Nutrition - Part II

Meal Timing

Setting up a schedule and a routine for eating is a great way to increase your success. You want to know when you are eating and what you are eating for that time of day. The idea held by most, although I have been doing some reading of research that is showing otherwise (too early to say), you are best to eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day. Doing so will keep your metabolism humming and will keep you satisfied as well between meals. I have read that people that do snack between meals, burn around 240 calories more during the day. You body never slows down, it just keeps chugging along! Ideally this would be: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. Tailoring these meals and snacks around your workouts can be extremely helpful.

Nutrition - Part I

Last week, I posted a brief screencast of using myfitnesspal.com. That is a wonderful tool and can be a huge resource for tracking your food intake. For the sake of time, I brushed over some very basic elements of setting up your nutritional plan. Over the next couple weeks, I will be posting a 3 part series on nutrition. Specifically, setting goals for fat loss. Are you ready?

Down and Dirty - MyFitnessPal

Here is a quick, no frills overview of MyFitnessPal. Take the nutritional side of life very seriously! We are working too hard not to get our desired results because of a lack of focus in the area of what we eat. Get out your kitchen scales... log that food... and if it is not planned for in your day, don't eat it! For the next 90 days you are on a mission. We're making sure that mission is a success! We got this.

MFP_Overview

P90X2 Week 1

What a great week. P90X2 has fully lived up to the hype. I am feeling just like I did when I first started P90X. My initial thoughts about the balance portions of X2 were so wrong. I must have been in a bad place or whiny mindset. X2 ROCKS! My balance is slowly improving and with each day I am able to lift more and hold the balance moves with more stability and strength. I could not be happier with what Tony has put together.

My Sample Diet - Phase II and III (Update!)

"I'm having lobster bisque, but it's not for me." - Tony Horton

I felt it was about time to update you on what I am doing nutritionally for these final phases. To see why I got here, we need to look back. I tried to maintain the Fat Shredder percentages for as long as I could. I even ended up bumping my calories to around 1900 a day at 50p:30c:20f. This worked for about a week (around 40 days in), but my body was calling for more carbs. As your body-fat percentage drops, you have smaller stores of energy to draw upon. You may have heard the phrase "bonking during a workout." This happens when you either have not consumed enough carbs or don't have any in reserve to draw upon. We want to avoid bonking because obviously you can't give your all during the workout. You may be temped to do too many cheat reps, sacrifice form, or just give up before failure. You would never be able to maximize your results. Secondly, you body will start using the muscle you have worked so hard to gain as its energy source. No one wants that! I was bonking and getting really hunger so I moved to 40p:40c:20f and roughly a 2200 calorie daily target. Still a slight deficit but more of a weight maintaining target. It has been delightful!

Outside of doing my best to hit my macros (240 g Pro and Carb, 49 g Fat), I also looked closely into my carb timing. My first meal of every day is always my post workout shake. The Results and Recovery drink for P90X is great. It has a lot of fast digesting carbs (39g) and some protein (10 g ). I ran out, and at $50 a tub... I will do my own concoctions for a while. I am taking 40 g of whey and roughly 40 g of fast carbs, usually from a banana. I have also started trying straight table sugar. Both the banana and the sugar cause a spike in insulin which is aid in glycogen (stored carbs) synthesis and protein synthesis. Timing is everything, your muscles are like sponges for up to an hour post workout. Without proper nutrition post strenuous exercise, you could experience proteolysis (protein breakdown). I also include some low GI (glycemic index - slow digesting) carbs to extend my body's carb usage. This is accomplish through some Ezekiel bread (sprouted grains). I usually include some fats (Natural PB) to make this a complete shake/whole food meal.

During the rest of the day, I taper my carbs as I approach the afternoon. I attempt to only eat fibrous carbs (no grains) after my afternoon snack (3 pm). No carbs whatsoever after dinner! These changes have made a big difference. I am feeling strong and have lots of energy to push through my workouts and then my day. I am getting up at 3:45 to work out, eat by 5:00, get ready for work and pack food, devos by 5:30, leave around 6:15... from there I get to school around 6:45 and teach all day. After school I am helping out with the MS track team. I head home around 3:45 (30-40 minute commute). Then I take care of my son while my wife is coaching tennis. The evenings are filled with normal life things and a little work here and there. I hit the sack around 9:30 to 10:00... to start it all over again! With that schedule everyday, I can positively say I have more energy than I have ever had. I give all the credit to P90X and my changes in nutrition. I am doing more and still wake up ready to Bring It everyday!

I am still tracking everything, although I am eating so many similar things that I don't have to watch my day as closely. I can hit my macros fairly easily without tracking until the evening. I must also thank my wife for turning me on to myfitnesspal.com. It does not have the awesome pie chart for your macros, but it has a huge user made data base of food items. I have not had to punch in a custom food yet! It even has all of my regional store's items (Meijer). It has a much faster loading site to boot.

I hope this gives to a insight into what I am doing. Please feel free to email at davidcjeffries@gmail.com with any questions or find me on Facebook (David Jeffries). Keep pushing play and God bless!

David

Complete Sample Days to follow shortly!

This was a 40p/40c/20f day at roughly 2200 calories:

My Favorite Supplements

Nutrition can only bring you so far. Supplementation can help fill in the gaps that our whole food diets leave behind. These gaps can get even larger if you are pushing your body really hard with intense workouts like P90X or Insanity. Here are my favorite picks:

Whey Protien: Protein is the key to building and maintaining lean muscle. Most people can't get enough protein for their diets from whole foods. To hit your nutrition goals, use a protein powder. There are TONS of choices out there, which span a wide price range. Look for around 20-25g of protein per serving and anywhere from 100-150 calories per serving. Carbs and fat should be low, in the 3-5g range for each. I have found Gaspari's Myofusion to be really tasty. It is a little higher in calories, but it mixes easily, has a great taste, and costs around $35 for 5lbs. Other picks would be O.N. 100% Whey and Cytosport 100% Whey.

Pre-workout: I have tried a bunch of different pre-workout supplements. Most are a stimulant-based, creatine, and NO booster. I am currently using Gaspari's SuperPumpMAX. I have noticed good focus and energy for my early workouts and no side effects (when kept at 1 scoop, 1.5 and above has caused some stomach discomfort... therefore I stick to 1 scoop!). I will be trying 1MR next... just get it to me, Amazon!

Creatine: There are probably as many creatine products as there are whey proteins. Creatine is produced naturally by our bodies by certain amino acids. Creatine helps repair and strengthen muscles (drawing water inside the cells). Creatine usage has been show to increase the maximum force that a muscle can make. I am using Sizeon from Gaspari. I am using the Pre-contest form as it is really low in carbs. It is a blended creatine and it is my first intra-workout. It not only has creatine but proteins broken down into their peptides for fast absorption. I am also stacking plain ol' Creatine Monohydrate in my evening shake (5g extra).

Multi-Vitamin: I know there are other people that take this part really seriously... but I don't. I use it as a catch all. I take a GNC Men's Sport Multi. I figure taking it is better than not, so I take it.

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.

Nutrition Overview

I am amazed at what difference I am seeing with my change in nutrition. I completed the first round of P90x using their nutrition guide. They calculated me as needing Level II, or 2400 calories daily. This was great! I ate a lot of good food... but it was too much food to really drop my body fat. Here is a quick overview of what I am doing this time around.

P90x Calculations
RMR = Weight x 10               (So, 160 x 10 = 1600)
Add
Daily Burn of 20% of RMR    (1600 x 0.2 = 320) Total now, 1920.
Add
600 calories for the approximate P90x workout.  TOTAL 2520!  That put me square in the level II range.

That is what I stayed at for the entire first round. On the advice of my coach, I decided to run a deficit. I landed on a 900 calorie deficit for the first 30 days. I wanted to hit roughly 1600 calories. You won't drop fat quickly without a healthy deficit... don't worry about going too low, males above 1200 is still safe and females 800... after that you will lose muscle.

P90x is broken into 3 phases for workouts and nutrition. Phase I of nutrition is called the fat shredder phase. It has your calories coming 50% from protein, 30% from carbs, and 20% from fats. You can stay in this as long as you want. Moving to the next phases will slow fat loss. In order to know if I have hit these percentages, I have tracked everything that eat (I mean everything!). I use a free online program called fitday.com. Other programs exist and there are apps as well for you tech people.

I have now bumped to 1800 to 1900 calories as I have lost a fair bit of fat and need the extra calories to sustain my energy levels during my workouts and day (with less fat to pull on for energy you will slow muscle growth if you stay too low). I am about to move to the second phase of the nutrition program as well. My percentages will change to 40/40/20 (P/C/F). Phase III is 20/60/20.... crazy carbs, but your body is a million dollar sports car by then and burns everything you put in it!

Lastly, I eat every 2.5 - 3 hours. This keeps your metabolism rocking all day long. I am also not cheating. I only eat items from the P90x nutrition plan. I use whey to hit my protein needs and eat extremely clean! No beer, no cookies, no sweet, no soda... (a little diet as a treat once and while). You really need to decide, commit, and then you can succeed with this program.

I know this is a little rushed and brief... but it gives a good overview of what goes into the nutrition aspect of P90x.