Finished Insanity with NO inches lost + 5 pound weight gain?

eng8218
eng8218 Posts: 6
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone. I am new here and need some help/advice. I am 28 y/o female. 5'3 129lbs. When i started insanity at the beginning of january i weighed 125. I weighed myself today and im 129. I completed the program and ate healthy the entire time. I net about 1600 cals a day. My diet pretty much consists of greek yogurt, egg whites, turkey bacon, fish, kale, chicken, sweet potato, quinoa, fruit, veggies, and protein shakes. I know muscle weighs more than fat, however i took my measurements at the beginning and end and have not lost a single inch. I am active during the day (im a teacher) so im not just sitting around at a desk. Im leaving for vacation in 6 weeks and really wanted to look and feel good in a bathing suit. Which is not happening. I feel so discouraged and so lost and need some advice. Has anyone tried a beachbody hybrid? and if so can someone recommend the best one for fast results in 6 weeks? Im already in shape, i can get through the max insanity workouts. But nothing is breaking the inches around my waist! help please!!!!!

Replies

  • yogicarl
    yogicarl Posts: 1,260 Member
    Are your calories set to maintenance at 1600 for 5'3"? I think your calories may be a little high.

    I am male, 5'3" and my calorie intake is 1400 for a deficit to lose 1lb per week.
  • BenjaminMFP88
    BenjaminMFP88 Posts: 660 Member
    Two things of note:

    1.) How did you calculate how many calories you should eat? I reference netting 1600 per day. when I plugged in your numbers into IIFYM, it shows a good weightloss at 1400-1500 calories. A lot of places suggest that if weightloss stalls to simply reduce your daily netted calories by a small amount and keep going. Granted, I don't know how much you should be eating for weightloss, but I find that this method has worked for me.

    2.) Probably the more important factor is how do you calculate your calories? Do you weigh your food? It seems the closer someone gets to their goals the stricter the diet must become. Underweighing food may not seem like a huge deal, but underweigh a few items every day and it can add up.

    Just my 2 cents...
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Are your calories set to maintenance at 1600 for 5'3"? I think your calories may be a little high.

    I am male, 5'3" and my calorie intake is 1400 for a deficit to lose 1lb per week.

    and I know women who are 5 ft 3 whose maintenance is 2300....age/weight/sex/activity level/bf% etc all determine that.

    If you net "about" 1600...doesn't sound like you log accurately....I net on average 1763.9 calories a day over the last 6months...(and that includes my vacation where I didn't log but estimated 21,000 for a week which was bang on cause I gained 4lbs)

    If you are gaining weight you are eating over maintenance...or over estimating burns or both.
  • yogicarl
    yogicarl Posts: 1,260 Member
    If you are gaining weight you are eating over maintenance...or over estimating burns or both.

    - agreed.
  • loubidy
    loubidy Posts: 440 Member
    I'm with Yogicarl here, Maybe you're eating too much? you are quite little..
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Diary isn't open.

    How do you know how much you were eating?
  • eng8218
    eng8218 Posts: 6
    thanks for the responses. I use MFP to log my calories. However i dont weigh my food. the calculations for insanity tell me i should be eating between 16-1700 cals a day. Because insanity is so high impact your suppose to eat more. I can feel it working, my endurance is up, im stronger, just not losing any inches AT ALL. which is my whole purpose of it. Should i lower my calorie intake? everyone says on insanity you should be eating, and i am always hungry. but if thats the problem i can lower them. also, im wondering if theres a workout that would better suit me. has anyone had any success with another program? just wondering if i should switch things up.
  • yogicarl
    yogicarl Posts: 1,260 Member
    Thanks for coming back. I'm not sure how you can log your calories without weighing your food? Maybe I am not understanding.

    I would definitely start weighing your food and try to get a more accurate idea of how many calories you are burning during your Insanity sessions. Intensive cardio like Insanity can leave you feeling hungry though you don't need more calories.

    Maybe time your meals so they coincide with your peak hunger times of the day and have a very light snack (cup of tea/coffee and one light biscuit (cookie) before your Insanity for instant energy.
  • skywa
    skywa Posts: 901 Member
    gained 5 lbs but lost no inches? that implies muscle gain. which is great. imo.
  • clship2012
    clship2012 Posts: 2 Member
    My stats are similar to yours and after the first month of insanity I gained 3lbs but lost no inches. I thought I had been sticking to my calorie goals but when I invested in a heart rate monitor I was actually burning far few calories that expected (around 300 per workout) so it turned out I had been unintentionally over eating. I find that for me running burns far more calories in the same amount of time as an insanity session so that's what I'm doing now.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    you need to weigh your food. and you didn't put on any significant amount of muscle in the span of two months. i mean, maybe you put on a pound of muscle tops. but you need to accurately weigh your food.
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
    your eating to much or over estimating your calorie burns
  • MissyMissy18
    MissyMissy18 Posts: 315 Member
    My experience with Insanity was that the program way over-estimated the calories I needed (I'm 5'4" and was around 136 at the time and trying to lose a few more inches at the waist). I started out adhering to the program strictly: huge egg white omelettes in the AM, protein shakes, chicken breast for days, etc. etc. and I had the same problem you're having. I was in better shape, but I wasn't losing weight or inches. I realized the program is not meant specifically for weight loss or really even losing inches, and more about getting stronger and faster... which is great, but wasn't my goal at the time. So, I got a heart rate monitor to track the *actual* calories I was burning per workout (way less than estimated previously!) and only ate those calories back while maintaining a slight deficit. I started to lose weight but it was verrryyy slow, because of course when you are doing high intensity workouts like Insanity, you need calories to fuel those workouts. I found that, for me, trying to eat at a deficit to lose fat but still have enough energy for Insanity was too much and I switched back to my regular, less intense workout routine.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    Insanity isn't a magic bullet, much as some people might have you believe.

    Definitely look to be weighing your food.

    In the end, if your non-water weight is going up, your calories in are more than your calories out.
    Some may be water weight for whatever reason, of course, but I'd be trying to lower calories a bit.

    Do you use a TDEE including your workouts, or eat back calories for them?

    I personally prefer working out a rough TDEE then working back calories burnt.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    gained 5 lbs but lost no inches? that implies muscle gain. which is great. imo.

    Yah no it takes a long time to gain 5lbs of muscle esp for a woman.

    And yes it takes weighing food to know how much you are eating.
  • eng8218
    eng8218 Posts: 6
    thanks so much for all the feedback. Im gonna drop down the calorie intake and mix it up with some less intense workouts so (hopefully) im not as hungry as i am on insanity. if anyone can recommend any workouts that would benefit someone in my position please let me know!
  • Lizabelle1212
    Lizabelle1212 Posts: 252 Member
    thanks so much for all the feedback. Im gonna drop down the calorie intake and mix it up with some less intense workouts so (hopefully) im not as hungry as i am on insanity. if anyone can recommend any workouts that would benefit someone in my position please let me know!

    Maybe Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred - I haven't done it myself, but I've seen a lot of people posting on here that they had great success with it. It combines strength training & cardio, and being a 30-day plan, would fit in to your 6-week goal. Good luck!
  • ND_Figgzie
    ND_Figgzie Posts: 1,480

    If you are gaining weight you are eating over maintenance...or over estimating burns or both.

    AMEN! this is spot on........
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    thanks so much for all the feedback. Im gonna drop down the calorie intake and mix it up with some less intense workouts so (hopefully) im not as hungry as i am on insanity. if anyone can recommend any workouts that would benefit someone in my position please let me know!

    Maybe Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred - I haven't done it myself, but I've seen a lot of people posting on here that they had great success with it. It combines strength training & cardio, and being a 30-day plan, would fit in to your 6-week goal. Good luck!

    Don't drop the calories...just weigh your food and only eat back 50-75% of your exercise caloires.

    30 day shred is a great workout.

    Or start lifting weight that will knock the fat off.
  • eng8218
    eng8218 Posts: 6
    Thanks everyone! Your suggestions are all very helpful!

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