Insanity and a calorie controlled diet - SUCCESS!

keefah

Hi,

I just wanted to share my experience of Insanity. I was very sceptical when I was looking at the before and after photos (I still am, to an extent) but thought I'd give it a go regardless. My reasoning was that I was a good 2.5-3 stone overweight, led a very sedentary lifestyle with very little exercise, ate what I wanted and drank too frequently!

So, having seen Insanity mentioned on a friend’s Facebook page, I looked it up. I must be the only person in the world who hasn’t seen the adverts on TV as, everyone I’ve mentioned it to said, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen that on telly’ and even mentioned the T-shirt you get when you finish! I spent hours Googling it and reading success stories and reviews before finally taking the plunge.

I was fortunate that my wife was willing to give it a go too as, some days, I really couldn’t face another session but she gave me the encouragement I needed. Every time that happened I felt great after finishing. In fact, despite being almost unable to get up off the floor after every session, I felt brilliant once that clock had ticked down to 0:00.

It took up a lot of time. We have two girls, aged 10 and 7, who have been great over the past nine weeks keeping themselves occupied for an hour while we exercise. There were some days when it was impossible to fit it in but that didn’t stop us from continuing. We’ve been going for long bike rides as a family on days where we haven’t managed to exercise and on some days when we need to burn up extra calories.

Regarding the calorie control, I’ve stuck to 1400 calories (eating back what I lose in exercise) only going over a handful of times over the past 9 weeks. I’ve still enjoyed some nice meals, eating out and choosing healthy options over the usual burger and chips, fish and chips etc. My weight loss has been a consistent 3 lbs per week.

The MyFitnessPal app on my phone has been instrumental in my weight loss, I wouldn’t have been able to keep track without it, that’s for sure.

So, as today is the last day of Insanity for us, we can’t exercise tomorrow as we’re going out for the whole day, our ‘insane’ journey is over. We’re going to do Hip Hop Abs next, we’ve already tried a couple of the routines and can really notice the muscle aches for a couple of days after so it must be working.

I still have 11 lbs to go to reach my target but the 26 lbs that I have lost over the last nine weeks, which all of a sudden seem to have flown by along with the summer holidays, has been down to a lifestyle change. I’ve swapped red wine for gin and low calorie tonic, fatty/greasy foods for lower fat options, chocolate and other snacks for 0% fat jelly, apple crisps and other fruit. I still get cravings for chocolate and sugary things and I have them now and again but they always go down on my food list and I just have to do an extra few minutes of exercise to work them off.

Supplementing the Insanity and bike rides, I’ve just started jogging, this burns up a lot more calories than I thought and is a great, quick way to blast off a few ounces.

If anyone out there is thinking about starting Insanity I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. Combine it with a healthy, calorie controlled diet and you can’t fail to lose weight and shape up. I’ve taken photos at day 1, 15, 36, 50 and 61 – the difference is almost unbelievable.

My calves and quads are now really toned thanks to Insanity. I heard once that if you take care of your legs (i.e. get them toned) the rest of your body will catch up on its own. My upper body strength has improved loads and I can now do dozens of press-ups. I struggled to do five before I started. I only have a little bit of stomach fat to get rid of now and then I can start toning up with the Hip Hop Abs – I like the thought of not doing any sit-ups! Shaun T is a bit of a character too!

Thanks for reading!

nic632

Congratulations on your weight and inch loss, it's good to know that all the hard work has paid off!

I've got last 10lbs to lose, though it's mainly toning I'm interested in as a lot is required after several weight loss/gains over the years. I've been reading a lot of posts about Insanity and finally decided to go for it and ordered it last night and hopefully it should be delivered next week.

I'm excited and can't wait to start - though might change my mind once the pain starts to kick in - and hope that I get the results I'm after. I just wish I'd started it a couple of months ago so I'd be able to show off all my hard work ie toned arms and thighs so that I wouldn't have to keep them hidden despite how warm the weather is.

Here's to a brand new start!

keefah

Thanks for replying and I promise you won't regret ordering Insanity. I was so out of shape when I started that I was nearly sick after doing the fit test on day one! I laugh now thinking back to me laying on the bathroom floor, by the toilet!!

You will push yourself every day so it never gets easier and you will notice amazing results in the fit tests, which are repeated every two weeks.

My results on day one were (we counted each kick etc. as 1, not each pair):

Switch Kicks: 45
Power Jacks: 32
Power Knees: 70
Power Jumps: 18
Globe Jumps: 5
Suicide Jumps: 8
Push-up Jacks: 13
Low Plank Obliques: 48

We last did the fit test just under two weeks ago and we seem to have reached the maximum number of reps it's possible to do in the time given:

Switch Kicks: 158
Power Jacks: 77
Power Knees: 135
Power Jumps: 74
Globe Jumps: 10
Suicide Jumps: 18
Push-up Jacks: 31
Low Plank Obliques: 90

It's quite obvious to see how much these have improved over the weeks. I never dreamed I could do so much!

One word of warning... month two is soooooooooooo much harder than month one. It's longer and just relentless! I think we would've been better off repeating month one after the recovery week but we just wanted to get to the end of it to say we'd done it! We're probably going to do the month one exercises three times a week from now on, as well as the Hip Hop Abs, cycling, jogging etc.

All the best, I hope you love it as much as I have!

drazani

Heres another vote for Insanity, about to finish the first week of the 2nd month, i never thought it would happen but I now look forward to doing a workout every day, the 2nd month is a lot tougher, but what i've noticed is the second month seems to have a lot more resistance training in, dont get me wrong your heart rate still shoots up, but i seem to be doing more resistance work than i have ever done lol.

I forgot to take photos at the start but did take photos 2 weeks in, planning to have 3 lots of photos, so when i finish i will post the results up in the success forum (belly or no belly) lol

nic632

Thanks.

Wow - pretty impressive results! Good for you.

ailbheoconnell

well done for sticking it out!! I am nearly finished week 2 of month 2 and love insanity!! i think it is worth the hard work, the results are great - combined with calorie counting obviously!! i am five pounds down, only 7 left to go! am going to do chalean extreme dvds next cos i prefer the weight bearing exercises to the cardio portion. also I workout at six am before work and it would be dark here in ireland at that hour so no chance of being outdoors! its great you have incorporated exercise into your family life too, much more likely to stick at it permanently and your healthy attitude and food choices will influence your girls as they grow up to be healthy and strong themselves. congratulations on your successes!

keefah

It really does become addictive, doesn't it! I love the resistance bit - my wife doesn't! I'd rather do 100 press-ups than 2 minutes of power jumps/jacks!!!

I'm a bit scared of posting my photos! Who knows where they'd end up and, although the latest one shows a huge improvement, I'm not too happy with the first one!

I look forward to seeing your progress, drazani.

Thanks, nic632.

keefah

well done for sticking it out!! I am nearly finished week 2 of month 2 and love insanity!! i think it is worth the hard work, the results are great - combined with calorie counting obviously!! i am five pounds down, only 7 left to go! am going to do chalean extreme dvds next cos i prefer the weight bearing exercises to the cardio portion. also I workout at six am before work and it would be dark here in ireland at that hour so no chance of being outdoors! its great you have incorporated exercise into your family life too, much more likely to stick at it permanently and your healthy attitude and food choices will influence your girls as they grow up to be healthy and strong themselves. congratulations on your successes!

Thanks!

ailbheoconnell

i say stick up the photos but crop out your head!! nobody will know its you and you can bask in all the admiration! photoshop away

mwynia

When you say that you stuck to 1400 calories is that what you ate total for the day and then you ate back your exercise calories in addition to the 1400?

pittjenn

Well done! I am 4 weeks into Shaun T's T25 program, and I'm hoping for great results, too!

keefah

i say stick up the photos but crop out your head!! nobody will know its you and you can bask in all the admiration! photoshop away

I would but my head is one of the parts where you can see a real difference! It's the bit I'm most impressed with.

keefah

When you say that you stuck to 1400 calories is that what you ate total for the day and then you ate back your exercise calories in addition to the 1400?

An example is:

Daily allowance - 1400
Exercise calories burned - 300
Total daily allowance - 1700.

So, I'd aim to eat 1700 calories that day.

My BMR, when I started, was around 2200 calories and I was going for a 2lb per week loss (7000 calorie deficit per week). I think we vastly underestimated the calorie loss using Insanity, putting in only 300-400 calories each day. I think that helped with the additional pound I lost each week.

Also I had a couple of weeks where I averaged a net total of 1100-1200. We were doing more exercise then and I just didn't feel hungry enough to eat back the calories I'd burnt.

Hope this helps!

AccioHotBod

Congratulations!

I agree with the other poster- just crop out your head! I just started the second part of the program and my default picture is what I started like and how I am currently. My current caloric goal is about 1500 calories and that is not including the calories I eat back with insanity (I estimate b/w 200-300 calories). I've gone over sometimes on the weekends/eat a little less during the week and I think that balances out pretty well.

ailbheoconnell

i say stick up the photos but crop out your head!! nobody will know its you and you can bask in all the admiration! photoshop away

I would but my head is one of the parts where you can see a real difference! It's the bit I'm most impressed with.

sunglasses and a hat??

keefah

Well done, AccioHotBod!

I've uploaded a photo to my profile.

ailbheoconnell

wow!! I see what you mean, your neck is half the width!! well done, excellent work. and your stomach is GONE

keefah

wow!! I see what you mean, your neck is half the width!! well done, excellent work. and your stomach is GONE

Thanks! Still a few inches to go on my stomach but it's a good start.

nic632

Wow from me too! Brilliant job and great inspiration! :bigsmile:

keefah

Thanks!!!

Commander_Keen

I would like to try & start Instanity on Monday..
Anybody wanna join in?