubby jiggly stuff) i want to have a strong lean body, how can i make sure that p90x is really going to work for me! and how can i gage how much i should be eating etc…
Hello everyone. My boyfriend and I are starting p90x today. We are so excited. Any pointners?
Congrats on taking the plunge, KJ and TwinMamma. My two biggest pointers for folks looking to lose weight (not sure if you are) and women in particular: 1) The biggest chunk of your success is going to come down to how well you master the nutrition side of things– The P90X nutrition guide advocates more calories than most women looking to lose weight should be taking in. For most women, this magically nets out at about 1500 calories, but you can send your height, weight and age and I am happy to calculate it for you. 2) LIFT HEAVY! Don’t use rinky-dink 3-pound pink dumbells, you need to be to the point at about your tenth rep where you really need to mentally and physically push through the last reps.
Best of luck!
been doing p90x for almost 35 days. in the first 30 days, i lost 15″ off my thighs, arms, hips, and waist. i was 5’4″ and 194 lbs. (very fat). I lost all those inches, but my weight is still the same at 35 days because the fat is turning into muscle. Muscle weighs alot more than fat, so ladies, don’t worry about the number on the scale…even though i weigh the same…I lost 15 inches!!! take before pictures, 30 day pics, 60 day pics, etc. that will motivate you to keep going. bring it!
oh…and for comparison…a chunk of muscle the size of a baseball weighs the same of 3 chunks of baseball sized fat!
That is awesome! Keep up the great work!
Just to keep from furthering commonly-held ideas that are scientifically unfounded– Physiologically speaking, the max quantity of muscle a non-doping female would be able to put in on a month if “living the bodybuilder lifestyle” (lifting SUPER heavy, supplementing, eating at a surplus, etc.) is about .8 of a pound. And that would have her the envy of all her deeply-tanned, muscly, massive bodybuilder female friends. If your average fit woman is dropping fat it is unlikely (in fact, metabolically impossible) that her scale weight is not moving as well.
There is a lot that can happen in that first month morphologically that can give some great results of things tightening up (not the least of which is the boost of endorphins that causes you to look at yourself through “rose colored glasses”, stand a little taller with your stomach held in, etc.) There is also a lot that can happen physiologically (waterweight gain, mostly) that can mask scale changes.
But, at the end of the day– if a woman has fat to lose and isn’t seeing movement on the scale by the end of that first month or so, it is not the oft-touted “muscle weighs more than fat” theory. If you have 20 pounds of fat to lose, at .8 of a pound MAX of muscle gain per month, it would take nearly two years to build enough muscle to negate/obscure scale change from the fat.
I feel that it’s worth correcting this common misunderstanding since this isn’t just about looking and feeling great– the presence of fat is the health risk, so it’s important to know if you are actually making a change there. And the scale is, frankly, the best way to tell. (Seconded by calipers, bio-electrical impedance or hydrostatic bodyfat testing.)
Also, further clarity, muscle doesn’t “weigh more” it is denser– a pound of muscle still weighs a pound, it is just more dense so it takes up less space.
Hey Smurf, you seem to be able to answer a lot of questions on here, so I was wondering if you could tell me how many calories I should be eating as well haha. I’ve already lost 40 pounds on my own by severely restricting my diet, and I’ve now decided to start P90X. Before coming to college, I was pretty fit but definitely let myself slip in the 5 years I’ve been here. I’m 23 years olds, 5 feet 2 inches tall, and weigh about 165. I’m looking to get down to 125-130 and I’ve decided to start on the P90X Lean. I’d appreciate your help! Thanks!
For your height and weight, 1300 on the low end and 1550 on the high end should have you seeing in the range of 1.5 pounds loss per week. You’ll want to re-calc the numbers once you take 20 pounds off.
Something I’ve always been confused on is determining how many calories I need based on the amount I burn. If you’re suppose to get around 1500 calories a day and hypothetically you burn 500 cals then your net cals is 1000. Is that correct? Or are you suppose to replenish those 500 cals so you’re taking in a total of 1500? Also I was wondering if you could discuss the difference in the P90X Classic vs P90X Lean and how you know which would give the best results?
P.S. Great website! Very informative
Hi Smurf,
I have the same confusion that Jessica has. Should I be eating a total of 1500 cal/daily to lose weight regardless of calories burned during a workout?
Also, I’m getting married in 8 months and am considering p90x because my fiance and I could do it together, but I am hoping you could calculate how many calories I should eat to be successful. I’m 24 years old, 5 foot 3 inches, and around 130 lbs. I’d like to get back to my college weight of about 120.
Thanks!!
Hi Ladies- The 1500 is irrespective of exercise. The general math, unless you are a real metabolic anomaly (super tall or short, super tall or skinny, etc.) is that 1500 will be a good generic point where you are subtracting 500 calories from “calories in” (in other words, assuming your resting metabolic rate is around 2000-ish, you are consuming 500 calories less than that) and burning an additional 500 calories through the workouts, putting you at 1000 calories per day deficit to see a two pound loss.
Now, studies have shown time and again that people vastly overestimate calories burned and vastly underestimate calories in, so the best way to correct for this error is to weigh, measure and track every bite that goes in your mouth and wear a heartrate monitor during workouts to be sure you are getting to a 500 cal burn. Correcting for errors, a 1000 calorie-per-day deficit is more likely to be a “real” deficit of only 500-750 calories, resulting in a nice pound, pound and a half of weight loss.
FutureBride- Since you are shorter and lighter, I’d bring you down to the 1400 range.
Jessica- P90X Classic and P90X Lean are both comprised of the same workouts, just done a different number of times and in a different order. P90X Classic has a stronger emphasis on the real “classic” weight training and plyometric workouts, while P90X Lean incorporates a workout called Cardio x, which I don’t care for. If you have some other aerobic exercise that you really enjoy– running, spinning, kickboxing…– P90X Lean is great because you can replace the cardio workouts with an hour of the cardio workout of your choice. So, you are doing slightly less weight work and slightly more aerobic work. If you have more than 20 lbs of fat to lose, I’d suggest doing a cycle of Lean and getting in as much “lifestyle burn” as possible- walking places, riding bikes, etc., then doing a cycle of Classic to fine-tune your physique.
Hi Smurf,
My husband and I are planning to begin the P90X Classic program tomorrow. I was somewhat discouraged when I first came upon this site, but after reading through it, I’m feeling a little better. I, too, am worried about the nutrition since my husband and I fall into the same level. He’s a foot taller than me and 20 pounds heavier. I’m also worried about some of the weight loss suggestions pre-P90X. What do you recommend for me? I’m 34 years old, 4’11”, and 158 pounds. I am fairly fit (kicked butt on the Fit Test) but have put on weight in the past 5 years. Thank you.
I think you and your husband are the perfect example of how “off” the calculations for the P90X eating plan are, and women end up on the short end of the stick!
Eating at 1418 calories per day will put you at a deficit of 500 calories from food, which should (correcting for margins of error, of course), when combined with the workouts, have you at a nice pound-and-a-half of loss per week.
Thank you for the validation and suggestions. Here we go!!
Smurf,
I just started P90X. I’m a male (5’8″, 175-180lbs) and considered “Level II” according to the P90X nutrition guide. It says I need to shoot for 2,400 calories a day in order to have enough fuel for my workouts. I’m pretty out of shape and this first day whipped me pretty good…had to cheat on some workouts and take longer breaks (but I did try until I couldn’t do any more reps). Basically what I’m looking to get out of this program is a little bit of muscle build, but I want to get more cut than big. I would like to also lose 20-25lbs by the end of it. I noticed today (after following their nutrition guide via their “portion plan”) that I feel fairly full almost all day and I have to almost make myself eat as much as they say to eat. My body fat percentage is pretty poor and I would like to lower it considerably.
1) Can I lose enough weight to get close to my goal (if I take in about 2,400 cal/day)?
2) Can I lower my body fat percentage considerably (if I take in about 2,400 cal/day?
3) Do I need to lower my cal intake to reach my goals?….and if so, how low can I go with calories and still have enough “fuel” to get through my workouts properly?
If you could just give me some insight, I would greatly appreciate it!
Hey TMJ,
Welcome! And thank you so much for helping to prove the point that I’ve been trying to make about the Nutrition Guide being totally skewed to men.
So, your BMR (meaning pre-workout burn) based on your height and weight (I calculated based on an age of 30, if you are significantly older or younger, let me know and I can re-calc it for you) is… BINGO! 2394. This means that, eating at 2400 cals, all the workouts you are doing will go towards a deficit and you should see about 3/4 pound of loss per week, depending how hard you hit those workouts.
If you are relatively out of shape (or quite out of shape– I’ll let you be the judge of that
), you are not going to be working out hard enough to really see significant burn for a while. And, regardless, you can always lose more fat through tweaking the “calories in” side of the equation than only busting your hump on the “calories out” side. If you goal is to lose fat- and it sounds like it is- I wouldn’t have you eating at your BMR. I would suggest cutting back to the 2000 calorie range, which should, when partnered with the workouts, have you seeing 1.5-1.75 pounds of loss per week.
The best way to test this equation is to have you eat fastidiously at that level- this means weighing and measuring everything- for about 3-4 weeks and seeing where you are at scale-wise. Note that the first few weeks, especially if you are not used to this, you might throw on some water in the muscles that will obscure scale movement, but it should normalize by week 3 or 4.
2000 should be plenty to fuel your workouts– especially as you are just building up to being able to do the workouts full-out regardless. The biggest improvement to your performance is going to come in getting some of the fat off. I wouldn’t suggest going below 1900 calories… you just don’t need to and it’s likely to lead to burn-out.
After 60 days of ramping up the workouts and eating at 2000 calories, there is a chance you’ll be quite near the 20 pounds lost range, at which point I’d move you back up to 2400 to encourage added muscle development/fat conversion in that last month– you still won’t be bulking because you won’t be at a surplus, but you’ll have the skill and conditioning to be able to use those extra calories to really hit those workouts massively hard and get every last bit of muscle/fat conversion you can. “Tuning” is a phrase fitness folks use a lot for this phase.
Hope that helps! Keep me appraised of your progress… Oh, and congrats on giving the workouts your all! Progress will come quickly in the beginning… track and savor it.
Smurf,
Thank you for the thorough eval! I’m 23, so according to your BMR calculations mine may be different than someone that is 30. Also, I consider myself pretty out of shape but not so much that I can’t push myself. I am a former athlete but it’s been a 5 years (high school) since I’ve been “in shape.” I feel like even though I have to cheat and take longer breaks that I’m capable of getting a good bit out of my workouts via determination and drive. Anyways, one thing I am confused about is that if I only take in 2,000 calories, where should I subtract calories from. As in, what “portions” should I take away from? Less dairy, protein, carbs? Seems that veggies don’t have many calories so I can’t do much there. Fruits seem to be the same and I only have one serving of those a day. I don’t ingest much fat either, and I think I need at least some fat from a health standpoint. I honestly just don’t know enough about nutrition to know these things. I wish I did but as of now I am basically just a beginner when it comes to learning how to be more healthy. By the way, is your profession something to do with nutrition/fitness or what? Just curious as to how you know so much…
Oh, I also have another question. It takes me significantly longer to finish these workouts due to me not being able to keep up. For instance, the chest and back exercise/ab ripper took me 2 and a half hours or so when it should have taken an hr and 15 minutes or so. This is bc my muscles needed a lot more rest just to be able to do a few reps (once I was into the workout and fatigued). Due to this, I was thinking of starting to take some creatine just to help me do these workouts more efficiently until I’m in shape enough to get by without it. I’ve heard a lot about creatine and health concerns, but I don’t know what to think. I wouldn’t be taking it for too long…I just would like to find a way to get a lot out of these workouts while also finishing them in a more timely manner. I’ve also thought about taking something similar to NO Xplode bc it is supposed to give you more energy/endurance (sort of like creatine from my understanding), but it seems like the more unhealthy option. Would you advise me taking one of these two things?…or just suggest going about it without them and just do the best I can until I get my muscles into shape…? Thanks in advance!
TMJ- Being 23 vs 30 gives you an extra 17 calories to play around with– don’t spend ‘em all in one place!
To get down to 2000, if you are following the P90X eating plan, I’d keep the ratio of calories the same, so take 200 cals from carbs and 200 cals from protein. (As you said, it is already so low-fat, and the fat is important to keeping you feeling full.) I always suggest that people cut from “fake food” first, so cutting out a meal replacement bar if you are doing one is good, if you are doing a shake outside of the recovery drink, cutting that is good. Real food will keep you feeling fuller longer and is just (in my opinion) an all-around better idea.
I am having a hard time understanding how it is is taking two and a half hours to get through the workouts in any case, though, as you do one exercise until fatigue or “muscle failure” (which it sounds like you reach quite quickly), take a brief rest, and then move onto the next exercise
(which is always a slightly different muscle group.) Can you explain to me how you are approaching the workouts? Are your weights low enough? Are you using a chair to modify pull-ups? Even if you can only do one rep and you’re at failure, you do that one rep and then you move onto the next exercise.
In any case, my suggestion for you in getting the most out of the workouts, vs. doing them spread out over two and a half hours, is to split them in half for now– do half in the AM and half in the PM and fuel for each workout by having a carb-containing snack about an hour before. Split your recovery drink between the two workouts. You simply can’t have your head in the game after going at something for two and a half hours, and your body is just going to break down that way– if your mental focus doesn’t totally crap out first.
As for supplements– my opinion is not to mess with them at your level. P90X makes a pretty good pre-workout pill that Rob and I both take- it’s ginseng, carnitine, green tea… it gives you a nice little boost. NOXplode is not anything you need for energy over an extended work bout, and creatine is just going to make you retain water.
Besides which– and this is crucial– you should NEVER be taking a chemical to get your body to do a workout it is not ready to handle! You are talking torn ligaments and muscles, stress fractures of bone, etc. Bad, bad, bad idea.
You start where you start- Pick a weight that allows you to do a suitable number of reps, do what you can to failure, move on to the next exercise. You’ll find in a week, you can do two more reps. Eventually, you’ll be doing 10-12 reps and know it’s time to increase the weight a little bit… You don’t go into this thing with 50 pounders, insisting on doing 10 reps, or you are going to get seriously injured, and you ABSOLUTELY don’t take any kind of drug or substance to override your body’s built-in protections.
As for me/my interest: I am a certified personal trainer and certified nutrition coach, but my money-job is more on the marketing/PR side of things.
Smurf,
Is taking out a protein shake and a protein bar gonna leave me with enough protein to build a little muscle? Also, I only eat one carb a day right now so I don’t really know how to take calories from there. Even taking out a protein shake would take out 130 calories…and taking out half a bar (so I could still get a little protein) will take out another 135 calories. So I could do that and take out 265 calories which would put me close to 2,000 a day. If I cut out the entire protein bar + shake I could cut 400 calories…but would I get enough protein?
As far as the workouts are concerned…the first workout I did (chest and back) I took long enough breaks to get some more reps done…so for instance, if I tried to do some reps on an exercise and couldn’t hardly do any, I would take a break until my muscles could rest enough to do some reps (which took forever). I did the same thing with the ab ripper workout that followed. Therefore, the workout just took forever. I won’t do that again…I just wanted to get a lot out of the workout. I did Plyometrics yesterday and it only took me 15 minutes longer than the video says…due to me needing longer breaks now and then.
Thanks for the comment on the supplements. What is the pill you guys take called? If I take anything it would be that. I’m not gonna fool with anything else at this time.
If I give you advice on diet, I have to warn you that it’s going to not be totally in line with the P90X plan, so if you try to look back at forth between what I’m telling you and what P90X nutrition guide is telling you, you might get a little confused, but here goes…
The simplest way to structure a “bodybuilder-esque” diet is to give yourself a gram per pound of protein and work back from there- this is known as the “bodybuilder gold standard,” so will give you plenty of protein to build lean muscle– For you, this means 175 grams of protein, or about 60% of your calories from protein. Then, give yourself about 20% of calories from healthy fats (about 44g of Fat.) And fill the rest in with whole-grain carbs, fruits, etc– 20% of your diet… 57g of carbs for a 2000-cal-per-day diet. Just use a program like The Daily Plate to track all the food you are eating and make sure, first and foremost, that you are hitting that 175 g of protein and then fill in with carbs and fat. And, yes, you are welcomed to work with that 20% fat, 20% carbs so that you are eating maybe 15% fat and 25% carbs… whatever is going to give you appropriate energy, but I don’t suggest going much below 15% fat or your diet is going to suck and you are going to be hungry all the time.
That being said- This is all somewhat less important for you since you are not eating at a surplus. You are eating at a deficit to burn through some of that fat. So you are not going to be “putting on” more than a little bit of muscle in the first two months anyhow– you will be building strength and doing all kinds of other great stuff, and will look like you are getting more ripped as the fat comes off the top of the muscle– but to truly “put on muscle” (be in an “anabolic” or “building” state) you would need to be eating at a surplus. So it is less important for you to be on a “bodybuilder-esque” eating program at this phase. The most important part of the eating program is just that you be at a deficit. So if you find the eating program outlined above totally un-doable, adding more carbs isn’t going to impact your results at all– I just outlined it for you because you sounded interested in doing a “bodybuilder-type” eating program, and it sounds like being on one will really add to your mental commitment to the program.
Now– as for shakes, bars and whatnot. There is really very little reason for anyone– even someone on the high-protein plan outlined above- to be using one, except for convenience. If you get to the end of the day and haven’t hit your protein and – by extension- are under your calories for the day, sure, have a shake or bar. But if you are feeling hungry/snackish at all, realize that a shake or bar is the least-filling way to get those cals and protein. Egg whites, chicken breast, fat free cottage cheese– Costco sells a whole roasted turkey breast that is pretty good… Any source of lean protein and, of course, loads of leafy greens and other good veggies, will be the backbone of the program.
So, yeah, your Plyo workout sounds like it went exactly as it should– just press pause and take a breather for a bit if you need to. My suspicion is that you are using too heavy of weights for the other workouts. It is extremely important that you not overload the exercises here in the beginning because you need to learn proper form. In fact, I’d rather see people lift 5 pounds too light the first week (so that they hit 12 reps and aren’t at full muscle fatigue) than lift 5 pounds too heavy, as not having proper form will impact your results and increase your potential for injury.
Hope that helps!
Oh, and the supplement we take is called “Performance Formula.” It is available here:
https://extranet.securefreedom.com/MillionDollarBody/csShopping/ShoppingCart.asp?ProductID=&Cat=
Search “Performance Formula” in that box in the upper left corner.
Take with a full glass of water about 45 mins before your workout.
Thank you so much for this advice! I can’t tell you how much this helps. I just want to get enough protein and carbs for my workouts and try and take in a little bit less calories than their guide tells me in order to shred for fat (and body fat percentage). I think I can devise a good plan with the diet advice you just gave me.
Yeah, I’ve already noticed that sometimes I’m trying to heavy of a weight. I’m gonna lighten things up and make sure my form is correct and then build up from there.
Smurf, your knowledge and willingness to help is amazing. Wondering if you would mind helping me calculate how many calories a day I need for”intake” and what my exercise calories “burn” per day should be so I can lose 30 pounds?
I am 46, 5’3″ and weigh 147. For years I’ve done workouts trying to lose weight including slim in 6 exercises (I never owned the menu plan). I very much enjoyed the exercises, great routine and felt good. But I didn’t lose one pound and gained a few inches. I didn’t share this with others before because slim in 6, imho, is a wonderful fitness program.
About 3 months ago, I heard that a person should never go below 1200 calories a day. I logged onto sparkpeople.com and discovered I was taking in between 600 and 900 calories a day. I’m using my forerunner to determine how many calories a day I burn. Its only an estimate though. Prior to P90X I was burning around 400 calories a day with walk/run/bike/cardio and yoga mix.
Due to a medical condition I have to follow a Low Oxalate, Gluten Free menu. Its been difficult but I am finally getting up to around 1200 calories a day. I’m working hard to get my protein up to 60 g a day.
I am measuring my food. As you suggested, I will begin to use the heart monitor with exercises to find out more accurately how many calories I am burning a day.
Am I correct in shooting for 1200-1500 cal a day? How many calories a day should I shoot for burning?
I’ve kept a walk/run/biking schedule for years. I just started the P90X last week. I am definitely challenged in these workouts, which I enjoy.
When I found this site, my first thought was to stop doing the P90X because I don’t want to invest again into something like this and not get the results I want. I’m wondering if all this time I wasn’t getting results because I wasn’t taking in enough calories. Can I lose weight with the P90X. Thinking maybe I should focus on lean instead of classic though?
Also, can I do two days of the exercises into one day (for 3 days a week instead of 6) and get the same results?
I’d like to pay you for your help. How can I do that?
Your advice on this site has been informative and helpful. Thank you!
Hey TLC-
Sorry it took me a while to get back to you… we had a fundraiser this weekend for the charity I am running SF Marathon on behalf of and the whole weekend went by like… ZIP! Let’s see what I can do to help you out here…
First, I’ll address your concerns about the calories you were taking in. If you were legitimately taking in only 600-900 calories per day for a period of several weeks and did not drop any weight, then I would say that’s something to take up with your doctor because it falls totally outside the spectrum of metabolically normal.
“Starvation Mode” is a totally overblown and somewhat mythological phenomena that gets thrown around way too much for my liking. Here’s the thing– IF researchers can show any kind of metabolic impact from eating too little, it is low and somewhat unpredictable/unrepeatable. Something on order of a 2-3% drop in your metabolism. Which, for someone with an RMR of 2000 calories or so, means maybe 50 calories or something a day. You only need to look at any overly-skinny Hollywood Starlet, anorexic or cancer patient to know that your metabolism does NOT shut down and keep you from losing weight if you are not eating enough. It would need to slow down 50% or more to keep you from losing weight at 600-900 calories per day. And that just doesn’t happen.
Now, I am not in ANY WAY saying that eating 600-900 calories per day is a good thing to do… you do need to keep fuel coming into the body to fire your workouts and for general good health. And I find that being on a really low calorie diet makes people lose more in fits and starts and have huge issues with cravings, fatigue, crabbyness… Yes, people say you should “eat every few hours to keep your metabolism running high… ” and such, but none of that has been really consistently recorded/proven in a peer-reviewed research setting. But, it’s a good idea if for no other reason than that it keeps you from getting hungry and gives you the energy you need to be active. I will tell you that most people I’ve worked with who have 600-900 calorie days ALSO have a handful of much higher-calorie days thrown in that bring them to a net-wash calorie situation over time.
So, about your numbers– Your resting metabolic rate is about 1804. What I like to see people do is realize a 500 calorie deficit from food, and then the P90X workouts should burn about another 350 or so, at minimum, bringing you to a loss of about a pound and a half per week– if you increase your “lifestyle burn” by walking and such, you can move that “calories out” burn up to 500 calories to get closer to two pounds loss per week. For you, this would mean eating 1300 calories per day and burning 500. And, those 1300 need to me meticulously tracked, weighed, measured, journaled– it is SO easy to underestimate the calories you are taking in that the only way to know for sure is to weight and measure. If I ever have someone tell me they are “probably taking in about 1500 calories per day” I pretty much know that is 50% off and they are likely taking in more like 2200… even trained nutrition professionals in studies are off by an average of 20% when they have to “eyeball it.” So I can’t stress the importance of this enough.
Also (and check with your doctor on this), I’d like to see you get up to the recommended .7 grams of protein per pound for people undergoing a strength training program. This would have you at 102g of protein.
The Forerunner is accurate for calories burned when you are in motion- it uses a mix of heartrate and distance traveled/pace to get the number. There is a pretty accurate calculator here: http://www.gersic.com/calories/ That you can use to take your average heartrate from the Garmin for a non-GPS workout and get calories burned.
I would not suggest doing two workouts in one day, three days a week. You basically cut out 50% of your recovery when you do that, and recovery is essential to making progress, especially with a weight-intensive regime. Also, you need to really hit each of these workouts hard, so the mental recovery is just as important as the physical rest.
I am not a huge fan of some of the cardio workouts in the Lean rotation– I often recommend people do Lean if they are also a runner, or total spinning addict, or have some other cardio obsession that they would like to continue– it’s super easy to do the lean setup and just replace out some of the cardio workouts with your other activities. It sounds for you like you could do lean and replace with a run or hard/interval bike workout. At the end of the day, it’s all about calories burned– some of the P90X “Lean” cardio workouts are super easy to cheat on, and this is all about calories-in, calories-out. You wouldn’t necessarily lose any more fat doing Lean than doing Classic, especially if the cardio workouts in Lean aren’t actually getting your calorie burn up there. (My calorie burn for Kenpo x, for example, is absolutely laughable unless I add a whole bunch of jumping jacks and running in place and basically change the workout so much that it in no way resembles what’s on the disk. At that point, I would burn more lifting weights or going for a run… this is why wearing the HRM is crucial.) If a person isn’t really invested in an outside cardio activity, though, I’d generally recommend that they just do Classic and up their lifestyle burn through walking more places and such.
In a nutshell- You *CAN* absolutely lose weight doing P90x, you just need to be eating fewer calories than you are burning in a day.
And, for now the way we get reimbursed for what we are doing on the blog is by people buying their Beachbody products through our link, but I am looking at starting to do email coaching where I work with people privately, via email vs. publicly here in the comments. Folks would get guaranteed 24-hour turn-around on their questions, I’d also keep track of their food journaling through Daily Plate, etc., track progress, and generally work with folks involved in a number of activities– not just limited to P90X, which most of these comment threads center around. I am building out that program now… Look for it in the next month or so!
Best of luck on your journey, and keep us up to date!
Hey Smurf
I looked for your response daily and was thrilled to receive such a quick and informative response.
You are right about the metabolism issue. I have diabetes insipidus, which proved in the past to affect my inability to lose weight even with exercise and low calories. This could be the issue now.
You are the first I’ve heard to address “starvation mode” as blown out of proportion. I wondered if the starvation mode theory was true why some ate nothing and did not gain weight like some models and those dealing with anorexia etc. Still, I wasn’t losing weight the other way so increased my calories, which was a happy thing for the energy boost. Just a concern “can I really increase and lose weight when I couldn’t lose weight before”
I continue to weigh my food and track what I am eating on sparkpeople.com. I am even more meticulous after your comments.
I was able to get up to 90 grams of protein yesterday but I had to eat a lot of scallops to do it. I have a difficult time getting to even 60 grams a day. The Low Oxalate Diet restricts nuts and beans. Basically the LOD is fish, meats, dairy, limited fruits . I do not expect you to check this out. Just if you or anyone had an interest. http://www.lowoxalate.info/
Your response has encouraged me and I will keep working to get the protein up as you mentioned.
I’m sticking with P90x classic and my daily walks. I’m new to anything to do with weights, pull-ups etc and liking the challenge. Just hard to put aside all that cardio I’ve been doing. Hard to believe pull-ups can burn what cardio burns. I’m believing what I’m reading though and encouraged.
I am learning to use the heart rate monitor with P90X.
I will make sure my future orders for Beach Body go through your site. If you do start the email coaching I would like to pay for what you’ve already given me so please let me know if that happens.
Thank you again! You’ve made a positive difference in my weight loss goals!
Thanks for the link on the LOD, I will read up on it. Nutrition is really a passion of mine, so the more I can learn about various special needs, the better!
Some of what people see when they up calories and weight comes off (making it look like it’s the increase in calories that is causing the loss) is just a matter of “getting the scale unstuck” where, over time, those calories would have netted out anyhow. People talk about a “plateau” when they stall for a week– a true “plateau” would only be in play if a person had been at that lower cal count for 4 weeks, meticulously, and not had a budge. I find my weight goes up 2 pounds one week, down 3 the next, up two the next, down three the next… Spikes up about 5lb around the first of every month (must be something in my hormonal cycle- ovulation or something?), and then follows that “two steps forward, one step back” path for the rest of the month… It all nets out almost perfectly mathematically if I look at it on 6-week cycles, but from week to week, that’s a lot of stuff that could be attributed to ‘starvation mode’ or ‘plateau’ or any number of theories people like to bandy about, when really it’s just the way the body works. Mysterious thing, these bodies we have.
Another thing people might be seeing and attributing to “starvation mode” is that if they truly are eating at too low a level, their workouts might be suffering and they might be lethargic so they aren’t getting the “lifestyle burn” so they might not be getting the total burn in that they would otherwise. But, really, eating at “too low a level”– so long as that’s not throwing them into a binge situation where they are negating that caloric deficit– it would be impossible to out-pace that much of a deficit with lackluster workouts or any minimal metabolic impact from eating less. If you stayed there long enough, you’d see plenty of loss. You might feel like crap if you were way too low, but you’d still see a loss.
“Starvation mode” is a pet peeve of mine, as you can tell.
Eat well, eat healthy, eat whole and eat often– but, at the end of the day, you have to eat less than you are burning to see a loss.
Hi – I am so happy I found this forum. I am (almost) at the point of giving up on P90X!!!! I’m 31, 5’7″ and am normally at 140-145lbs (trying to get down to 130lbs). I’ve been doing P90X for 7 weeks now and haven’t seen any changes in my body. I went to the doctor the other day, and I weighed in at 150lbs!!!! While my diet isn’t terrible, it’s probably not perfect either. I try and eat between 1300 and 1500 cals per day, but on weekends I probably get closer to 1800-2000. However I eat a LOT of vegetables, lean proteins and fruit. Average day is 5 meals (egg white omelette with whole grain english muffin, protein shake or bar, healthy salad with lean protein, cheese & crackers for afternoon snack, veggies and protein or sweet potato for dinner). I’ve been doing the workouts religiously with no luck. Prior to this program I did 3-4 days a week of cardio and maybe one day of strength per week, so did work out quite regularly. Do you suggest cutting back on the strength and increasing the cardio maybe? This is actually my “rest” week and I’m planning to do 3-4 days of heavy cardio and see what happens. I absolutely love the workouts, but somethings gotta give!!! Help?
I don’t suggest changing the workout until you know, absolutely without question, what your calorie intake is every day. That is where the change is going to come from.
Get signed up on something like The Daily Plate or Fit Day and track every bite.
For your height and weight, shoot for 1400 calories a day– but the most important part is writing everything down and tracking your food, otherwise you *will* go over, it’s just the nature of the beast.
Eat at 1400 (including on the weekends), continue the workouts as planned, and I guarantee you will see the changes you are after.