Phase I- Making sure your Portion Plan is accurate.

[oceanid]

Hi, I would like to discuss the Phase I Fat Shredder Nutrition Guide/Portion Plan and help others avoid the mistakes that I have made for the first 2 weeks of my program. :o

I am new here and briefly corresponded with Monica. She gave me a great bit of advice about her most successful round of P90x occuring when she was keeping all her nutrients totally on track. This got me to thinking about what exactly I was eating in my own portion plan. While I had been eating clean and not deviating off the portion list there was a problem.

In Phase I Fat Shredder the nutrient ratio given forth is 50% protein, 30% carbs and 20% fat. Even with choosing accurately from the portions list my ratios were not coming out close to that. The carbs and protein were almost always equal or close to. Maybe not everyone's will come out like mine did but for the foods I am regularly eating there was a large discrepancy so I'm just sayin...you might want to check yours.

I would caution anyone who cares about this to make sure you are entering your foods into a program such as Livestrong's Daily Plate (what I use for their massive verified nutritional content food lists) or Fitday. Double check to be sure your ratios are coming out to as close to 50/30/20 as possible.

For me, the easiest way to do this was to plug in the foods that I know I have to have first.

Recovery Drink
Protein
Dairy
Fruit
Vegetable
Fats
Carbs

So, for an example, I put in:

Recovery Drink
3oz chicken breast
8 oz Lt. Vanilla Soy Milk
140g mixed berries
4 oz bell peppers
3 oz avocado
200 cal whole wheat flour tortilla


After I have those in there I see where my ratio is (there is a pie chart that tells you) and then I just start plugging in the rest by trial and error until I reach my calorie goal of 1800 and it matches the proper ratio. Mostly, I find that I'm adding in a lot more protein which would make sense considering the deficiency I was getting before. I'm still getting all the categories of foods it calls for but it is highly more accurate.

So, anyway, I hope that helps someone out. :)

[Visionary]

I use LiveStrong's Daily Plate myself! Great points and great advice!

Tim

[Dave]

Very good point. Since we don't all eat the same foods, the macronutrient values are not the same. For example, the plan calls for a serving of "vegetables". Some veggies are higher in carbs than others and that can cause your macronutrient values to be thrown off a bit. I'm a big believer that what you eat is far more important than how much and if you get close to the ratios you'll do just fine. However, using Fit Day, Spark People or LiveStrong's Daily Plate will confirm where you are at.

Dave

[oceanid]

Thanks guys, but yes, I would definitely like to give kudos to Monica for even making me think about it in the first place. I feel 100% on track now with my food plan and will continue doing it this way throughout the program.

Like you were saying Dave, the veggies can vary greatly in carbs but also watch your fruits (ie: bananas) and dairy. I've found that berries seem to be relatively low carb and I love them so that is a bonus! Also, the light vanilla soy milk that I drink with my protein has only 5 carbs as opposed to regular skim which has 11 (I believe) --but the soy milk has 6 grams of protein as opposed to 8 with skim milk. It may seem like I am nickel and diming things here but your choices can make such a great difference when they are all put together as one.

One thing I forgot to say, although I'm sure it has been said before is to weigh your portions so that you do not underestimate or overestimate. Get a good digital food scale like a Salter that measures grams and ounces. It takes a bit of extra effort but it is worth it. I weigh and measure everything.

In the end, just make sure no matter what your choices are that they really fit into those ratios because diet is a major part of your program.

[scourtney7]

I love these posts! I am a stickler for nutrition and for planning my ratios to a T. I am having some issues right now with my diet, and I am finding that I am having the opposite problem (which is nice to say) After a year of P90X and Insanity, my metabolism has finally caught up and actually now exceeds my caloric input so I am having to find ways to get more calories in my body. I am currently doing a hybrid plan b/n the two programs and I really want to eat right for the final 2 months of it. I have been asking some of the nutrition gods that I know what they would recommend but I would love to hear feedback from some of you on here. The hybrid plan combines the strength training and weight lifting exercises of P90X with the high intensity cardio work from Insanity. Just not sure what plan to eat from (P90X or Insanity) and what ratios would be best to aim for.


shannon

[oceanid]

I love these posts! I am a stickler for nutrition and for planning my ratios to a T. I am having some issues right now with my diet, and I am finding that I am having the opposite problem (which is nice to say) After a year of P90X and Insanity, my metabolism has finally caught up and actually now exceeds my caloric input so I am having to find ways to get more calories in my body. I am currently doing a hybrid plan b/n the two programs and I really want to eat right for the final 2 months of it. I have been asking some of the nutrition gods that I know what they would recommend but I would love to hear feedback from some of you on here. The hybrid plan combines the strength training and weight lifting exercises of P90X with the high intensity cardio work from Insanity. Just not sure what plan to eat from (P90X or Insanity) and what ratios would be best to aim for.


shannon


Hi Shannon, How nice it is that you are at a point where you can actually eat MORE calories! (Can you tell I love food? lol!) I sooooo wish I had that problem!:D

I am by no means an expert but I'll bite and throw in my 2 cents worth.

One time I was working on resetting my metabolism after years of what I like to call "dieting abuse". The program I did called for waaay more calories than I was used to eating. At first I struggled with it but then found the best way for me to eat that amount of calories without being totally stuffed out all day was to eat calorie dense yet healthy foods. Think nuts, avocados, steel cut oats, brown rice, whole wheat bagels, pastas, tortillas and protein drinks...

As far as an eating plan, off the top of my head, I would say stick with 50P/30C/20F or 40P/40C/20F if you feel like you need more carbs. See how your performance is on that ratio. Every body is different and you have to make those adjustments according to your personal goals, personal results and your personal performance. Make sure you keep taking your recovery drink as usual.

I hope this was helpful and you find what works for you.

[FitRunner]

One time I was working on resetting my metabolism after years of what I like to call "dieting abuse".

So glad people escape that vicious cycle! I have a friend who's yo-yo dieted for years. What program was it? Obviously it gave good results, and I'd like to find someone who could help her out if I can.

Teresa

[scourtney7]

Thanks y'all! I am going to hunker down and get my diet just right over the next 30 days. Back to square one.....Thanks alot DEB ROY

[oceanid]

What program was it?

Hi Theresa, it was an online program called Physique Transformation. Just fyi, it is a program you have to pay for and I am not certain that they are back online but she could check into it. There are probably other resources by now that are online and free if she just searches around. My results were pretty good but not as good as I would've liked lol! At that time there were a few technical glitches in the program that set me back and they also ended up closing shop; I think it was for financial reasons but I can't remember. Maybe by now if they're back online they have the kinks ironed out.

[Janna414]

Thanks for your post oceanid! I just started a second round of p90x and am incorporating the food plan this time. I am a Level 1 (1800 cal/day) and following the portion approach. I signed up for FitDay because of what you said and realized that I too was hitting more of a 40/40/20 with my ratios. For some reason my carbs were always coming in pretty equal with my proteins....even after I'd eaten the proper amount of "blocks" for each. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, instead I was just selecting foods from the shopping list that I had onhand.

I've actually switched over to Daily Plate today because of the plethora of data it has...it seems a lot easier to use than Fit Day and has some cool tools also.

My problems is, even after two days of trying to hit the 50/30/20 ratio, I am really struggling. For example, yesterday I hit 43 P/33 C/24 F....and that was without eating ANY of the carbs listed on the shopping list (instead getting them from my fruit/vegetable servings). Maybe I'm just thinking about this too much or being too anal....but I'd hate to jeapordize my results because of something like this.

Any suggestions on how to bring my carb percentage down without straying from the proper portions? Or I guess any low-carb vegetables/fruits you would suggest?

Again, thanks for the eye-opener!

[oceanid]

I'm so glad I was able to help you by pointing that out. We are all just working way too hard to be making those kinds of mistakes. Granted the portion plan will probably help a great many people just as it is due to the change in healthy eating but I already ate very healthy so it wasn't a big change for me. I want to get the best possible results so that means really making sure I'm hitting those ratios.
I am not hung up on the foods list. When I say that, I mean that just because it says to have a certain number of servings of something I don't do it. I do what fits into the correct ratio. I've found it helpful to plan out what I am going to eat in advance, play around with the foods and serving sizes until I hit the ratio as close as possible.
A typical day for me includes 50% protein which means that I everyday I eat liquid egg whites, cottage cheese, chicken breast, protein powder and regular egg whites. Usually this means that in addition to the food I eat, I drink about 2-4 protein drinks per day or I have a couple of protein drinks and a couple of protein pancakes with egg white added....whatever fits into the ratio for that day. The 50% protein comes out to about 190g of protein for me.
I also have my carbs in the form of berries, my recovery drink (Biotest Surge-I use 1/2 a serving), usually peppers or lettuce as a vegetable, the carbs that are present in my protein bar (sometimes I only eat 1/2), the few carbs that are in my protein drink and my complex carb which is usually a low carb tortilla, whole wheat pasta or slow cooking whole grain brown rice. Your carb count will go up if you are using certain items ie: cottage cheese and watch out for regular milk. I don't use it, I use lt. vanilla soy milk.
For fats I have been eating avocado on most days and olive oil on others. I will be adding nuts in as soon as I buy them. Foods that I eat that already have fat in them will naturally be added into the fat count ratio. I have found even with this being the case I can usually have 3 oz of avocado.

So, to sum it up, since many of the foods we eat have more than one of the nutrient catagories in their makeup, by adding them into the food tracker I just forget about the "portion" approach altogether and work the servings around to fit the ratio.

I've also been doing some reading on how many calories to take in to tweak my own plan even further. I've found my maintenance number and am deducting approximately 500 calories from that. I am not going to go by the "everyone" should eat 1800 calories approach anymore. I will be lowering my intake a bit further on days I don't workout. They even say in the book that this isn't a diet and that number may need adjusting. If you decide to do this just watch for drops in your energy level and add food if needed.

Congrats on getting through your first run! I hope you achieve your goals.

[Janna414]

Thanks so much for your response! I will definitely start taking the approach of focusing on the ratio instead of the portions. I think I'm partially in the same boat as you because I was eating pretty healthy going into this, so the biggest change so far has been adjusting my ratios....and cutting out some excess carbs for this phase. I'm starting to get into more of a routine with my eating and I find that planning ahead is much better for me. Daily Plate helps because I can just plug in foods I'm planning on eating and see how my ratios will turn out....then adjust as necessary.

Yesterday was the first day I hit the proper ratio of 50/30/20...yay! So I think having that one good day under my belt will help going forward.

I'm going to stick with the 1800 cal/day until I finish my first phase and see how the results are. If I'm struggling to see them (like you mentioned) I'll probably be (1) emailing you again! and (2) adjusting my calories a bit.

Thanks so much for your help - good luck on your journey. I look forward to hearing how your adjustments are helping!

[shaycorl]

Great help that will really help lots of new starter like me Just a question though regarding your Vegetable plan i really don't eat lot's of vege in my lunch and dinner it's mostly some meat stuff so is it really necessary to go with some?

[Janna414]

I don't think I would ever tell anyone NOT to eat vegetables....they are a good source of nutrients and carbs. In fact I usually end up getting my carbs from vegetables and fruits instead of rice or bread. This is especially easy to do in Phase 1 because the carbs are so limited. It seems if I have a protein shake with strawberries in the a.m., and then spinach salad w/ chicken for lunch...my carb ratio is getting close to being met.

It's up to you how you want to get your carbs, but I would recommend eating SOME veggies somewhere in there! :) Good luck!

Catherine - how is your adjusted calorie count treating you? Are you continuing on Phase 1 for one more week or have you decided to move on to Phase 2?

[chrisdjones]

Great thread. Throughout phase 1 I had a hard time keeping to the 50/30/20 ratio (I was using the portion plan). I mostly ended up 40/40/20.

I just started phase 2 and I'm loosening up and winging it a little more. I've done it long enough now that I can hit pretty close. I tend to eat a lot of the same foods over and over so it makes it easier. Very good point about entering the stuff you eat every day first and then adding foods as needed.

[nin052691]

Hey what's up I am 5'7 and 147 lbs. I don't know what my body fat percentage is but I was thinking about starting the p90x program soon.i took a look at your website plugged in the numbers into your excel
spreadsheet and it said I should only consume 2,364 calories a daywhich is level 1 in the guide. I believe that this is way too lowconsidering that i want to maintain weight through out the program but
still get ripped. This means that on average I will burn 600 calories aday while eating 2,364 calories a day which means I'll be running forthe rest of the day on 1,764 calories. Can I get any help with this ? I
really appreciate it thanks.

[Sterling]

Hey what's up I am 5'7 and 147 lbs. I don't know what my body fat percentage is but I was thinking about starting the p90x program soon.i took a look at your website plugged in the numbers into your excel
spreadsheet and it said I should only consume 2,364 calories a daywhich is level 1 in the guide. I believe that this is way too lowconsidering that i want to maintain weight through out the program but
still get ripped. This means that on average I will burn 600 calories aday while eating 2,364 calories a day which means I'll be running forthe rest of the day on 1,764 calories. Can I get any help with this ? I
really appreciate it thanks.

2200 cal/day would maintain your weight and allow you to get ripped. You might even gain some weight at that calorie intake. I'd try 2200 for 2 weeks and see where you stand. If you gain weight, you're in a calorie surplus and I'd back off the calories a bit.

[nin052691]

Really? I Would've thought that 2,364 a day would put me at a deficit considering the burn from each program. Thanks for the answer sterling appreciate it.

[scourtney7]

Sterling knows his stuff. That is what I have found. I don't think you can go wrong listening to him.

[nin052691]

Thanks for the replies guys. definetly appreciate both your answers and comfirmations :)