The P90X Nutrition Guide
I want to revisit the whole topic of the nutrition guide and P90X / Insanity in a single post, because I often get the same questions over and over (which I’ve answered over and over), but people don’t know where to go on the site to get the answers so they just keep asking. So here is a complete (yet brief) overview of what you need to know about FOOD!
First, I assume you all READ your nutrition guide! I’m not here to tell you what’s spelled out for you in the guide. That’s what you bought the guide for. But I’m happy to help you fine tune things and get a lot more out of your nutrition. What things can you learn from your nutrition guide that you shouldn’t have to ask me:
1) The % of calories that should come from the 3 food categories for the different phases of the diet.
2) How many calories the guide suggests you should take in for your body size.
3) What are some good foods to make up the majority of your diet during P90X and Insanity (they are all listed by category in the guide).
4) How many grams of each category of food you should take in each day based on the % of each category you are shooting for. (okay, I’ll give you a pass on this one and do a demo assuming fat shredder and 2,000 calories, but you can do the math yourself after this!):
2,000 cals x 50% protein = 1,000 cals protein. Protein is 4cal per g, so 1,000 cals is 250 g protein
2,000 cals x 30% carbs = 600 cals carbs. Carbs are 4cal per g, so 600 cals is 150 g carbs
2,000 cals x 20% fat = 400 cals fat. Fats are 9cals per g, so 400 cals is 45 g fat
Now, once you get through those basics, let me help you MAXIMIZE the nutrition guide!
First, understand that once you figure out what the nutrition guide suggests for your daily calorie total, you need to ADJUST that depending on your goals. If you want to remain about the same weight, and slowly convert body fat to muscle, the suggested calorie total from the guide is what you’ll want. However, if you want to lose body fat quickly, you MUST run a calorie deficit.
For example, even though the guide suggested 3,000 calories for me, I decided on a 1,000 calorie deficit to melt body fat quickly (thus, my 1,900 calorie diet). A 1,000 calorie deficit may be too much for you to handle. That’s okay. Try a 500 calorie deficit then. But the bigger the deficit, the faster the weight loss. However, you also need to remember to fuel your body enough to maintain your muscle mass. If you “crash diet” (less than 1,200 cals for a man or 800 calories for a woman) you WILL lose muscle — that’s not good! So be smart!
And if you want to gain mass, you’ll need to eat more calories than the guide suggests. When I was trying to add muscle mass, I ate 3,600 calories per day (a 600 calorie surplus). Studies show that when gaining lean muscle mass, you want to gain about 1 lb per week of body weight (more than that will just be fat), and to add 1 lb per week, you need a 3,600 calorie surplus for that week (thus about 500-600 per day). (The math behind that figure is that 1 lb of body weight = 3,600 calories, so if you are at +600 calories per day, you’ll gain 1 lb per week, and if you are at -600 calories, you’ll lose 1 lb per week).
Second, you need to know that you can stay in certain phases as long as you want to help you meet your specific goals. If you have a ton of body fat to lose, then stay in fat shredder mode as long as necessary to get to your ideal body weight. Then you can transition into the phase 2 percentages for a more slow and deliberate “fine tuning” of your physique at the weight you are at. And if you are a “hard-gainer”, don’t start in fat shredder mode! Start in the Phase 3 plan to maximize your energy levels and run a calorie surplus to help you gain mass. Phase 2 nutrition (40/40/20) is a great maintenance level that many people, including myself, stay on for a long long time.
Third, you don’t have to follow the meal plan or portion plan that the guide lays out for you!!! I didn’t!!! Why? Most of the stuff in the meal plan takes a lot of preparation, and you may or may not even like the food choices. So the meal plan approach may not be practical. And the portion plan is VERY inaccurate. For instance, on the “portion plan”, if you make a shake with protein powder, a banana, milk, and peanut butter, does that count as a shake, a protein, a fruit, a dairy, a fat, or all 5?? See, it’s just not accurate. The only way the portion plan can work is if you never eat any foods that are combinations of proteins, carbs, and fats, but most of what we eat is a combination.
So, what then shall we do to decide how much of the different categories to eat?? TRACK IT!! If you want to take the nutrition aspect of this program seriously, you simply MUST put in the effort to track what you eat. Every calorie. Every gram of protein. Every gram of carb. And every gram of fat. Use a program like My Fitness Pal. It takes some effort to get your favorite foods put into the database, but after a couple weeks it becomes a matter of simply clicking on what you ate and it will give you a complete, accurate, breakdown of exactly what % of each category you have eaten on any given day. Hitting your targets for % (or at least getting very close) is the key to maximizing your results. If you don’t want to put in the time or effort, that’s up to you, but don’t expect to see the same level of results. Nutrition is 80% of the results. Learn more about nutrition tracking here.
Fourth, eat often! The goal is to keep the metabolism humming, and if you let yourself run empty on fuel, your metabolism will slow down. You don’t have to eat tons of calories to keep the metabolism high. You are actually better off eating multiple small meals / snacks (about every 2.5 – 3 hours) all day long. Keep the fuel source coming in the form of foods that provide sustained energy (proteins, low-glycemic index carbs like whole wheat, veggies, fruit). And avoid foods that spike your blood sugar quickly and leave you crashed (sugars, white flour, high glycemic index foods).
Fifth, have a plan! Don’t leave the house for the day without taking healthy snacks or planning your meals. You’ll end up getting hungry, grabbing fast food, and ruining your nutrition for the day. I always take healthy snacks with me everywhere I go. These include Cheerios, Kashi ceral, Protein bars (either P90X bars or Pure protein bars, light string cheese, almonds, jerky, yogurt, apples, carrots, etc. There is never an excuse to eat a bunch of junk fast food because you didn’t think ahead. No excuses! I wrote about healthy snack choices
Sixth, don’t cheat! You’ll hear people say that you can get away with cheat days or cheat meals, but my response is simply to compare their results to those of us I know who never cheated. I guarantee the non-cheaters have the best results …. period! I wrote about cheat meals .
Seventh, stick to it 100%! The nutrition is every bit as important (in my opinion, MORE important) as the workouts. Why bust your tail working out if you are going to just cut out the obvious junk food and hope for the best. The nutrition takes more effort than that. It takes some studying at first to get a handle on how to measure serving sizes, how to use measuring cups, how to read nutritional labels, and how to plan your diet for the day. But it’s SO WORTH IT when it pays off!
I hope this helps you guys get an overall picture of what it takes to get extreme results! It takes extreme attention to detail! And you can do it!
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117 Responses to “The P90X Nutrition Guide”
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Hey Coach, So im in my recovery week and for my first 30 days and have started the fat shredder diet first before reading this page. I am 146lbs and 5.5% – 8.5% body fat, 23 yrs old and 5.9 male. I’m trying to get bigger and the only realy fat on my body i can see is the lower part of my abdominals. What kind of intake should i be taking to get my abs to show and build muscle? The nutrition guide is really confusing for extremely skinny guys?
Hey Miles, you first need to get your body fat where you want it, then shift for muscle building. Check out my articles “dialing it in” and “body fat vs. bulk” for more details. Both are in the nutrition all in one section = http://teamripped.com/my-nutritionsupplements/nutrition-all-in-one
I will be starting P90X next week. Although it will be expensive, Is it okay for me to have 3 Shakeology shakes a day (one for breakfeast, one for lunch, and one with blended fruit for dinner), and a P90X recovery shake after my daily workout for the entire 3 month P90X journey? So I pretty much will not be eating ANY solid food and just drinking shakes for 3 months. I just want to be sure its okay and safe. I was also thinking of taking the P90X supplementary pills pack every morning with my breakfast shake.
Adhem
Hey Adh, yes it’s safe to use Shakeology multiple times per day. However, I also think its wise to get un the habit of eating clean healthy foods as well, so if I were you I wouldn’t go 3 straight months with no solid food.
Hey coach, I started tennis practice on Monday and I’m still doing my P90X2 workouts with the only exception of no longer doing plyocide (I need to keep my legs fresh). I will go back and repeate the program after the season but as for right now I was wondering how many calories I should be consuming daily. I’m 5’8″ and weigh about 140 and have 5.5-7.5% body fat.
Hey Anthony, with a low body fat like that, you should be on a maintenance diet. Look at my “dialing it in” article in the nutrition all in one section for details on what range your maintenance diet should be = http://teamripped.com/my-nutritionsupplements/nutrition-all-in-one
I know you get a lot of questions on nutrition but I have to ask this one because I can not seem to find the answer. I am 6-5, now 245lbs. I’ve been eating 1900 calories. In your post you state the more of a calorie defict you are the fast your lose weight. Would it be a problem with a guy my size to go to 1500 or 1600 calories and get the same results. I dont have a problem with energy.
Hey Mike, with your size, 1800-1900 is as low as you should go, because if your deficit is too extreme you run into problems with your metabolism slowing and the risk of losing muscle mass. If you stick with 1800-1900, you’ll shed body fat really fast already. I lost 43 lbs in 90 days myself.
Thanks, I will keep everything the same at 1900.
I’ve found this other calorie tracking site at http://www.livestrong.com called my plate. I find it a lot more convenient than fitday. They also have an app for it.
Just another option out there.
Yes Bonnie, that’s a good one. Although my new favorite is MyFitnessPal (I’ve got a whole article about it coming Monday).
Coach, I am currently doing the fat shredder %’s. I am having issues with sticking to the low amount of carbs and not getting nearly enough protein. What are your go to foods that are mainly protein with out the carbs? I am generally always under my caloric content, but man, 30% carbs is hard to do for me. Thanks for any advice!
Hey Devin, look at my sample diets in the “nutrition tips/sample diets” section, as well as my “fat shredder foods” article in that same section. It just takes PLANNING!!
Hey, Coach Wayne. I’ve been trying to get a hold of this nutrition thing for a while. It’s part of the reason why I failed to complete P90X a few times (discouragement). Now I’m doing X2, and hitting it hard. I’m getting my nutrition on track and am on my way.
I’m 6’1″, 162 lbs (few months ago I was 154, so I’m making progress), with around 10% BF. I’m trying to somewhat keep my tone, but work on gaining mass. I’m going on more of a protein focused diet than anything, but my question to you is that I’m hearing conflicting ideas on carbs.
Should I be going more protein focused (I was aiming for the 45-50% mark), or should I be taking in more carbs (I’ve heard 50% carbs, 30% protein, and 20% fat is good at 3500+ cal.) to gain muscle weight and mass more quickly?
Hey Krys, a bulking diet (phase 3) is 60% carbs. A fat shredder diet is 50% protein. So if you re happy with 10% bf and ready to build mass go with the phase 3 bulking diet. If you want the bf lower, then do the fat shredder first to melt the fat and then work on muscle building.
hey coach! if im taking in about 50% protein, 40% carbs and 10% fat will i still be able to melt the fat away because im taking in less fat?
That’s fine Lionel. I usually get about 15% fat. They key on fat is to stay UNDER 20%. But don’t go any lower than 10% because your body needs some healthy fats to function well. So you are at the lower limit for fats, but that’s fine.