P90X Phase 3 Nutrition – A Lifestyle, not a Diet

Phase 3 of P90X doesn’t feel like a diet. My coworker asked me today if I would be excited to finish P90X so I could go back to eating whatever I wanted. I realized that I already do eat a lot of my favorite things. Now, there are definitely some things that I miss and will probably have on occasion when I’m finished, but I won’t allow myself to make eating them habit. Besides my random and obsessive cupcake cravings, I really don’t feel deprived on this diet. Below is a list of some of my meals and snacks during P90X Phase 3. I try to aim for less than 2,000 calories per day, which usually allows me to have a recovery, 2 snacks and dessert in addition to my three main meals. On double workout days (Tuesdays and  Thursdays), however,  I will often eat 2,200 or more calories.

Breakfast:

• 1/3 cup (dry) Coach’s Oats (cooked on the stove with half water, half almond milk)with ½ banana & sliced strawberries, served with a dash of cinnamon and 1 tsp brown sugar (only 15 calories)
• 1 ½ cup Kashi’s Strawberry Fields cereal with 1 cup almond milk and half a banana
• 2 whole-wheat waffles coated with 1 tbsp peanut butter and ½ banana (tried this one for the first time today and discovered 1 tbsp of peanut butter really isn’t much!)
• 1 slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter and one banana (pre-long run breakfast)
• P90X’s whole-wheat oatmeal pancakes (probably won’t make these again as they were fairly dry) with Agave nectar and bananas

Recovery Drink:

• 1 scoop GNC AMP Recovery (vanilla) blended 3 frozen strawberries or 4 pieces frozen mango, ice, and 1 cup almond milk
• 1 scoop GNC AMP Recovery (chocolate) mixed with 6-8 oz water

Lunch:

• Nicole’s world famous turkey avocado sandwich (this is the best thing on earth): 2 slices Milton’s Multigrain bread (or any wheat bread), 1.5 oz avocado, mustard,  3 oz freshly sliced turkey, red onion, cucumber, roasted red peppers, spinach and tomato.
• Tuna sandwich (tuna mixed with low fat mayonnaise, served on whole-grain bread with mustard, onion, tomato, cucumber and spinach)
• Subway sandwich
• Chicken sausage breakfast burrito (see Phase 2 recipes blog for recipe here: http://femmefataleconqueringmarathonwithp90x.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/p90x-phase-2-recipes/)

Mid-Day Snacks

• 1 oz (1/4 cup) almonds
• 1 Kashi GO Lean Protein Bar
• Fruit (Oranges, Pears, Berries or Grapes)
• Carrots with hummus
• Whole-Grain Pita chips with (or without) hummus (good pre-run snack on double workout days)
• String cheese
• ½ cup organic non-fat greek yogurt with sliced strawberries and/or blackberries

Dinner:

• Turkey Burger with avocado and salad (from our favorite local restaurant)
• Chicken Stir Fry (see phase 1 recipes)
• Homemade turkey, mushroom, onion, garlic and red pepper marinara sauce over whole-wheat or rice-wheat pasta with brussels sprouts
• P90X Phase 3 Peanut Butter Noodles (Mike liked this one better than me)
• Yam and Black Bean Chili (from Tony Horton’s new book, “Bring It,” this is the best thing I’ve made so far!)
• Chicken with a tex-mex rub served with baked sweet potato fries and asparagus or brussels sprouts
• Cheat meal of the week (averaging about one cheat dinner/week)

Dessert

• 4-6 oz frozen yogurt
• 1 frozen fruit bar

Everything I eat is delicious! The oatmeal mike makes for me in the morning could easily win first place in a oatmeal contest at a state fair (if that were a category!). The recovery drink blended with fruit is probably one of my favorite parts of my day. My sandwich at lunch is seriously (not to toot my own horn but toot-toot) one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. I would rather eat it than any (healthy) sandwich  from a restaurant or deli. During Phase 3 we were able to experiment with some new dinner recipes. Tony Horton’s Yam and Black Bean Chili is probably going to be in my recipe repertoire until I die. However, the peanut butter noodles are a little too sweet for me at dinner (didn’t think that something could be too sweet for me!). I have learned to make my sweet potato fries to perfection and we discovered the deliciousness that is brussels sprouts during this phase! I had never had them before in my life and they are my new favorite vegetable (behind onions of course).

Phase 1 vs. Phase 3

I do have to say that Phase 1 was the most effective for cutting fat. I lost the majority of my weight during that phase, but at this point I don’t feel that I have much more to lose. I am gaining strength week to week yet the scale is staying at the 10 lbs lost mark, which means that I am losing some fat and just replacing it with muscle. I’m not sure that if I were to go back to Phase 1 that I’d lose a whole lot more weight. One big difference between Phase 1 and Phase 3 is that we didn’t drink at all during Phase 1 and we only had 1 cheat meal. Since beginning Phase 2, I’ve had probably 1 cheat meal per week, and I’ve drank about 4 times. But, that’s part of life. In the end, Phase 3 is probably the most sustainable and realistic nutrition plan of the three and we plan to stick to it after we finish the 90 days and continue on to our final 6 weeks of marathon training.