P90X and nutrition. How important is it?

It seems that people often ask do they really need to follow the nutrition guide to get results on P90x. The quick answer it depends. It depends on two things, what kind of results you want and your body. P90x or any other workout program is going to come with a nutrition guide that will give you a plan to follow. The nutrition plans that come with the various beach body programs are tailored to whatever program you purchased. At their core they all use a balanced approach to eating enough carbohydrates to give you energy, protein to build muscle, and fat (yes fat) to keep your tissue (skin, hair, and organs) healthy. The P90x program runs through three eating cycles that start out with higher protein and lower starchy carbs (like bread pasta and rice) and then transitions to lower protein and higher starchy carbs.

I actually took a nutrition class last semester so I may do a post later on with some tidbits about just what overall healthy eating is, but in the context of working out, the closer you follow a balanced plan, that incorporates protein carbohydrates and healthy fat (and yes vegetables) into the meals and snacks the better results you are going to get. It is often said that a good nutrition plan is going to be at least 75% of your results. Depending on your metabolism and how your body reacts to food that number may be closer to 85%. But I think everyone has enough common sense to know that it does not matter how much you work out, if you are eating like crap every day you are not going to have ripped abs.

Which takes me back to my original point. What are your goals? So people just want to take off 10-15 pounds and are not interested in having 6 pack abs. In that case you probably do not have to follow any one specific nutrition plan. If you already eat reasonably healthy then just working out might do it for you. It may be that all you have to do is change a few things about how you eat. In that case maybe ditching dessert once a week is all you need. If however you want six pack abs, chances are you will need to follow a fairly strict nutrition plan and will have to pay attention to how much of what kind of food you are eating.

Even that depends however. If you are one of those people who can stay fairly lean no matter how you eat (insert obligatory I hate you comment here) then you probably will not have to track what you eat as stringently. For those of us whose bodies store fat more easily we will.

Personally I am following the P90X2 nutrition plan, but using one day as a cheat day where I don't pay attention to portions, and if I want will eat junk food. Once I start P90X2 I will knock that down to a couple cheat meals per week. Even with the cheat day I am getting stronger, becoming more toned and am starting to see definition in my abs. Look for a post tomorrow on the anatomy of a cheat day where I will talk more about my philosophy on them and how it has changed over the years.

Stay fit my friends!