I'm 5"6 and weigh 220 pounds but I'm built bulky (muscle underneath the fat). How much calories should I be taking in daily? I'm in my 3rd week and the only thing I'm paying attention to is having a higher protein intake than carbs.

I eat 5 times a day:
Egg whites and rice in the morning
Exercise
Protein shake and juice
grilled chicken and vegetables
protein shake
grilled chicken only

I guess this is about 2,500 calories?

I would guess that that diet is well below 2500 calories, I would be surprise if it broke 2000, the rice might bump it up.

Try this site to tract your diet, it is great. www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/users/myplate/

It pretty much has every food by every maker in it's data base and you can enter ones yourself that are not there.

I eat more than that and average about 1500 cal/day, the program says I should be at 2700 for 5'7" 181lb starting weight. I have been fine on 1500cal and have lost a ton of fat in just 30 days. I hope to post pictures soon, 30 days is tomorrow.

Well what I did that really helped me before I even started was to write down everything I ate and the exact amount of calories/carbs/fat/protein in each and every item.

I am a bit off the diet or was in the first couple of phases because I wanted to lose a lot of fat. I am down over 35 lbs now and this is the beginning of phase 3. What I did was more of a 50/40/10 diet.. I cut out almost all of my fat and even a lot of my carbs and substituted what I ate with protein. Lots and lots of chicken and tuna fish.

I probably went to extreme earlier in my diet going down to between 1200-1500 calories a day when I was weighing around 250. It didn't take me long to cut but still should have done it a lot more gradually.


To figure out your caloric intake and what you should be taking. I would first figure out your goals. For me it was to cut down as much fat as possible while firming up. I am an extreme gamer and through the winter I gained a lot of weight with absolutely no physical activity at all. So it really took me 6 weeks to even get used to the program.

It is hard to explain just how out of shape I was and still am. My body is still adjusting to the loose joints and is now tightening back up. I have no idea of your physical build of the condition you're in. I do know that I thought the same thing though. I was just bulky and had a lot of muscle mass underneath. While this is absolutely true, I had way to much outer layer of blubber on me.

Sorry I ramble. So as I said I would sit down find your goals and then decide what they are. For me with cutting down so much fat and building so much muscle almost everything I ate was just protein. Whether it was chicken or cottage cheese and eggs etc. I almost always was just taking in protein and cutting out the fat. Double trimming my chicken breasts etc.

Good luck hope I didn't confuse to much.

Bear

Bear 1200-1500 cals is too low to start with. I used to do bodybuilding. With 1200 minimum there is no way to keep up with the intensity of this program. It's also too low to build or maintain muscle. You will lose alot of muscle as well as fat if you stick to that calorie intake. I do the program everyday and sometimes I do a 2nd set of cardio on nights when I feel energized.

The diet I'm on is good. I don't know how many calories it is but it keeps me energized. If I feel weak on a certain day I eat an extra serving of rice to boost my energy.

I was taking in the carb and protein amount I needed. Reason I stuck to chicken. I worked incredibly hard while my arms grew 2 inches in size in the first 60 days with me cutting down 30 lbs of fat. Along with my supplements it was perfect for me. Thanks for your concern though.

I'm 5'8" and was 230 lbs at the start.

The guide suggests I have 3,000 calories a day ... but I think that is too much.

From dieting in the past, 1800 calories a day has been a good benchmark, so I have stuck to that with a 50% Protein, 20% Fat and 30% Carb ratio.

It's working well so far and i'm getting the realistic results that I'd hoped for from the start.

The average man needs 2,500 calories a day to maintain weight ... but I'm a 5'8" and 230 lb man.

Add in the calories used for each P90x session and you are on about 3,000-3,200 cals a day to maintain weight ... so 1,800 is a good bit under to create a negative calorie deficit.

Your height and weight are not too far off mine so I can personally recommend 1800