My Sample Diet

Nutrition is 80% of the P90x equation. I really get a kick out of people who say that they are doing P90x, just not following the diet... I mean what do you expect! Garbage in garbage out. Without proper nutrition, you will not come anywhere near the amazing results P90x can give. If you are truly investing an hour a day and really bringing it with each workout, why wouldn't you fuel you body properly. It is really sad to hear of people that are discouraged, even after really pushing, because they failed to see the need for great nutrition.

I gave an overview of how I approach my diet in an earlier post. Here is an actual sample day of what I ate for the first 30 days. Again, I started on Fat Shredder (50/30/20) percentages at roughly 1600 calories.

Wake-Up - Work out (On an empty stomach is fine. You body is required to pull on fat stores for energy. You just have to Bring IT and be in the right mind set.)

Post Workout (5:15)
P90x Recovery Formula
1.5 Scoop Whey

Snack (8:30)
Pure Protein Bar
Apple

Lunch (12:30)
Chicken Breast (6-8 oz)
V-8 Low Sodium (12 oz)
String Cheese
Baby Carrots

Snack (3:00)
Jack's Jerky
1 scoop whey

Dinner (5:30)
Chicken (6-8 oz)
Broccoli (1.5 cups)
Spinach Salad

Snack (8:00)
FF Cottage Cheese (0.5 - 1 cup) Cottage cheese is a casein protein. It is slow digesting. Great for the night and before bed. This lets your body keep working into the evening. 

Some things changed based on my needs. I have found that you need to be recording all of your food. Use myfitnesspal.com or fitday.com, but you must track. If I went high in an area, I would dial it in with changes to dinner. I found it easier to go high on protein. I avoid all added sugar (only fruit). Only water for a beverage, no juice, beer, wine, soda, etc. I have skim milk occasionally... it is just a lot of calories for a drink. I do use some water flavor packs (zero sugar and zero calorie). With moving to 1900 calories, my portions have increased and I have added more carbs to my early meals and snacks (i.e. extra English muffins, brown brice, etc.). I noticed a drop in energy around day 38.. my body was asking for more and I needed to give it what it needed!

Supplements
I am using a few supplements to fill in the gaps of my diet and to get the most from my work.Whey is needed for almost everyone. It is really hard to get enough protein from whole foods. Whey is a fast snack too. I use the P90x Recovery Formula (40 g carbs, 10 protein, creatine) only on cardio days. Otherwise my post workout has a banana added for fast carbs. I am using creatine in the form of Gaspari's SizeON. This is an intra-workout supplement with tons of amino acids and protein peptides. I also take 5 g of straight creatine with my afternoon shake. For a pick me up and nitric-oxide boost, I use Gaspari's SuperPumpMAX. This has helped a lot with my workouts... 4 am is early and this gets things started. Lastly, I am taking a multi-vitamin from GNC. This rounds out my vitamin and nutrient needs.