Stuck at fitness cross roads not sure how to proceed! Would love some advice

Simbii95

Hey hope everyones doing great. I apologize in advance for the long message. Im very new to fitness and working out and everything. Im on my way to losing weight. Ive been doing the insanity workout and im on the last week of month 1. Ive missed about 3 workouts but that aint no biggy. The issue im facing is, after 4 weeks of insanity im still not great with my cardio or strength or so i think. Im not entirely sure should I proceed to month 2 or do month one again. Ive lost about 2 kg (4.5 lbs). My stats are Male, 6ft 1 inch, 100 kg. Before insanity i could do maybe 2 pushups but now i can do about 10 which is great. During the workouts I really cant do much considering im out of breath and stuff. Can someone please advise should i push forward or what. I really wanna lose as much weight as i can safely before classes resume and all. Its the first time ive committed this much to my health. Another problem plaguing me is that i fatigue during the workouts way before i run out of breath. I usually have a peanut butter and honey sandwich an hour before working out but idk, mid workouts im crashing and feeling like holy crap i cant move another muscle. I would highly highly appreciate if someone could please address my concerns. Really confused. As far as nutrition goes, im not keeping track of each and every calorie but im getting around 1600-1900 calories per day. Its damn near impossible to keep track considering most of the stuff we eat consists of curries and stuff that u cant really measure easily (south asian food). But i keep it as healthy as possible, no processed stuff no junk and unhealthy snacks. Thanks in advance and hope you all are safe!!

sijomial

It's more likely a low fitness and general exercise capability that is causing such rapid fatigue rather than a nutrition problem. (If you are losing weight rapidly then the likelihood of nutrition being insufficient of course goes up!)

For short duration exercise you have more than enough fuel onboard already and don't need to be having a calorie bomb PB and honey sandwich!
I don't take that many calorie onboard before a 30 mile fast bike ride.

Build up your fitness steadily and over an extended period of time - you build fitness from the base up and it sounds like Insanity is far too advanced for you right now, work up to it.

MikePfirrman

Good advice above from Sijomial. Four weeks isn't a lot of time. I know a lot of the Beachbody tapes are marketed like you'll change your life in six weeks. Sometimes, it take much longer than that to see results and feel results. And it's very incremental.

However, with that said, you've started. Perhaps find something just a tad easier and keep up with it. Consistency wins the race and this race is a marathon. You'll be staggered if you just keep it up how much you'll be able to do in a year or two. I've been there myself. There was a time that a mile walk with my pups seemed very hard. Now, I've been on maintenance for nearly 10 years (and exercising the entire time), but it's nothing for me now to row 8 miles and do 200 pushups in a day along with leg work and arm work (and do similar 6 days a week). These changes took years but all it starts with is consistency.

quiksylver296

If you've lost 1 kg in a month, then you are eating 500 calories under your maintenance calories per day on average. That's a good steady rate of loss.

As for Insanity, and being exhausted - yeah, that's Insanity. If you like the workout, keep it up. Your improvement in push-ups shows it's working.

janejellyroll

If you're running out of breath, more food isn't going to help that. That is a cardiovascular fitness issue and the only cure for that is to keep working out to build your fitness. Slow down and find a pace that you can maintain for the whole workout - that's going to be more useful than short anaerobic spurts followed by resting because you're too out of breath.

Lietchi

quiksylver296 wrote: »

If you've lost 1 kg in a month, then you are eating 500 calories under your maintenance calories per day on average. That's a good steady rate of loss.

Just for clarification, if anyone looks at the math it's a loss of 2 kg (not 1, a typo I presume) in a month, which is slightly over a 500 kcal deficit actually (7700 kcal for a kg). Which is a good steady rate of loss indeed, I wouldn't aim for more.

As for being out of breath, it's just a matter of building stamina. I would look at adding some steady state cardio to build up some cardiovascular fitness. Even walking is great for beginners.

quiksylver296

Lietchi wrote: »

quiksylver296 wrote: »

If you've lost 1 kg in a month, then you are eating 500 calories under your maintenance calories per day on average. That's a good steady rate of loss.

Just for clarification, if anyone looks at the math it's a loss of 2 kg (not 1, a typo I presume) in a month, which is slightly over a 500 kcal deficit actually (7700 kcal for a kg). Which is a good steady rate of loss indeed, I wouldn't aim for more.

As for being out of breath, it's just a matter of building stamina. I would look at adding some steady state cardio to build up some cardiovascular fitness. Even walking is great for beginners.

Oops, yep! Typo! I haven't finished my morning coffee yet.

Lietchi

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

quiksylver296 wrote: »

If you've lost 1 kg in a month, then you are eating 500 calories under your maintenance calories per day on average. That's a good steady rate of loss.

Just for clarification, if anyone looks at the math it's a loss of 2 kg (not 1, a typo I presume) in a month, which is slightly over a 500 kcal deficit actually (7700 kcal for a kg). Which is a good steady rate of loss indeed, I wouldn't aim for more.

Oops, yep! Typo! I haven't finished my morning coffee yet.

Plenty of coffee needed for the kg/lb/stone/cm/ft/inch mixes on these forums

mmapags

Lietchi wrote: »

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Lietchi wrote: »

quiksylver296 wrote: »

If you've lost 1 kg in a month, then you are eating 500 calories under your maintenance calories per day on average. That's a good steady rate of loss.

Just for clarification, if anyone looks at the math it's a loss of 2 kg (not 1, a typo I presume) in a month, which is slightly over a 500 kcal deficit actually (7700 kcal for a kg). Which is a good steady rate of loss indeed, I wouldn't aim for more.

Oops, yep! Typo! I haven't finished my morning coffee yet.

Plenty of coffee needed for the kg/lb/stone/cm/ft/inch mixes on these forums

Lol! After moving from the U.S. to Mexico a little over 2 years ago, I'm good on the kg/lb thing but I don't know that I'll ever be facile with the cm/ft/inch thing.

OP, as sijomial, maybe insanity is too advanced for your current level of fitness. It is a tough workout and to jump right into that as an untrained person would certainly cause the issues your are describing. Maybe a less intense routine to start and build your base of fitness would be more appropriate.

quiksylver296

I did Insanity as a fairly unfit person. (Shaun T is nice to look at while I die. :laugh:) I just did as much as I could, and modified what I couldn't. Star jumps became jumping jacks. Burpees, I'd maybe do three while they did ten. It's a tough workout, but I think less fit people can make it work.

cupcakesandproteinshakes

quiksylver296 wrote: »

I did Insanity as a fairly unfit person. (Shaun T is nice to look at while I die. :laugh:) I just did as much as I could, and modified what I couldn't. Star jumps became jumping jacks. Burpees, I'd maybe do three while they did ten. It's a tough workout, but I think less fit people can make it work.

I did insanity once. I nearly died. I need 3 minutes rest each time I do a burpee.