Hello,

Here is a quick summery about me before p90x:
You dont have to read this part it just gives you more info about me
I'm a 30 year old male, 158lb and i'm not very active, I'm at my desk most of the day playing Xbox or working on my PC, before p90x I would go to bed around 4am wake up at 2-3pm, I would eat 1 BIG meal a day maybe between 5-7pm and have something before going to bed. I been doing this for years

I just started p90x 3 days ago (Monday) and i have a few questions:

Question # 1

According to the p90x nutritional guide I am a Level 2, daily calories I should have is 2400!! I think that's too much so I'm doing level 1 (1800cal) and i think its still too much, according to the "Calorie Calculator Daily Needs" To maintain my current weight I need 2137 calories per day. Thats less calories than the p90x nutritional guide recommends for my wait. in the FAQs of this forum it says I should take off 500cal from my calculated cal of 2137 for me to lose wait, so my daily cal should be 1637!

Any recommendations on what i should cut out of my diet to drop my calories closer to 1637?

Question # 2

After I did my 1st day of Plyometrics, the next day (today) I was too sore to even walk, getting up hurts a lot, I still did today's work out (Shoulders and Arms)but I couldn't do it very well. Does anyone know how long my soreness will last? I feel that if I keep working out I'll just stay sore and wont give my body time to heal.

What should I do about my soreness!

My last question

My wife is also doing the program and the p90x Nutritional guide doesn't give you a diferent LEVEL if you're a woman or a man, for ex: if I'm a 115lb man or a 115lb woman I would be on level 1 plan, I thought women had to consume less calories than men acording to the "Calorie Calculator Daily Needs" any advice here would be great!

Thanks in advance to any one that helps me!

#1 - I wouldn't get too caught up in the number of calories - it's more important that you eat enough throughout the day that you're not hungry and to make sure you are hitting the correct nutrition ratio (50% protein / 30% carbs / 20% fat) for the first 30 days. So, plan out a menu based on the approved foods in the guide, track what you eat, and make adjustments (more or less food) as you need. Listen to your body and don't focus on always trying to eat a specific number of calories.

#2 - Soreness is an issue for everyone during the first week and the best thing you can do to relieve it is the Yoga X workout on Day 4. It's a difficult workout but I guarantee (and other people can attest) that you will feel a lot less sore and more refreshed the day after doing the routine. Yoga X is about 90 mins - the first 45 is going to be very difficult so do your best with that and make sure you do ALL of the stretching in the second half of the video. It's helps a ton!

#3 - Women needing less calories than men is nonsense. Have your wife enter her information in the calculator and if it says Level I, then that's what she should be going by.

DITTO to EVERYTHING said by confirmed. Do the program as it is laid out. The foods are lined up as they are to help you get lean, recover better, and build muscle/lose fat. This is an extreme program and eating the right fuel and amounts are very important for the result end of it. Good luck. When I started out I also thought the calories were to high, but I stayed put and did it EXACTLY as the book suggested. I am now at my desired weight and loving it. Hugs~Kate

When you use any type of calorie need calculator keep in mind that P90X is an intense workout program. I think those calculators are often assuming that you, like most of America, are fairly sedentary. I burn around 600-800 calories during the workouts which means I'm going to need extra calories to keep my body functioning the way it is supposed to. The calorie intake does seem like a lot, but there is a reason for it. It comes down to this, trust the program, it works.

Confirmed, thanks so much for the info, i did the yoga today and all soreness went away when i was doing it, it came back after but not as bad.

dmacl, you're right i will stick with what it says, i was feeling a little down, my normal weight is 150lb still a little high for me, but after my birthday (12/12/10) and the holidays i gained 8 lb, i can normally lose that buy just eating very little, but i wanted to get fit and healthy so I started p90x and i thought i would lose weight fast since i normally lose wait easily, but it looks like i stay the same so it was a little discouraging.

Kate, Thanks for the motivation!

you guys are great!

Another thing to remember doing P90X is that you may not lose weight in the beginning. My first 30 days I gained a pound. My clothes fit better so I know I was losing fat, but I was putting on muscle so the scale wasn't showing any change. At this point I'm not even getting on the scale. I got some cheap calipers to measure body fat and I use the body fat loss and the way my clothes fit as my motivation. If you use weight as your measure for success, you may be disappointed. Keep up the good work, you've chosen a great program to use to get in the best shape of your life.