So, my best friend and I are starting P90X on Monday (just because we get paid on Friday and work long weekends, so Monday is the soonest we can go grocery and supply shopping and get situated). The thing is, I want to lose about 50 pounds and he wants to gain about 50 pounds. We both want to be lean and muscular. He's 6'0 and 125 so he doesn't need to lose a single pound! We're both going to be focusing on lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lots of water and tea. No sugar or artificial sweeteners, basically a pretty clean diet plan.

I have the P90X diet plan book and I was thinking of starting myself off with phase I and him with phase II. We're going to go grocery shopping together and then split the cost and I'm going to cook every night (he can't cook and he'll lose motivation if he can't have decent food). I was thinking if I made, say, chicken breasts with brown rice and broccoli I could just give him 2 chicken breasts and a cup of rice and I could just eat 1 breast and 1/2 cup of rice because I'm allowed 5 proteins per day and him 7. I could eat a turkey burger on a half bun and he could have two on full whole wheat buns, both of us with a big salad and an oil based dressing. Do you think this would work? We're also going to be doing P90X together every morning before work and then eating together. Spending this much time together won't be an issue because we do that anyway.

The diet and exercise plan sounds perfect for you and I'm sure it will give you the desired results.

However, for gaining weight, it doesn't sound completely ideal. Even if he ate 2 chicken breasts and 1 cup of rice, that would still not be enough to make one gain (approx. 5-600 cal).

I know gaining weight for some is just as hard as losing weight. If your best friend is a chronic undereater (forgets to eat and underestimates the portion size he really needs), then eating things like raw nuts and such throughout the day would be excellent an excellent start - at least until you have a chance to do a bit more research on the topic of gaining weight.

I'm not saying the chicken, rice, and veggies are a bad choice for him to eat - he should eat them along with you, they are super healthy! But those foods won't help him gain. You will have to look into more calorie/protein-rich healthy foods. You'll also have to take a good look at what he is eating right now and how that contributes to his thinness.

It sounds like you have a fun plan ahead of you! I SO wish I had a friend here to go through this with!

I think the diet sounds like a great idea- but I think you will want to supplement his meals with more high calorie foods to help put some pounds on. Adding some avocado or extra oil to a salad, some peanut butter with a snack, an extra protein shake, etc. are all healthy ways to add more calories into his day, and supply the protein he will need to help put on more muscle.
Plus, adding in extra calories with snacks and "toppings" will make it easier to sneak them in. Good luck!

I've done P90x - there's no way that's going to be enough food or be the ideal program for him though at that size but if it gets him moving that's great. Remember P90x is designed for weight loss, not adding muscle to a 125lb 6'0 frame so while you guys may have fun together, he probably won't benefit from it as much as you will.

Have fun! I enjoyed it.

Cardio is great, but to gain significant healthy weight, you really have to weight-lift. He'll definitely need protein from a source that's not food - shakes. As Unna pointed out, healthy food tends to be less caloric, and for someone who isn't used to eating much you won't be getting enough protein through meat. When my (thin) brother started working out, he saw much quicker and more significant gains by using proteinn powder than normal eating (and he can eat a lot of meat in one sitting, so he wasn't protein deficieent).

Gaining muscle mass is very hard, and I think if he just wants a good workout your plan is fine but he needs to do some research on gaining to really tailor a program to his needs.

Thanks guys. I already figured I'd have to feed him more than just doubling his meals, I was just using that as an example. He wouldn't be able to gain muscle doing p90x? I thought it was cardio + weight training. He wants to be fit and healthy, not necessarily huge and bulky. He may be skinny but he's out of shape.

The problem is that you guys are vastly underestimating the amount food & effort (weight loading/progression/resistance) that is required to build a minimal amount of muscle let alone become 'bulky', that takes years and years of heavy heavy training. P90X is basically cardio and endurance, lowering your body fat to show the muscle you already have (which at his stats, is not very much) and maybe building a little muscle, as a beginner.

P90X is good for overweight people who have a wee bit of muscle and need to lose fat to 'show it'. When you've got an underweight man with a low # of lean body mass, P90X is really the wrong way to go, or at the very least, he needs to make sure to use the heaviest weights he can and keep in the lower rep range (ie.8, not 15).

Good luck! But I've been weight lifting many years and a solid program like Starting Strength or other barbell training is really what "skinny" guys need to build a decent amount of lean mass.

To be big and bulky, well add in another 5-10 years and some anabolics If it was that easy, every man would be walking around like that.