Eating too much with Insanity

Dss8503

I just started Insanity, I'm a big guy, I started at 317lbs, I've lose 60, now I'm at 257lbs and figured at this weight I can finally start insanity, because running 3 miles 4x's a week is getting rather boring. for my size at 257lbs, I did the formula. 66+(6.23 x 257) + (12.7 x 70) - (6.8 x 28) which is 66 + 1601.11 + 889 - 190.4 comes to 2365.71 or if you round down 2365. Then it says to multiply by 1.55 because I'm doing Insanity 6 days a week. which comes to 3665.75, then it says to lose weight subtract 500, so it's trying to tell me to eat 3165.75 or 3165 calories/ day to lose weight? That's just ludicrous! During my running/diet where I lost 60lbs, I only netted around 1500 calories/day, I'd eat about 1900 and burn about 400 during my runs. I'm sorry but I'll stick to about 2000/day and do insanity, but I will not be eating 3100 calories a day, that's just crazy!

sinistril

Holy **** this thread is loaded with the most terrible advice I've ever seen. It seems like most people here do not understand simple chemistry and decide that the best way to lose way is to way under eat. This will do two things: 1. Decrease muscle mass 2. Put your body into fat storage mode.

@Dss8503,
You seem to be the worst case. You may have lost 60 lbs on your "running diet" but you were eating WAY too few calories. You opted for fast weight loss because you did not have the patience to do it healthily and safely. Sorry, but its the truth. Honestly, your skin and your body will hate you for it if you don't plateau soon. If you would have maintained a reasonable calorie deficit of 500 calories or even 1000 at that weight, you may have been ok. But 1500 calories? My 120 lb mother needs more intake than that. For 257 lbs anything anything less than 2500 is ridiculous if you are counting calories accurately. The good thing about BeachBody is their programs generally put a lot of emphasis on nutrition unlike other programs. They have trained dieticians and sports physicians who know much better than you do, do not neglect their advice because of BroScience. You need to reset your metabolism or you will gain all the weight back. And it will be all fat with even less muscle than you had before. Losing 60 lbs does not make you an expert, especially if its only 20 % of your body weight. One more thing: Insanity might not have been for you in the first place. The main thing people on this thread are forgetting, or unaware of, is that Insanity is a conditioning program for people already in shape. A lot of people eat maintenance on Insanity because it is not primarily a weight loss program. Once you are in good shape, it will help you become more explosive, faster and have more endurance. If you are doing it half heartedly or before you are in shape, you will not see the same benefit from it.

VeganCappy

cmc,

Without knowing your height, weight, gender, and daily activity level, it is impossible to tell it that number sounds right.

I am 5'10" and 190 pounds and I am very active. I need 3,000 calories a day before insanity, and an extra 1,000 after insanity. So, the numbers can vary quit a bit.

LeoniAbraham

Are you sure you did the calculation properly? i.e. did the subtraction of 500 for weight loss?

cwolfman13

I could be wrong, but aren't the calorie goals that Insanity gives you to fuel the workouts and your daily life...basically maintain the status quot and give you plenty of energy to crush the workout...not weight loss.

People assume exercise is done for weight-loss...not true...exercise is done for fitness. My wife has done a number of different programs for which she gets a calorie goal like this...it has always been to maintain the status quot and fuel the level of effort...not a calorie goal to lose weight. My guess is that you would need to deduct, say 500 calories per day from that to lose about 1 Lb per week.

cwolfman13

mine said to eat 1650-1900 depending on how much i wanted to lose. i am 5'4" and 125 lbs. if i want to lose a lb a week i would go with 1650 and if i want to lose 1/2 lb a week, 1900. i have been a lot closer to averaging 1800 and have not lost very much weight although i feel a lot stronger. i think you want to use the insanity guide as a rough guide. i am not a huge fan of anyone eating 1200 but i think if you are pretty short it might be more like 1600 for this workout. from what i have heard, just make sure you are eating NET calories above your BMR and you shoudl be fine. figure out what your TDEE is (that is what you would eat to maintain) and you could eat just a little below that and still expect to lose weight on insanity. although i haven't yet, i think my body is just adjusting to it. a lot of peopel see their results in the second month from what i have heard.
just FYI, my BMR is around 1300, TDEE is around 1900. so i thought by eating 1700-1800 that would allow me to have enough energy for the workouts and lose mostly fat and not muscle.

you must be younger than me, my BMR was 1335...which I don't even think that is correct based on the calculations. I wore a HR monitor one time all day and night and it was a lazy day and only burned like 900 calories

A HRM is not going to give you anything remotely accurate for a calorie burn just lounging around doing nothing. Your calorie burn is not directly correlated to your HR.