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.
I am 34 and am trying to lose weight/tone up. I am currently running/walking 3 times per week using the Couch25K program. I have been doing some strength training on my own on my off days, but I am wondering if using a program like P90X may be more beneficial to me. Would it be possible to use this program only 3-4 days a week? Any suggestions?
Also, I weigh 165 and am 5’6″. Can you suggest how many calories I should eat in order to lose weight?
Thanks!
Melanie,
P90X is a great program, but you need to decide if it is the program for you. If you are just looking for occasional strength training workouts, and not a full program, you may prefer Tony Horton’s one on ones. There is no “Set” program, and you can mix and match the workouts as you need. (You can do the same thing with ANY of the other programs, as well.) Take a look at all the beach body programs, there is quite a variety of fun cardio to intense weight training.
If you want to lose weight, and you want to not get frustrated with yourself or what you are doing, you need to make sure you are tracking everything you eat. Smurf and I use thedailyplate.com. It is free (and has a iPhone app for 2.99) and the food database it pretty large. Once you dedicate yourself to food tracking, and figure out what you are really eating every day, it is possible to get control of your diet.
Smurf is the nutrition nut over here, but I suspect you should be somewhere around 1500 calories a day. (Most likely somewhere between 1400-1500) If you stick to that, you should be able to drop .5 to 2 lbs a week depending on your daily calorie burn. This is the most important part to “drop” as you have to be in a calorie deficit to lose. (This is true 100% of the time unless you have a medical condition)
Last thing, as I have to run for a bit, if you are a workout novice, start with a basic program, else you burn yourself out.
Great places to start – Power 90, Hip Hop Abs, TurboJam
Intermediate programs – Rocken Body, Chalene Extreme, Brazil Butt Lift
Extreme Home Fitness – P90X, P90X+, Insanity, TurboFire
***If you want to buy any of these, you can get them from my online store at http://www.beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/FitLifeSFRob
You should also check out the thread: http://www.fitlifesf.com/2008/05/women-and-p90xp-what-can-a-woman-expect
There is a LOT of great info there.
-Rob
Hi! I’ve been doing P90x for about 4 weeks now. Im 5’2″ and when I started I was 220 and now I’m 213. I’ve lost about 3 inches from my waist. Although I wish I was losing weight faster, I’m happy because I wasn’t losing weight at all with other things I’d tried (like Weight Watchers, etc). I try to keep my calories at around 1500-1600/ day. I modify the workouts because I’m not interested in hurting myself. I also started to do some fast walking 3x a week. I don’t really like the plyo workout so I substitute with the original Tae bo advanced workout
(VHS!)
Mostly, I’m doing it to prove that I can stick it out. I feel myself getting stronger and I think it’s helping with my other workouts.
Smurf,
It’s been roughly a month since I started P90X so I figured I’d give you and update and see what you think. As I told you previously, my goal during this program was to lose 20-25 lbs. total. So far, I literally haven’t seen like any weight loss. I started at roughly 175 and every time I get on the scale (which is like once a week) it still says right at 175. I’ll admit, I don’t check my calories everyday on dailyplate…however, I have 4 menus that I use and I don’t stray away from these hardly and I don’t eat extra food (so I know my caloric intake is about what I’m shooting for anyway). My average caloric intake for the month is probably 1900 (I wanted a good safe level that allows me to lose weight, but also keeps my metabolism high and have enough fuel for my workouts). I thought this was a good level to accomplish my goals. My highest intake is a little under 2,400. I rarely ever (if ever) meet my fat grams per day amount (for a normal 2,000 calorie diet). Honestly, I’m closer to eating about half or a little more than half of my suggested fat grams for the day. My protein average is about 155g. Using this diet (the portion plan-P90X), my sodium levels are always high, as well as my sugars. I haven’t really tried to change this (bc it seems very difficult to do), but I figured since this is a temporary diet it doesn’t have to be perfect. I’ve also been drinking a good bit of water. I’ve only taken one rest day so far (however, P90X has days like X Stretch which are pretty lax anyway so my body does get a rest), and I’ve been pushing myself hard to be honest. My workouts still take longer than the videos for sure, but I’ve improved in that area. I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten stronger and more “in shape” to a point…I’ve also noticed a little more definition. However, my core area (which I’ve really tried to work hard) hasn’t seemed to change much other than my abs getting stronger. I haven’t noticed any of the fat being trimmed and the scale seems to back that up. I just don’t understand how I haven’t lost hardly any weight (especially no “water weight” at least). It’s really frustrating to work this hard and not see fat loss at this point. The only thing I might think I should do differently is to try and work out at a faster pace (like they do), even if that means I do fewer reps than they do…? I don’t really know. Maybe I need more cardio? I could really use some advice to be honest. I was expecting to lose about 7-8 lbs. this month (since the first month should show the most progress). I just don’t get how I’m not losing weight considering my caloric intake and taking into account that I’m burning at least 500 calories during my workouts (if not more). I’m definitely eating at a pretty good deficit…
Hey TMJ,
Not trying to double team you here but, you really need to get exact measurements and track your food. All of it. If you don’t there is no real data for anyone to go on. I am also confused why your workouts are taking so long. If you can’t get to 8-10 reps, that is fine. You work out and do the best you can for that set, and then move on to the next. This keeps your heart rate up, and adds the cadio burn to your weight workouts. Transitioning from workout to workout is important, and doing the workouts the best you can is important. Taking too much time will hinder your weight loss, as you are not training as a powerlifter. You are training for strength conditioning and fat burn. You will see improvements, and they will come faster if you push youself the best you can in the alloted time, and move on. Your reps will go up, then your weights can be increased, and so on and so forth.
We’ll have video’s up soon showing examples of transitions and much more! (next few weeks)
-Rob
If you haven’t lost any weight, you are not at a deficit… plain and simple. I cannot say this emphatically enough- you MUST weigh, measure and track your food. It is not an option if you want to get results here. You use the words “about,” “rarely if ever,” “average,” and “probably never more than”– and those are huge red flags that you are probably eating at least 20% more than you think you are. If you are not weighing and measuring every bite you put in your mouth, it is all a monumental guessing game. And, let me be clear, it’s not any kind of moral judgment that I am saying that you are eating more than you think you are– it’s been proven time and again in scientific research that, without an objective measure, everyone does. (Case in point, I sometimes put put raisins on my cereal. This morning, I was getting the raisins out and going to add what I thought was a half-serving of raisins. I decided to weigh them, just to be sure, even though I’ve done this a million times– sure enough, poured out what I thought was about a half serving of raisins– it was a little over a whole serving! I would have been 70 calories off on that– Might not sound too bad, but if I do that every day 70 calories over is 7 pounds either not lost or gained over the course of a year.)
The great news is, having not lost anything in a month, we know one thing for absolute certain– whatever you are eating now is your maintenance level. We have found your balance point. If you were to select something pre-measured, like a bar or something packaged, that you KNOW is about 300 calories, and stop eating that, plus throw in about 30 additional minutes of easy cardio like walking or easy elliptical- something that won’t impact your other workouts- you would be creating a 500 calorie deficit off of what we now know is your “maintenance” level- BUT, the fact of the matter is, if you aren’t measuring the other foods you are taking in, you are likely to subconsciously make up that deficit elsewhere. You won’t even notice it, but if you’re not measuring and you pour the cereal a little longer than usual, or make that serving of pasta a little bigger, or grab a bigger apple, or put more dressing on your salad you can easily eat up that deficit quickly. This is why “just adding more cardio” doesn’t work in the absence of counting. Weighing and measuring and counting calories (actually counting, not estimating) ALWAYS works. (And, it would be unprofessional for me to tell you to more than double your workout load to get you to a deficit– if you are not losing, there is plenty of room to take those calories from food. It’s easier, quicker, less likely to result in injury, less likely to have you burning out and giving up, etc.)
I know it sucks, nobody likes to count calories. More than that, nobody likes to “be a calorie counter” because calorie counters are just lame, right? But, it is a necessary evil here.
Also, (and this is totally separate from the not losing weight issue– which is purely a cals-in-cals-out proposition), but it sounds like you might still be using too heavy of weights. How many reps are you doing? Your goal should be to use a weight where you can do 8-10 reps, with the second to last one being very hard and the last one being near-failure- in the time allotted. If you are moving so slow against the resistance that you are doing far fewer than that, then you should bring your weights down for a while. Also, are you wearing a heartrate monitor so you know for sure how many cals you are burning in the workouts?
Smurf,
Thanks for the helpful information once again! I realize how I sounded and you are probably right to a certain extent. However, the reason I don’t track my calories everyday is bc I already know how much calories my 4 menus are…I DO measure out and weight my food as well. I always measure out my cereal, how much milk I put in it, how many oz of tuna and chicken I eat, etc, etc, etc. Honestly, I may be off a touch here and there, but I don’t approximate hardly ever. I’m being honest here…my target caloric intake according to P90X should be around 2,400 calories. You said that if I did that and worked hard in my workouts that I should lose around 3/4 pound a wk. There is NO WAY I’m eating at even 2,400 calories a day…I know for a fact (unless the labels I’m reading are wrong) that I’m not taking that much in. Even if I’m slightly off some days, it’s not by much bc I measure most everything. I’m not trying to argue with you or anything…but I’m not one of these ppl is doing the guessing game a lot. I simply know that I’m not off with my calculations by 500-600 calories every day…and even if I thought I was eating 1800 cals one day and I really was eating 2400 cals, I should STILL be losing 3/4 pound every wk with that pace.
Here is one of my menus:
Breakfast – one cup of multi grain flakes (great value brand), one cup of skim milk (great value), one cup of orange juice (great value), 4 slices of low sodium/low fat turkey bacon (butterball brand)
Morning Snack – half of a Clif Builder bar, P90X Recovery Drink (one serving)
Lunch – 5 oz of chunk light tuna (starkist), V8 Low Sodium (one can), 1 cup of 1% cottage cheese (great value brand)
Afternoon Snack – 1 oz of natural, unsalted almonds (Fisher brand)
Dinner – 6 0z of boneless, skinless chicken breast cooked in one tbsp of olive oil, V8 low sodium (one can)
That is a typical day of food…my menus are different slightly but all of them (from my calculations) are no more than 1950 calories, and on average 1800. Maybe I’m just not working fast enough during my workouts so I’m not burning as many calories as I think I am…I know I’m working hard though. I do 8-10 reps. I do wear a heart-rate monitor but it doesn’t count calories accurately…it always says I’m burning like 1200 or more calories which is not possible.
Rob,
I take awhile on my workouts bc I want to get in more reps…I don’t sit and wait 5 min between each workout. However, I will press pause now and then and wait for an extra min or so. Chest and Back, Shoulders and Arms, and Legs and Back (all with the Ab Ripper X) take me about 2 hrs. Plyo takes me about the time limit. Yoga takes me awhile…like 2 hrs and 15 min. My muscles just aren’t handling the endurance aspect of that workout well…and if I just “moved on” the whole time, I wouldn’t be working all of the muscles like I need to. Kenpo X takes about the time limit, as well as X Stretch.
Here’s how I feel…the exercise with weights (and Yoga) I take more breaks to give my muscles a chance to rest in order for me to do more reps and work them harder during my workouts. It just seems like if I try and keep up with them, that I will not get a good workout when it comes to “getting stronger.” For instance, If I try to keep up with them on Chest and Back, I would hardly get a rep on some of those push-up exercises during Round 2 after all of those push-ups I’ve already done. Wouldn’t it be better to take a little longer break on each exercise and get in some useful reps in Round 2? That scenario happens in Shoulders and Arms as well…and Legs and Back some too. I guess I’ll lose more calories just going their pace, but I didn’t think it would be that much of a difference considering I’m doing way many more reps the way I’m doing the workouts now.
TMJ- Well, you are correct that that menu should have you at a deficit. But, the medical fact is– if you are not losing, something is going on that means you aren’t burning more than you are consuming. This could be any number of things– hidden calories (as discussed); the workouts not burning what you think they are (are you wearing a heartrate monitor?); or a medical condition that has you metabolically off-the-charts abnormal. The first two are easy to adjust for– eat less and exercise more to create a deficit, given that the “results” side of the equation is showing that you are not currently at one. The limitations of coaching people over a blog, of course, mean that it’s very tough for me to say, “Hey, you know that menu you posted where you are barely consuming enough to get by? Eat less than that. While also working out more than you already are (which you’ve stated you are having trouble getting through in the first place.)” But, I assure you that more than likely something is going on that means you are either consuming more or burning less than you think. It’s really tough to find the the culprit without actually watching what you are doing.
The other possibility– that you are metabolically off-the-charts abnormal– is something that only a doctor can help you with, and, if you adjust the equation by 500 calories by cutting a food item and adding some low-impact cardio as discussed in the previous post, and still don’t lose after a month, then you would want to have that checked out. In my experience, though, for 99.9% of people, it’s something they weren’t accounting for adding to calories in, or vastly overestimating what they were burning in workouts. In fact, I’ve yet to come across anyone who is legitimately dealing with undiagnosed abnormal metabolism- it’s accompanied by so many other symptoms that you’d already know.
Smurf,
Thanks again for the response. I’m just going to dial down my diet just a little bit more, try to be even more meticulous with measuring stuff, and try to workout at a faster pace I guess. I just don’t like the idea of keeping up with Tony and the group and hardly getting any reps in due to either being out of breath or my muscles simply being worn out momentarily. Given your expertise, I highly doubt I have an abnormal metabolism. Everything you say makes perfect sense. I guess I’m just not at a big deficit like I thought…I simply just don’t know how. One possibility I thought of…what if I’m not losing much weight bc my fat is gradually being replaced by muscle so I’m becoming more defined and toned, but not losing weight..? Is that possible? At any rate, I’m going to continue working hard bc I know I’m getting in better shape, eating healthier, and becoming more defined. I want to try to work more cardio in bc I know that will burn fat…it’s just hard to find time to prepare all of your meals, do the P90X, and have the time and energy left to do more cardio…and then go to work, haha.
For the fat/muscle conversion idea… You are metabolically able to lose fat much faster than you can gain muscle, so if you were at anywhere near the deficit you thought you were it would vastly out-pace the metabolically-possible muscle gain. The max muscle gains a male who is eating at a surplus, supplementing (not juicing, though), lifting REALLY heavy and living “the bodybuilder lifestyle” could hope to see is a little less than 2 pounds per month. And I can guarantee you are not there- both because you are not eating at a surplus and because the P90X program isn’t the kind of workout that is done to get that top level of serious musclehead muscle growth (and, regardless, you’re not yet able to do the program at a level where you are even maxing out the muscle gain potential of the program yet.) So, is it possible maybe you’ve lost a little fat and put on a half pound or so of muscle? Sure… but it still means you aren’t nearly at the deficit you thought you were.
If you had been less than a full month into the program, I’d say it COULD be the muscles storing water to repair microdamage caused by the workouts, but that should have evened out by now to where you’d see the scale start moving downwards if you were at any kind of a notable deficit.
What weight are you using for your workouts? You are modifying your pushups and pull-ups? I’m still really trying to figure out what’s going on here that, a month in, the workouts are taking as long as they are. It’s something I have never, ever come across, as the program is pretty straightforward– do the movements with an appropriate weight to fatigue, then move onto the next exercise. We need to figure out what is going on because you WILL burn yourself out if you keep going the way you are going. (And, remember, when I mentioned easy cardio in my first reply, I am talking literally going for a walk or reading a book on the elliptical AT MOST, or you impact your recovery.)
Hi Smurf! You seem to answer all the questions. I am 25. I have 2 kids and been married for close to 6 years. Hence why my body is way out of wack. I am sooo shocked that the scale says 165!!! I am 5’6″! What would you recommend as far as weight loss. We have a wedding to attend in 98 days!! I want my pre baby body back! We have P90x but I want to make sure that it is what I am suppose to do! My goal weight is 130 but honestly I would be happy at 140!
Is this possible to do in that short of time?
Smurf,
It appears I am finally seeing some weight loss. I got on the scale a couple of days ago and it read 167-168 lbs. I was really happy to see this. I hadn’t weighed in over a week, and I weighed right when I woke up (which I hadn’t been doing). I’m still going to try and be more meticulous with my measurements and things, but this makes me more confident that my diet is working.
Now let’s talk about my workouts…
Ever since I started, I’ve tried to improve my form on everything (which makes each workout harder). I modify things when I have to, but I try my hardest not to do so…I definitely modify for pull-ups though (I have to). I choose weight that I can do 8-10 times. I feel like the weight I’m choosing is good…I’m trying to up my weight gradually, but if I find that my form suffers when doing so I go back to the lower weight I had been using the week before.
For the chest and back workout, I take longer breaks to give my muscles more of a break in order to get more reps in. The problem may be that I do too many reps during the first round, which makes round 2 very difficult to finish. I try to get relatively close to as many reps in round 2 as round 1. For that workout, maybe I need to do less reps for round 1 so I don’t get so wasted later on in the workout…however, Tony says to do close to maximum reps so it’s hard to know when to stop during round 1. Overall, this workout takes me nearly 1 and a half hrs.
For Yoga, I trimmed my time down to about 1 hr and 45 min…which is only 10-15 min past the time they do the workout in. I think I made strides here, and I’ll continue to try and go at this pace or faster in the future.
For Legs and Back, I get pretty wasted like in Chest and Back. However, a lot of these workouts have a fixed number of reps that Tony and co. do…therefore, I do whatever # of reps they do, even if that wastes me. However, I have been using some weight on some of the exercises that he recommend some weight for. I just get pretty whipped at times during this workout, so I take longer breaks in order to be able to bring it on the next exercise. I do that workout tomorrow, so I’m going to try and shave off some time from that workout as well.
For Shoulders and Arms, I have adjustable dumbbells…these take awhile to change with so many workouts going on. I tried to go at a faster pace this week, and it still took me about 1 hr and 20 min to do.
For Ab Ripper X, my core cannot handle their pace yet (if I want to finish all of the reps they do). Right now, about the best I can do is finishing in 30 min.
For Kenpo X, I finish in about 5 min longer than the video.
For Plyo, I have finished in 1 hr before…but usually it’s about 1 hr and 10 min.
Overall, while there is still room for improvement, I feel good about Plyo, Kenpo X, Yoga X (now), and Ab Ripper X…I also feel like I’m doing about as good as I can (right now) on Shoulders and Arms, due to all of the weight changes I have to do during that one. I would like to make some improvements to Chest and Back and Legs and Back though.
Holly-
Sure, you have a shot at getting to 140 in that amount of time– it’s a challenging goal, but nothing wrong with a challenge! You’d need to drop 1.7 pounds per week, which, for you, would mean, doing the P90X workouts and eating no more than 1450 (meticulously tracked!) calories per day.
If your primary goal is weight/fat reduction at this stage, I would suggest you look into the program TurboFire and think about moving to P90X after you’ve used TurboFire to get the bulk of the weight off. The burn is higher/more consistent, and would have a better chance of covering over any errors in your food tracking to be SURE you get to the 500-calorie burn you need to reach your goal. (P90X workouts can vary widely depending on many factors, which is why I like everyone to wear a heartrate monitor to get a real idea of your true burn.)
(Since time is of the essence for you, I’d advise bringing your calories down to 1450 NOW using a free app like The Daily Plate, and start finding a way to get in about a 500-calorie burn. If you have access, 50 minutes to an hour on an elliptical, stationary bike or stairclimber should do it. Or an hour walking briskly… you are going to need to have made room in your schedule for that hour as soon as the program arrives anyhow, so best to get a start on it now!
If you want to look into TurboFire, or want to get P90X and have us as your coaches, we’d much appreciate is you use this link:
http://teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping?referringRepId=7295
You can search TurboFire to get more details on that program.
I am 53, 5’5 and ~155*# (don’t weigh due to old eating disorder days, use my clothes as a guage). I just finished week 12 of the classic p90x and am quite disappointed as far as weight loss goes, I haven’t lost any, definitely much stronger. Shirts are getting tighter, don’t like this. I was a hard core cardio queen before starting the program and needed a change. I use fitday.com to track my food and usually consume around 1400-1600 calories a day, ~45-35-20 (carb-protein-fat) I cycle in a group 2x or so per week and usually burn around 1300 cal in addition to my daily workouts. HELP, my son is getting married in OCT (hence starting the p90x 3 months ago) and I want these old lady arms to go away and lose about 15 pounds.
Thanks…
Hi Smurf!
I’m really glad to have stumbled on your blog. It seems really informative about why I have trouble losing weight. I’m about 5’2″, 138 pounds with about 23% body fat… according to those body fat analyzer things. I’m about to finish up the Insanity 60 day program, I’m on day 50 and I’ve been following their nutrition plan about 85% of the time of about 1500 calories a day spaced out with 5 meals of 300 cals each. I have lapsed and given in to the occasional chocolates, cakes and other bad foods every now and then but never missed a workout.
However, I’ve only lost about 3 pounds and these workouts are intense. I’ve definitely toned up a little more but considering the intensity of the workouts for this program, I should have lost more weight. I’m wondering whether the nutrition plan that P90X has would work. Do you have any recommendations as to what I should do? I’m pretty athletic and fit (I used to run track & field, played volleyball, swam), but there’s just this extra flab and fat everywhere, and my weight is pretty high for my height, but I have the hardest time losing weight. I’m pretty sure it has to do with my nutrition and not my lifestyle because I am very active everyday. Would P90x change this or should I consider a low impact aerobic exercise everyday and change of diet? Any advice would be really helpful. Thanks!!!
Kristine,
Unless you have a some medical condition, your diet is to blame. You need to track everything you are eating to make sure you are at a calorie deficit. Create a free account on TheDailyPlate.com and start tracking. You want to make sure you are at 400-600 calories less a day than your metabolic + activity burn. If you are even or more, you will not see a change. (or, if it is more you will see a change you don’t want) Being on diet 85% of the time won’t get you where you want to be, if your goal is to lose weight and look ripped. Though your conditioning and strength will improve, you won’t be happy with your weight loss.
P90X, Insanity, TurboFire, or ANY OTHER workout won’t help you lose wieght if you are not eating right. It is a process, and until it becomes a habit it is a pain. And even when it becomes a habit, you have to be aware of what and how much of what you are eating. If you are eating more, you know you have to either kick it up a knotch and add some activity, OR, you have to live with the result.
The hard part is getting to your desired weight. The nice thing, is that once you are there, it is a LOT easier to maintain and continue improving. Once you hit maintenance, it gets a LOT easier.
-Rob
Smurf,
Thanks for the info! I really appreciated it. I have a few other questions for you.
1. is there a heart rate monitor you would reccomend?
The other questions are for my husband. He is lean. He is 6’1″ and 155 lbs. HE is wanting to put on some bulk. He is doing the p90x but wanting to get some bulk and weight. He looks like a reed. He is sooo skinny. Any help there?
I will for sure be buying the turbo fire and counting my calories. Again thanks for your help!
-Holly
Holly,
He needs to EAT! And he needs to eat the proper Balance of Protein, Carbs and Fat. Putting on weight can be hard for a Ectomorph (Which he sounds like he is) When weight training, he should really concentrate on correct form and higher weight low rep work. During the cardio, just go after it. But to put on mass, you need to make sure you are not eating in a deficit, but also not eating so much that you are adding flab. (And Stretch well!) Following the P90X diet here makes sense for him. (The upper limit of his diet needs)
You guys should have access to this on Team Beach Body, or of course in the Nutrition Guide.
Nutrition Guide Link
Thanks for the advice Rob!
Just wanted to know if there was a particular ratio of protein-carbs-fat that I should follow and whether 1400 calories would be a good number if I’m doing P90X lean. I try to eat every 3 hours or so.
But my question is, whether I should follow the P90X diet that they include or whether I should just stick with ~1400 calories in order to lose weight. They recommend close to 2000 calories even for level 1 which I think might be a little too much but is 1400 too little to sustain the workouts for P90X?
Sorry if I sound redundant but it really is confusing because of how you must burn more than you eat to lose weight but also eat enough so that your body is not in starvation mode. So I’d just like a ballpark estimate of how many calories, and whether there’s a particular ratio and types of food I should be eating doing P90X in order to lose weight. Thanks!
We’ll get Smurf to run your numbers.
She’ll ping you soon.
I did p90x and I am 35, 5’6″ 137 – when I ended 90 days later I was up to 148 (after each phase I gained about 3 lbs). I was fairly in shape running 5 days a week and light weights. I began the program looking to lose 5-10lbs and tone up a bit. I am extremely frustrated. Went back to running and laid off the weights for a few weeks. Now I am back to incorporating the videos with running and have seen no change whatsoever. Any suggestions.
I recently purchased 2 workout programs. Kettleworx and p90x. I enjoy the kettle bell workouts to strength and tone my entire body, but also do the plyo and kempo x workouts from p90x. I am aiming for 1 to 1 &1/2 hours of workout daily for the next 30 days. My biggest challenge w/ working out is that I restrict my calories too low. How can I determine how many calories I am burning on my workouts so that I ensure that I am eating enough calories. I am 37 yrs old, 5’3″ and 137 lbs. My goal weight is a toned 125 lbs. Any ideas?
Thanks again for all the advice guys! One last question what heart rate monitor would you advise? I am overwhelmed by all the choices out there. Is there any special feature I need or should use?
Thanks
Holly
Holly- Polar makes a really solid product. Otherwise, just pick one where you can input your gender, weight and age so that it will give you a custom calorie burn.
Hi Smurf,
I am currently on my second week of P90x with my boyfriend. For the past year and a half, I have been tracking calories at about 1300, as well as running every day and eating about 500 calories extra calories for that. I feel like I am not burning as many calories during P90x compared to when I run. Do I need to decrease my calorie intake? I feel like I am in pretty good shape – I am only trying to lose about 3-5 pounds, if even that, but I have not lost any weight or seen any kind of results since starting p90x. I am 5’4 and about 126 pounds and I’m 20 years old.
Thanks for your help, all of this information is really interesting!
Liz
Or should I continue to run in addition to the p90x program?
What is your primary goal? Losing weight? Becoming a better runner? Seeing muscle development? Climbing Mt Everest? (Joking, but you never know what a persons TRUE #1 goal is, and that is crucial information when helping a person set up their fitness and nutrition plan. And, “get fit and tone up” isn’t really a helpful goal, as it’s a little too vague– the more specific you can be, the more I can help.)
Speaking in generalities, though: There are people who run in addition to P90X, but they change the program. One way many people do it with success is to replace Kenpo and Plyo with running. You do burn fewer calories in a 40 minute P90X workout than you would with 40 minutes of running… it’s working a different system, so that’s not to say the benefits are fewer, just that the calorie burn is going to be lower. 40 minutes of weights will always burn fewer calories than 40 minutes of cardio, but this game is not just about burning calories (again, depending on your goals.)
If I’m reading your post correctly, it sounds like you are currently at 1800 calories per day? 1300 + 500? And, just because I point it out to everyone– you say “about” twice in relation to your calories, which means you are probably eating more than you think unless you are weighing/measuring and tracking your food. If you did P90X exclusively and kept to 1500 meticulously-tracked calories per day, I bet you’d see stellar physique results, but, again… I’d be interested to know what your PRIMARY goal is to be sure that advice furthers those goals.
I’m on week 3 of P90X and have been using myfitnesspal.com to track my food and exercise. I’m at 213 and 5’9″ and 40 years old. I’ve been working out at a gym for about a year and have lost 13.5 pounds from where I started , so I know it’s my caloric intake (which I hadn’t been tracking before P90X). Although I am heavier than the normal P90X user, I can do 60 min on the Precor ATM and feel great afterwards, and I’ve been able to do the program’s routines. As others have noted, though, I haven’t really seen the scale move since started P90X.
Here’s what I don’t understand. I know I need to drop my calories (vs what the nutrition guide says), but when I start at say, 1900 cals on MyFitnessPal.com and then add in my exercise, it adds 600 or so calories back to my alloted calories for the day. I’ve been doing level 2 on the nutrition program (2400 cals, though I’m often below that). Do I stick stringently to the 1900 cals (or even less?) or add some more because of the exercise??? I’d like to lose about a pound a week. Thanks for clearing this up.
A lot of people get confused with “net calories” and “calories remaining” on programs like My Fitness Pal and The Daily Plate– I am not a fan of “chasing” calories the way some of these programs encourage you to because there is just too great a margin of error on both sides of the equation. I counsel people to pick a caloric level based on a calculation of their BMR and taking into account their workout load and just stay there, and ignore that “net” or “calories remaining” reading that adds back calories for activities.
I crunched your numbers, and I would actually suggest a calorie level closer to 1800 to correct for errors in calculating one side of the equation or the other. If you don’t feel like you are powering hard through your workouts, 1900 should give you a nice loss as well. 1800-1900 without “eating back” calories would be my suggestion.
Thank you!!! That helps tremendously.
Hi,
I am currently ending my second week of P90X and haven’t been noticing many results at all. I can already tell my husband has been losing some weight in his neck/shoulder region, but I look exactly the same, and the scale tells me that too. I am 5’0″ and weigh 120 pounds right now. Two years ago I was at 110 and felt that was a great weight. I became a lot less active and “comfortable” and put on weight.
My husband however, is about 5’10″ and currently weighs 232, and he started out at 235. How come he is losing weight and I’m not? We got rid of ALL junk food, and eat 5 times a day, small meals. I don’t eat a lot of bread anyway (feel that its too much of a filler lol) and LOVE salads, esp Greek salads. I only drink water. Am I doing something wrong?
I know it’s only the 2nd week and I’m already worrying, and people will probably be annoyed that I’m concerned. But, I’m not very muscular, I have zero muscle definition and bad self confidence.
Could it be that I’m gaining muscle, for the reason that the scale says the same thing every few days? Actually I got on it 20 mins ago and it says 123…ahh!
Thanks for this site, it helps! I read through a lot of the comments and applaud the ladies that are doing this. Great job everyone!
Tonight’s workout is shoulders & arms…nnnuuugghh.
So anyway, I just want to know if the excess “loose in the cage” will burn off or if I’m doomed to live a slow metabolism forever?
Thanks so much for considering to reply!
Hey Missy,
I don’t have a simple answer for you. BUT, if you are following the P90X meal plan, you are probably eating more calories than you need right now. You really need to be tracking them so we have an idea of what your daily consumption is. Eating healthy and good food is great. Eating too many calories no matter what the food is, will cause you to not see the weight loss you want. (we use thedailyplate.com)
Have you seen improvement in your mastery of the excercises? Are you trying to tone up or lose weight? Both?
Right now, my advice is, give it time. Stick with the program, and start calorie tracking. When you get a week tracked, contact us and we’ll talk about what you are eating, and how much you should be.
-Rob
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the reply so quickly. I have been tracking my calorie intake, but I just signed up on thedailyplate.com so I could have some more accountability.
I’ve been keeping a journal I guess, but most of it is a rough estimate since I never know how many calories are in what, especially when I’m eating during work. According to my list, i eat roughly about 950 calories a day right now, but I feel like I’m eating too much.
So far on thedailyplate, it says I’ve only eaten 640 calories so far, and I haven’t eaten dinner yet. I’ve felt stuffed all day.
I’m the receptionist for my company but I also do a lot of customer-related tasks so I’m always moving around re-stocking areas and doing mounds of paperwork. Maybe I’m not eating enough lol. Including P90x, its probably even more calories burned.
Thanks for your reply!
Hi Missy-
A couple of tips:
- Don’t weigh yourself more than once a week. You’ll just drive yourself batty and it’s not any kind of a useful metric taken that often. And, know that in the first few weeks of a new training program- especially a weight training program- you can throw on some water weight as your body is moving fluids in to repair the microdamage in the muscles (a necessary part of the response/adaptation cycle that builds muscle.)
- If you are only eating 950 calories, you are not eating nearly enough BUT, if you are only tracking 950 calories and not losing weight, I can practically guarantee that there are a large number of calories sneaking into your diet that are not getting tracked for one reason or another. It is very common. I suggest that you bring your calories up at least into the 1400 range. Track METICULOUSLY, every bite, weighed and measured. Eat at 1400 for three weeks and let us know what your weight does.
You really need to give it a month to settle in before freaking out and making changes. Men are just lame in that they drop like crazy at the slightest change in the beginning. You’ll catch up. Just make sure you are eating appropriately (about 1400ish/day), often, and hitting your workouts hard.
Best of luck!
Hi Rob and Smurf.
I am on week 5 of P90X. I love it, but have not lost any weight. I am 32, 5 feet tall and 105 pounds. I’d like to get down to 100 pounds. I have noticed my arms are getting stronger with P90x, but overall, I still feel pretty fat and flabby. How many calories do you recommend I eat to lost .5 to 1 lb a week?
Hi,
Wish I had found this site 89 days ago! Tomorrow will be day 90 of my 1st round of p90x. I really love the dvd’s and the variety of the workouts, and I’ve definitely become stronger and more toned, but I haven’t lost ANY weight! People ask if I’m still following it, but I sure wish they’d see that I am. At first I followed the eating plan, but it seemed like too much food. Then I tried doing my own thing and a little bit of weight watchers, but that didn’t work either. I’m 5’6″, 160, 40 yrs. but want to be 145 (or lower, obviously). What cal count do you recommend for me? I’ll do the lean again and sub the kenpo and cardiox w/ other cardio, I guess, even though I like them (although I always am surprised that TH says he’s at his target hr at one point and I’m not even close…. How do you feel about the yoga? That’s the one I’d really like to give up. It’s so darn long! Thanks for any feedback you can give!
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to say, it’s wonderful reading all the comments and answers. Thanks for taking the time respond.
Tomorrow, I be starting the p90x Lean. And I just wanted to make sure I get started right. I’m 5’3, 22yrs and 125 pounds. I don’t work out at all but have maintained that weight a very long time. I carry quite bit of belly fat and not very toned whatso ever.
It seems even if I eat healthy or eat fastfood I just stay the same weight. (very annoying)
I would love to get rid of that extra fat (especially in stomach area) and be healthier.
Is Lean the right choice to lose some of that extra fat? And how many calories should I be eating for my age/weight to burn it? Any tips on how to lose that tummy fat?
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it
Hi Beth- 1435 is a good number for you to shoot for calorie-wise. Remember, you MUST track, weight measure everything– guestimating or eyeballing is not good enough in this endeavor. If you like the Kenpo and Cardio X, I’d suggest just getting a heartrate monitor and making sure you get into target HR range. For me, this usually means doing jumping jacks, burpees, “suicide drills” or other high-intensity activity between exercises to spike my heartrate.
I dislike the yoga– not for the length (90 minutes is pretty standard for a yoga workout), but simply because it doesn’t have the elements of “flow” that is so integral to a yoga experience. If I think of it as a pretty slow-moving leg workout I can stomach it a bit more. I have advised others to swap it out for another 90-minute yoga DVD. I hear Baron Baptiste has some good ones.
Em- You could do either lean or classic, so long as you track your calories in and calories out you will see similar results. (In other words, one could do Lean and not burn very many calories just as easily as one could do Classic and burn loads– it depends entirely on how they are doing the workouts, which is why I advise folks to use a heartrate monitor so they know for sure.)
Losing belly fat is going to be entirely a product of losing overall bodyfat. There is nothing that can be done to get that bellyfat off any faster– and, I know for me, it is the LAST place I lose weight. I’m still not happy with my midsection– it’s a matter of total dedication, laser-focus on cals-in-cals-out and TIME.
If you are eating an equal number of calories delivered as healthy food or junk food, you are right– there is no difference in the affect on your weight. That is all about calories. As you bring your calories down so that you are in a deficit, though, the value and quality of your food will matter greatly in how you feel and your overall energy levels. In other words, if you are eating 2000 and some of them are junk, you are still getting more overall nutrients- to get those same number of nutrients in a 1500 calories diet, you need to cut out the empty stuff.
Since you are shorter and starting out lighter, and don’t have a whole whole lot of weight to lose, I’d put you at a 1480-1580 calories per day (again, meticulously-tracked) in order to realize a 250-350 calorie-per-day deficit from food. With an additional goal of burning 500 calories per day in workouts, this should technically put you at about a 1.5 pound per week loss, but, correcting for errors, I bet you’d see about about a pound a week loss on a program like that. That would have you near the bottom of normal for your height, by BMI, by the end of the program.
I can’t emphasize enough, though, how much getting to the bottom of you BMI range requires absolute laser-focus precision on making sure those cals-in-cals-out numbers are correct, which means weighing, measuring and tracking food and getting a heartrate monitor to know for sure what you are burning in workouts.
Best of luck!
wow thank you so much Smurf!
Thanks for responding so quickly and taking the time to answering my questions. I was quite confused on what exactly I had to do but know I feel a lot more confident with your insights.
Defiantly sounds tough but I’m going to try. I guess its time to go out and buy a monitor and a food measuring scale. I’ll tell you how it goes
Hey Smurf,
You’re one of the few people that I’ve read online that can clearly explain the whole fat-to-muscle conversion fallacy, and the misguided notion that extreme calorie reduction will make your metabolism come to a complete standstill.
Anyway, my question is this: I’m a 47 year old male, 168 pounds, 5′ 11″, 16% BF, and a competitive cyclist. I ride about 200 miles a week during the off-season (now), and I just started P90X this week. I’m finding it too hard to do both my riding and the full P90X program. What would be the best P90X workouts to skip and substitute with my riding? My goal is really to gain a little size and definition in my upper body and to sculpt my midsection so I don’t want to miss out on any of the really important workouts. I think my legs get enough workout on the bike as it is. Any suggestions on a modified routine for a competitive cyclist?
Thanks for any help.
Hey, Mr T, thanks for the kind words! I’m not sure if this got highlighted in this thread, but I am a distance runner putting in 35+ miles per week, so I feel like we are in similar situations.
What I do: I completely take out the cardio workouts- Kenpo and Plyo. For me, since I am also doing some activity-specific strengthening exercises and doing hills and speedwork, I also take out the leg work, which means I never do the “Legs” part of “Legs and Back”– I also consider Yoga X to be largely a leg workout and, again, I do activity-specific range of motion and flexibility work to help my running, so it would be somewhat redundant. So, that leaves me with the upper body workouts, which I love. Ab Ripper X, which I do several times a week, and Core Synergistics which I do when I am not in really heavy mileage increase or speedwork/hill mode. Core Syn works the area I like to call the “sausage tube.” Basically from your armpits down to your inner thighs. If I haven’t done it in a while, it CAN impact my running workouts– It takes me doing it regularly for a few weeks before it stops having me wobble around for two days like I just rode an iron horse down a rocky mountain.
I rotate the workouts so I generally run 4-5 days, Ab Ripper 3 days, Upper Body 2 days (usually on the two days that I don’t run) and I take one day entirely off (the day before my longest run of the week) as I have a history of injury so I feel like that’s important for me. I rotate the Upper Body workouts, so I’ll do Shoulders and Arms/Back and Biceps one week and Chest/Shoulders/Tris and the Back work from Back and Legs the next week- on this week, I’ll generally do the Back part of Legs and Back after a shorter run and skip Ab Ripper X on that day, and then do Core Synergistics on the day I’d normally do a full weight workout, so that I am hitting that workout every other week. It would depend on your priorities how often you want to get that one in.
Now, if you didn’t already have P90X, I’d suggest that you look into the Tony Horton 1-on-1 videos, as there you can pick and choose and just get the disks that are upper body and core. Lately, I have been doing these workouts more than the P90X workouts– not that the P90X workouts aren’t sound, just that I’ve been working with them for 2+ years now, so they’ve gotten old for me. There are also some INSANE workouts in here, like Coreball Sandwich, Upper Body Balance and 10-Minute Core Blaster that I really love. But, again, I love them mostly because I’ve been with the P90X disks for so long now.
Hope that helps! I think you’ll really like what P90X does for you cosmetically (it sounds like that is your biggest goal for adding this to your riding)– People sometimes give the program crap for focusing too much on the “glamor muscles,” but, dang, I’m putting in the miles, so get off my butt about wanting to look as good as I race.
Hello! This thread is really great. I’m just a little confused about the ratio of carb/protein/fat I should be consuming. I started P90X 5 days ago, am 26 years old, 5’7 and 145lbs. I’ve been following the P90X nutrition guide very closely but will be cutting back to 1450 calories starting today. What’s the ratio for these? And will it change at different phases of the program?
Thank you!
What I advise people to do in building a diet is to set your protein intake first at between .7 and .9 grams per pound and then fill in around that with complex carbs and healthy fats. If you do best tracking by ratios, for you…
Taking the top-end recommendation, that would be 130 grams of protein per day. That’s 520 calories coming from protein, or 35% of your calories from protein.
I like to see people get 15-20% of their calories from healthy fats.
So (again taking the top-end percentage of the fat range), that would leave you with 45% of calories from healthy carbs.
I should point out that this is my recommendation, based on sound nutritional research, for an “everyday diet”. The “P90X eating plan” moves you through phases where you start with a very high protein intake- It maths out to about 60% protein, 20% carbs and 20% healthy fats, if I’m not mistaken, and then moves you into something more like outlined above, 35% protein, 45% carbs, 20% healthy fats. You can find research to support this higher-level protein intake as well, so if you want to stick to the P90X plan as written, it would have you on that higher protein plan for the first month or so, then move you into the second plan. I suggest giving it a shot to see how it works out for you… For me, personally, my body doesn’t operate efficiently on that much protein so it didn’t benefit me to stick to it.
I tend to side with the research that shows that, so long as you are getting sufficient protein (.7-.9g per pound, properly timed around your workouts), there is little to no benefit in getting more. Now, that’s not to say that a diet where you are forced to consume massive quantities of protein isn’t a great way to lose weight- but that’s a result of lean protein itself being so incredibly filling and difficult to overeat on that you end up cutting calories by default because you just can’t stuff many calories in on top of all that protein.
Long-winded answer, but I hope that helps!
Hey Smurf,
Truth be told, my “real” goal is just to look good naked. Is that too much to ask?
So it sounds like I’m kind of on the right track. My thought was to not do the plyo, kenpo, and yoga on the days that I ride. Typically during the week, I ride my bike to work 3-4 days, so I get almost an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening of pretty intense workout. Weekends I do about 50 miles each day and I don’t mind doubling up with a P90X workout on my days off.
So I guess it would look like:
Monday: Chest/Back and Ab Ripper
Tuesday: Bike commute to work
Wednesday: Bike commute to work and Shoulders/Arms and Ab Ripper
Thursday: Bike commute to work
Friday: Back portion of Legs/Back and Ab Ripper
Saturday: 50 mile bike ride and Core Synergistics
Sunday: 50 mile bike ride only
Does that seem to cover all the essential workouts? I don’t want to weenie out on any of the intensity of the program. Do you see any gaps that might stop me from looking like all those animals on the infommercial? I certainly don’t mind putting in the time or the intensity.
Thanks again for all your help and knowledge.
Well, if you want to look like those animals in the commercials, (this is the part that sucks) you are going to have to get your bodyfat down closer to the 10% range…. but, you do need to build musculature under there to show through, so both diet and getting the workouts in are going to be vitally important.
Depending on how your body takes to Core Syn, I might move that to Wednesday. Like I said, it does take some recovery for me after that one, so I’d be concerned about putting it in between two 50-mile rides. (It has more legs that you might think.) That being said, I know that riding takes more upper body endurance than running does, so Core Syn might be better for you to throw in between those 50′s than a hard upper body workout… You’ll know after a week or so if your rotation is working for you.
I don’t think you are leaving anything out. Just make sure you are fueling up for the added exertion– you won’t burn a whole lot of calories throwing the weights around, as compared to all the riding you are doing, so I’d say if you just add a recovery drink after the weight workouts you’ll be just fine there.
And, looking good naked is the noblest of goals!
Oh I know all about the body fat. I should explain… Normally during the bike racing season I weigh about 148 with about 6-7% bf. In early ’09 I was at my leanest at 138 pounds and less than 6% bf. Remember, I’m 5′ 11″ so I was LEAN. Unfortunately, whenever I get a new girlfriend I stop riding and start eating. Now that I’m single again I’m back on the training schedule. I normally lose 8-10 pounds a month with careful calorie intake and lots of excercise. But this time I don’t want to look like a 98 pound weakling, and would prefer to grow some upper body mass. But trust me, the body fat will be under ten within 4-6 weeks.
I just have to stop the off-season/on-season yo-yo effect. And of course ditch the girls…nothing but trouble.
Thanks so much, Smurf! One last question – how do I calculate the number of grams of fat into calories? Is it multiplied by 4 the same as protein and carbs?
You’re awesome
It’s 9 calories per gram of fat. That’s why it sucks!!
Yup, carbs and protein are 4, fat’s 9 and alcohol’s 7 (Alcohol also “jumps line” for fat metabolism by the liver, so it has some effects that go beyond just the caloric impact, but that’s a subject for another day.
I am a 48 year old female and am starting my second week of P90X. I am 5’2″ and weight 121 lbs. I am carrying a lot of fat around my midsection and upper thighs and rear end. I am very excited to be starting this program but am concerned that I feel overly full almost all the time. The program says I should be eating about 2000 calories a day and I can’t get anywhere near that amount. I am often in the 1200 calorie range and one day I managed to eat a little over 1400 calories. I have been doing the workouts every morning and since my weights I have at home are only 8 pounds I have been working out after work for about an hour in the weight room there, supplementing with the heavier weights they have.
Am I feeling so uncomfortably full because of the high amount of protein I am eating? Will this pass eventually?I am following the nutrition plan faithfully and eating very healthy with the recommended amount of protein. I can’t even fathom taking in 2000 calories a day. I have no problems keeping up on the workout and never feel like I am going to bonk. The only issue is I am very tired by 8:00 pm….but that may be because I get up at 4:00 am.
Hi Smurf and Rob!
I’ve been reading the responses but I wanted to get a more personalized idea of what I should be doing. I’m about 5’2″, 22 years and weigh about 138. I’m very fit in terms of endurance but I’ve gained some weight over the past 2 years. I’ve completed Insanity before but didn’t follow any diet so that’s probably why I did not see any weight loss. I also used to do track and volleyball, so activity is not a problem for me.
I’m pretty sure it’s all nutrition for me, because I tend to crave/eat lots of sugary and salty snacks which negates my workouts. I just wanted to how many calories I should consume a day, if you could also provide a particular ratio of proteins-carbs-fat. I’m also torn between doing P90X Lean or Classic or Turbo Jam, since my primary goal is to lose weight first. I plan on sticking to a custom diet because I don’t like following particular recipes due to preference and allergies. So I would just like an idea of a calorie range with a ratio of the carbs-protein-fat if possible =) Thanks!!!
Krissy,
It is all about the food for you. You NEED to fight the sweets, that is, if you want to lose the weight. Also, you need to keep a record of everythign you eat. I feel like a broken record lately, but, unless you control what you eat, then you won’t lose the weight. (Unless you are working out 8 hours a day burning 2500+ calories on top of your metabolic burn. probably not going to happen) SO. You need to understand what you are eating and when you are eating it. If you are hungry, then you may need to spread out your meals and add some snacks in between. But to do this, you need to know what your intake range should be (for you probably between 1400 and 1500 calories), and then you need to know how you want to spread it out. (When are you normally hungry) If you can control the times you are hungry, then you can control the cravings you have for sweets and such.
As for your workout, both P90X lean and Turbo Jam will do it for you. Especially if you are attacking the workouts.
Working out will help you lose weight, and you will get more fit. But you can easily build muscle under fat. If the result you want is weightloss, then you NEED fuel your body with good food, mantian your calorie count, and throw in a good workout program. When you are at weight it becomes a lot easier. You can eat more (because you are not trying to lose weight) and you can focus on the tough spots. We all have them.
-Rob
Hi, Smurf.
I have a couple of questions. I just started round two of P90X this week. During the first 90 days, I gained about five pounds but my muscle mass did not increase and my measurements did not change (at least not for the better). I do have to admit my arms are more defined but that’s the best change I can see so far.
I need your advice to help me lose those five pounds and keep getting better! I am 35 years old, 5’5″ and 129 lbs. My goal is to stay around 125 lbs and tone up.
Since I am a major cardio girl, I actually do more than just P90X. I run about 3-5 miles each week day in addition to the P90X workouts (3 miles on ab days, 5 on the others). Also, I substitute running for yoga because it’s just not my thing. I monitor my calories very closely and stay around 1400.
Am I doing too much and/or eating too little? I have to admit I’m nervous about doing either for fear of gaining more.
Also, my abs don’t seem to be getting any more defined. Should I be doing something different on that front too?
I greatly appreciate any help and advice!!
Janel- You are another perfect case of the P90X eating plan being FAR too many calories! At 5″ 1′ and 48 y/o female, you would blow up like a house on 2000 calories. Before factoring in your workouts, you are only burning about 1645 calories in your daily life. The workouts probably bring you into the 1900-2000 calories burned range, so you can see that with even the slightest underestimation of how many calories you are taking in, you would gain. 1400 calories per day is a fine place for you to be at, and seems to be where your body feels most comfortable. That being said, if you are feeling stuffed even at 1400 calories and having issues with getting fatigued, I’d advise you to add some healthy carbs and cut some of that protein, so long as you are still getting about .9 gram per pound (for you, about 109g/day) of protein.
The larger issue for you is this situation with not having the appropriate weights to do the program. It is not an efficient use of time, nor are you getting any of the benefits of the program. Worse, you are not giving your body the opportunity to recover appropriately. We got all our weights at Sports Authority– it is less than $10 a pair to get yourself some #15 and #20 dumbells. You made the investment in buying the DVDs, the extra twenty bucks or so to get appropriate weights will mean not only do you get to actually see the benefits of the program, but you get that hour of your life back and recover appropriately.
Best of luck!
Hi Smurf,
I really appreciate your blog. I have a couple questions regarding the P90x series and calorie intake. I obviously know how important counting calories is. I am a female, 24, almost 5’2 (actually 5’1 3/4) . For the last year I have maintained my weight between 114-116 lbs. It does not fluctuate more than 2 pounds on good/bad days. I tried Weight Watchers about a year and a half ago and went from 120 to 110, but I stopped counting calories and just continues to eat healthy for the most part, and that’s why I’ve been at the 114-116 for the last year or so. I know this is a generally healthy weight, but I am getting married in November! There is just about 3 months left, (3 months tomorrow!) and I would like to lose that last little bit and tone up my overall body. I would really only like to lose between 5-10 lbs. I would love to be at 105. With all this being said, how many calories do you recommend in order to obtain this goal? I have done a little research and 1200 was recommended. I want to start the P90x series (tomorrow, hopefully!), I was thinking about starting the Lean Program? I am very active and try and go to the gym about 2-3 times a week. I’m big on cardio and kickboxing! Would you recommend the Lean Program or the Classic? I do not have much to lose, but I would like to lose those last 5-10 lbs and completely tone up for our honeymoon! Biggest problem area is probably my arms. However, I know you cannot fully target one area (it’s the overall body fat that needs to decrease).
Please let me know any advice, I am very determined, especially for my wedding, and I would like to whip myself into the last little bit I need to reach my goal weight!
Thanks! =)
Hi Smurf and Rob!
I really appreciate your responses and help that you are providing everyone. I am hoping that you can help me.
I am 25 years old, 5’5″, 145 lbs. I am looking to get to a toned 133 lbs. (127 would be ideal). I just purchased everything for P90X due to all of the great success stories that I have heard.
Before I start the program, what number of calories do you recommend taking in? Also.. do you think P90X is even the place for me to start? I have done Weight Watchers in the past, and I am a pretty active person. I bought P90X because I wanted to push myself and I never knew what types of workouts to do in the gym. (I love to run, hate to lift- another reason why I wanted to start P90X). I’m wondering if I should even waste my time starting P90X.. or if I should start after I’ve shed some more weight?
Thanks so much for your advice!
Rachel