Hello all, first post here, although I have been lurking for weeks.

I will be starting the P90X program this coming Monday, Aug 23rd.

I've completely changed my eating habits in the last week or so, and by completely changed, I mean that almost, if not all "Bad Foods" are no longer in my cabinets/fridge and have been replaced with "healthy foods".

Now even though I have all this goodness in my home, I am having some trouble understanding the portions part. I had originally decided Meal Plan, but with my schedule, it's just not going to work for me right now. So instead, I eat several times a day, and never feel hungry while at the same time never eating to the extent of wanting to lay down and go to sleep;)

So anyways, the questions is, as long as I get in the portions, am I still on track? I'm assuming from what I read in the Nutrition plan that I am.

I am a Nutrition Level II @ 2400 Calories a day starting Monday.
(I haven't shot for the 2400 yet as I haven't started the workouts)

I seen another reply here on the forums by Masterlee and I will be doing almost identically what he is:

7am protein shake
10am fruit,oatmeal w/flax seeds
1pm protein shake banana/apple
4pm protein shake any fruit
7pm chicken,turkey,tuna witha alot of veggies
10pm protein shake

Thanks for any insight!

/D

If I understand you question correctly:

Think of the portion plan like a to do list. I carry a sheet with me that has all of the boxes that I have to check off for the day. I try to eat five or six meals a day every two or three hours. If in the morning, I eat 6 egg whites, 2 pieces of turkey bacon and an apple, then I would check off two protein and one fruit on my "to do list." A couple of hours later, I might grab a protein bar and check off one of my snacks. I continue that until all of the boxes are checked off at my last meal of the day.

The secret is understanding what constitutes a portion. Study your nutrition guide and after a short time, it will become easy.

Does that help?

I found it helpful to enter my food every day into a calorie counter like fitday.com. It showed me what percentage of food I was eating was fat, carbs, and protein.

I don't know if you are doing the fat-shredder diet first. I moved straight to "Energy Booster" Phase 2 diet. Somebody found somewhere in the manual where it states the percentage of each of the three sources that calories should come from.

For the enegery booster phase, it is 20% fat, 40% carbs, and 40% protein. After tracking my foods for a few weeks, I don't even pay attention to the portions and such. You kind of just get the hang of it.

So try tracking everything you eat for a a few days and focus on the percentages. (I think for fat shredder it is 20% fat, 30% carbs, 50% protein).

Clamb - You hit it right on the head. I'm going to take your advice and make some "Checklist" sheets, and keeping the guide with me for those times when I am unsure until I get used to this.

Mattperkins26 - Nice site there. I am going to start using that also, so I can see monitor percentages, as well as make sure I am getting in the correct amounts.

As far as the Fat Shredder Diet first, yes. I am currently 6'0", 187lbs, 21% Body Fat. I have a beer drinker gut (not from drinking, just from being lazy), and chubby cheeks

I'm thinking I should be somewhere around 180lbs., so it's not that much to lose, and of course I want back the trimmed body that I had years ago.

Daimyo, I had a similair build when I started P90x. I read on the beachbody site that some people have trouble going longer than a couple of weeks on the Fat Shredder before bonking and no one should do it longer than 6 weeks. I went for a little over four weeks. It works, but it's not a satisfying diet. After two or three weeks you will be sick of it.

Once you get to the Phase II one, it's easy. Good luck!

Clamb - I"m pretty sure that I can make the 4 weeks. I'm happy with the foods that I am now eating, and I actually have made the needed "eating habit" changes.

I'll tell you this though, My Level II nutrition level being at 2400 calories...

I used the Fitday.com site and input all the foods that I had yesterday...

I just hit 1000 calories...

2400 is going to be a big chunk to get in, but I'm pretty sure i can do it.

Let me ask this, is it a bad thing to not get in the total amount of calories?