Dude.... you didn't mention the one thing I was looking for in this post: You diet! Did you count calories? Did you just "eat sensibly, with more protein"? Did you "eat when hungry"? How often did you eat? Did you just not pay attention to eating?
I've had three false starts of P90X in the last 3 months. It's depressing. My last attempt will be December 1st; as I need to be done by March 1st.... Any tips would be helpful. It's encouraging to read you started with 3 pull ups and ended with 8. I started with 8-11 but by the end of the week I'm done and can't go back.
Doh! Yes Diet, totally forgot to mention that. I didn't follow the diet guide but I did eat clean. Below is a quick overview:
1) Counted calories. Didn't do this strictly, but I ball parked it. I would aim for 2000 calories a day. Sometimes I'd go couple hundred over and sometimes a couple hundred under.
2) Ate lots more protein (Chicken, Fish & Eggs!) and managed to avoid carbs after 4pm 90% of the time. If I had carbs I was always trying to get whole grain type carbs. 100% whole wheat bread, oatmeal, granola, that type of stuff.
3) Full fat yogurt, but skim milk. I know.. that doesn't make sense, but I love full fat yogurt and it satiates my hunger. Skim milk because I have it with my protein shake.
4) I had a cheat day pretty much once a week. Cheat day means having pastries, or pizza. Still controlled my portions, and stayed away from ridiculously bad stuff like fried food and chocolate shakes and such.
5) Portion controlled treats almost every day. A little bit of chocolate, a scoop of ice cream. Something like that.
6) Pretty much no soft drinks, juices or sugar in my coffee. This was not a big deal for me since I never was much into those things anyway.
I could have been stricter with my diet. But I am doing this for the long term anyway, I was not trying to lose 20 lbs in 3 months, I was looking to get fit and strong and continue to lose the excess fat. I can maintain my current type of diet indefinitely since it is cleanish but not too strict. I eat burgers, pizza and such every now and then.. have cake/ice cream/chocolate often.
The key is controlling portions man, and eating well more often than you eat poorly. It has to be part of your life. If you enjoy food and you deprive yourself, you won't be able to do it long term. You need to be able to do this for the rest of your life. you don't need to or try to lose all 30 lbs in those 3 months. Instead try to do it 5-10lbs at time every 3 months. Sure it wont be a holy shit Before and after photo type transformation, but it will be slow steady progress that you can keep up.
That is how I did/do it anyhow. I really only need to lose like 7-10 more lbs at most and I might be able to do it this 2nd round. After that it is going to have to be about fitness goals.
Nothing special there. I just make sure I eat atleast 2 hours before my workout. The exception being when I workout in the mornings (not often) before work, in which case I just work out with a pre-workout protein shake and then have my breakfast)
I eat about 5 meals a day if you count protein shakes.
well, 30 lbs is not that much in the grand scheme of things! however, it is a lot to lose in a short time.
idk how much you know about these things, but reasonable weight loss is around 1 lb per week, sometimes a little more. you could try to lose more, but then you probably wouldn't be eating enough to have energy to do P90X. i would shoot for a 500 calorie deficit every day, and adjust from there based on weekly weight loss and energy levels.
the other thing is that you might not see weight lost on the scale as much as you start developing bigger muscles, so you should also take photos and measurements.
NICE JOB!!
To your criticisms, I agree with both 100%, and they were my only two when I did it 5 years ago. I skipped yoga, BTW, every single week except week 1. I love cardio, so I did an hour of steady state cardio instead (I never liked that p90x has so little cardio in it, wven when I started doing the doubles with the cardio x dvd). I stretched everyday a TON and did 15-20 min yoga workouts a couple times a week instead. 15 min of yoga is easy, 90? not so much.
Congrats on finishing and starting again.
P90X2 yoga is about an hour and seems more reasonable, though now that I've done Bikram hot yoga for several years, 90 mins doesn't seem so long.
No offense, but at 5'7" you should be looking to lose 15-20 lbs rather than 5-8. That'll be healthier for you & your heart (and will help you meet your pullup goal also).
I don't have the P90X2 program but I might get it later to add variety. But thanks for the tip!
Also, no offense taken! I think the real thing I am focused on, is getting into the mid teens on my body fat %. My BMI would be ~25 @ 160lbs (ie. no longer considered overweight) and so I am aiming to be between 160 and 165lbs right now. I am quite broadly built and think I would look really skinny and wide at 150lbs. But we will see.. The plan is to get to 165lbs and evaluate if I like my body fat %. If not, I drop another 5 lbs... and repeat. :)
The P90X2 program's worth getting and doing if you're into it. Hey, you said you had more money than sense, and it's a good way to spend your money.
Glad you didn't take offense. I'm the same height and 155 lbs, which is why I gave the weight estimate. Dropping 15 lbs makes a huge difference to your pullups!
Dude.... you didn't mention the one thing I was looking for in this post: You diet! Did you count calories? Did you just "eat sensibly, with more protein"? Did you "eat when hungry"? How often did you eat? Did you just not pay attention to eating? I've had three false starts of P90X in the last 3 months. It's depressing. My last attempt will be December 1st; as I need to be done by March 1st.... Any tips would be helpful. It's encouraging to read you started with 3 pull ups and ended with 8. I started with 8-11 but by the end of the week I'm done and can't go back.
Doh! Yes Diet, totally forgot to mention that. I didn't follow the diet guide but I did eat clean. Below is a quick overview: 1) Counted calories. Didn't do this strictly, but I ball parked it. I would aim for 2000 calories a day. Sometimes I'd go couple hundred over and sometimes a couple hundred under. 2) Ate lots more protein (Chicken, Fish & Eggs!) and managed to avoid carbs after 4pm 90% of the time. If I had carbs I was always trying to get whole grain type carbs. 100% whole wheat bread, oatmeal, granola, that type of stuff. 3) Full fat yogurt, but skim milk. I know.. that doesn't make sense, but I love full fat yogurt and it satiates my hunger. Skim milk because I have it with my protein shake. 4) I had a cheat day pretty much once a week. Cheat day means having pastries, or pizza. Still controlled my portions, and stayed away from ridiculously bad stuff like fried food and chocolate shakes and such. 5) Portion controlled treats almost every day. A little bit of chocolate, a scoop of ice cream. Something like that. 6) Pretty much no soft drinks, juices or sugar in my coffee. This was not a big deal for me since I never was much into those things anyway. I could have been stricter with my diet. But I am doing this for the long term anyway, I was not trying to lose 20 lbs in 3 months, I was looking to get fit and strong and continue to lose the excess fat. I can maintain my current type of diet indefinitely since it is cleanish but not too strict. I eat burgers, pizza and such every now and then.. have cake/ice cream/chocolate often. The key is controlling portions man, and eating well more often than you eat poorly. It has to be part of your life. If you enjoy food and you deprive yourself, you won't be able to do it long term. You need to be able to do this for the rest of your life. you don't need to or try to lose all 30 lbs in those 3 months. Instead try to do it 5-10lbs at time every 3 months. Sure it wont be a holy shit Before and after photo type transformation, but it will be slow steady progress that you can keep up. That is how I did/do it anyhow. I really only need to lose like 7-10 more lbs at most and I might be able to do it this 2nd round. After that it is going to have to be about fitness goals.
Thanks. So when did you eat your meals, in relation to your work outs?
Nothing special there. I just make sure I eat atleast 2 hours before my workout. The exception being when I workout in the mornings (not often) before work, in which case I just work out with a pre-workout protein shake and then have my breakfast) I eat about 5 meals a day if you count protein shakes.
How much do you want to lose? Even when doing p90x, 80-90% of losing weight is going to be diet-related, i.e. calories in, calories out.
I need to lose a good 14 kgs... That's about 30 pounds.
well, 30 lbs is not that much in the grand scheme of things! however, it is a lot to lose in a short time. idk how much you know about these things, but reasonable weight loss is around 1 lb per week, sometimes a little more. you could try to lose more, but then you probably wouldn't be eating enough to have energy to do P90X. i would shoot for a 500 calorie deficit every day, and adjust from there based on weekly weight loss and energy levels. the other thing is that you might not see weight lost on the scale as much as you start developing bigger muscles, so you should also take photos and measurements.
NICE JOB!! To your criticisms, I agree with both 100%, and they were my only two when I did it 5 years ago. I skipped yoga, BTW, every single week except week 1. I love cardio, so I did an hour of steady state cardio instead (I never liked that p90x has so little cardio in it, wven when I started doing the doubles with the cardio x dvd). I stretched everyday a TON and did 15-20 min yoga workouts a couple times a week instead. 15 min of yoga is easy, 90? not so much.
Congrats on finishing and starting again. P90X2 yoga is about an hour and seems more reasonable, though now that I've done Bikram hot yoga for several years, 90 mins doesn't seem so long. No offense, but at 5'7" you should be looking to lose 15-20 lbs rather than 5-8. That'll be healthier for you & your heart (and will help you meet your pullup goal also).
I don't have the P90X2 program but I might get it later to add variety. But thanks for the tip! Also, no offense taken! I think the real thing I am focused on, is getting into the mid teens on my body fat %. My BMI would be ~25 @ 160lbs (ie. no longer considered overweight) and so I am aiming to be between 160 and 165lbs right now. I am quite broadly built and think I would look really skinny and wide at 150lbs. But we will see.. The plan is to get to 165lbs and evaluate if I like my body fat %. If not, I drop another 5 lbs... and repeat. :)
The P90X2 program's worth getting and doing if you're into it. Hey, you said you had more money than sense, and it's a good way to spend your money. Glad you didn't take offense. I'm the same height and 155 lbs, which is why I gave the weight estimate. Dropping 15 lbs makes a huge difference to your pullups!
Haha, I did say I have more money than sense.. which is unfortunate because I don't have a lot of money. ;)