Alright, so I am talking to my friend about P90X. I am one of those people who dives in head first, and does the program exactly as in the book, no questions asked.

As I am explaining to her about how "great" it is, I am showing her the nutrition program. She exclaims, that is WAY too many calories! She says that you calculate your BMR or whatever, and weight goals, and then exercise fro the day and your deficite calories burned is how many your burn per say, added up over time is weight loss.

Now I know all of this information, and I know that is the classic approach to weight loss, and that this program is differant becuase it's no weight loss, it's muscle building and fat loss. I understand that, a little.

But it got me thinking, am I supposed to eat 2400 calories a day. I currently DONT, I track my foods and try to keep the 50/30/20 ratio of protein, carbs and fats.

Once I have my daily foods planned out, at the apprpriate ratio, since the foods are and must be low carb and fat, they are naturally LOW calorie and today, for example I am struggling to eat even 1,400 calories.

So, here is an example of today's foods:

2 Morning star veggie sausages
1 turkey dog (jennie O)

1 apple
1 yoplait light yogurt

2 chicken breasts
2 servings green beans

2 servings hickory ham
1 cup skim milk with whey protein

2 servings orange roughy
1 serving green beans
1 serving minute brown rice

Totals:

1,415 calories
176 g protein (51.47%)
115g carbs (33.5%)
23 g fat (15.02%)

These are calculated as close as possible, with a little devation.

I need a nutrition expert, or someone who knows the asnwer to this to help me. My question is, how do I defend the calorie amounts, what is the explanaiton?

Next question, how is this food intake looking, and how many calories AM I supposed to be aiming for?

Thank you so much! I am sure there are plenty of people wondering the same thing!

I haven't been following the calorie recommendation either. I find it very hard to get such high caloric intake with the foods I'm eating.

I've also kept the ratios at 50/30/20, but haven't really put much consideration into calories. I seem to be fine without the excess calories, I have enough energy for my workouts too.

Using using this I have lost half an inch of my waist in 8 days, but I have doubled up (two workouts) on a lot of days cause I felt like I could do even more.

first, to find how many calories you SHOULD be aiming for...not sure if you've done something similar already. but here,

first, calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate) by going here:
www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

then use this, based on your activity level: (i use 1.55, moderately active, which is probably on the lower end if doing P90X)
www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

that will give you how much you need to eat to maintain your weight.

as for how do you defend the amount of calories? well, if what you're eating is what you're supposed to aim for, thats just how much you're supposed to eat in one day!

but if you want something more "scientific"....here goes. if you dont eat enough to match your activity level, your body may go into a so-called "starvation mode". in this mode, your body is resistant to burning fat, and will instead burn muscle tissue, simply because muscle on your body takes more (calories) to maintain. and if your body isnt getting enough calories to fuel itself for this kind of activity, well, then it will tap into the muscle first.

Ok, so quick question. when I get my number for the amount I should eat every day, and then subtract a deficit for the workouts that I do- I have what Ishould eat every day.

BUT, lets say I keep track of my food intake on the daily plate, and I have all thes numbers figured out- do I still track exercise in these numbers, or is this included in the harris benedict equation already?

Meaning, if I am supposed to consume 1891.31 calories per day, but then I work out- are these calories supposed to be net, or flat out I just eat that much per day and still work out as usual?

Thanks!

i believe exercise is already factored in (due to harris benedict). so any deficit would be from calorie intake, or lack of.

i'm not 100% sure. so if someone would like to back up or correct me, please do so!

Dude thank you for this. The p90X nutrition guide was incredibly generic in determining my BMR. I looked online and at age 18 and 143, the online calculation was much higher than P90X's. I have been doing the first level, which left me hungry all the time. But with the online calculation, I should be in level II.