Calories/Insanity - Confused??!!

mbow1977
mbow1977 Posts: 213
in Fitness and Exercise
Fri 09/14/12 02:20 AMHi,

Im new to this, 11 years ago I used to be in the army and had a great body, since leaving my body has slipped and complacency has kicked in.

So I have decided to get my body back in shape and lose some weight.

After inputting my details on MFP, my target calorie intake for the day is 1380, which I have done for the first week and lost 4lb with some light exercise.

However I have decided to do the insanity workout, but am now confused as to whether I need to be taking in more calories???

Or if I just keep on doing what I am doing with light exercise and 1380 calories, until I lose the weight I want to and then start insanity??

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

Replies

  • rezn8
    rezn8 Posts: 263 Member
    I take in most of the workout calories I burn. You need to fuel the workouts.
    Did complete Insanity workout and lost about 7lbs. but I have lost many inches. Currently doing P90x and Insanity Hybrid. 4 days P90 strength and ab ripper training. and 3 days Insanity for better cardio.
    Have now lost 10lbs. Lost 2" off waist in a year by eating better. Lost additional 3" off waist in last 4 months with Insanity/P90/Jogging workouts. Down a total of 42lbs in 1-1/4 years. Feel great.
  • shgreenw
    shgreenw Posts: 194 Member
    I've got two weeks left of Insanity and my calorie goal is set at 1200. I eat all of that plus some of my exercise calories back. When MFP sets your calorie goal at 1380, it's already figuring a calorie deficit for your desired weight loss rate (1 lb per week, 2 lbs per week, etc). Some people eat ALL of their exercise calories back but my rule is pretty simple: If I'm hungry, I eat. If I have eaten 1200 calories and I'm just not hungry, I don't force myself to eat. If I'm sometimes uncomfortable with how low my calorie intake is, I drink a quick protein shake. When you get to the second month of Insanity you may need to increase your calorie intake a little more due to the longer workouts. Good luck. There is tons of information on this website to help you with your weight loss! :flowerforyou:
  • PunkyG210
    PunkyG210 Posts: 94 Member
    Hi, If you are going to do Insanity, you should change your activity level on mfp to "moderately active" or "very active" according to the Insanity nutrition guide. Just finished Insanity. Let me just say, "Insanity" is the perfect name for the program. Good Luck!
  • BBcoachJSMottin
    BBcoachJSMottin Posts: 5
    The reason I don't like going off of the calorie recommendations from myfitnesspal is that my Basal Metabolitic Rate is 1795 calories/day yet it says I should be eating less. I am on my 4th round of Insanity and 1300-1400 calories a day would kill me. I tried a 1500 calorie diet the first time I did it and, though I lost weight like crazy, I was sooo tired all of the time and barely making it through my workouts. I wasn't eating enough to fuel my body. If you do Insanity, you need to have a more active role in determining and maintaining a proper caloric level. This app is great if your aren't doing intense activity or just relying on diet for weight loss. I use it strictly for counting purposes and set the calories manually. This is critical, especially in month 2 of Insanity. When you are burning 500-800+ calories a workout, replacing those calories is critical.

    As I said before, my estimated BMR is about 1800 calories. I wore my Heart Rate Monitor to work one day and I burn about 1500 calories during a regular 8 hour day. Even if I only burned 50 calories/hour the other 16 hours a day, I should eat 2300 calories/day on days that I don't work out to maintain. If I burn 500 calories working out, that puts me at 2800 calories just to maintain weight. If I want to lose weight and set it to 2 lbs a week, it takes me all the way back to my BMR.

    If you eat less than your BMR, you run the risk of your body going into starvation mode and it can hurt your weight loss.
  • mbow1977
    mbow1977 Posts: 213
    Thanks Guys all a great help, Im on week 2 now have been eating about 1700 a day and not feeling too bad until yesterday.
    Ive changed from doing insanity on a night time to doing it at 6am so that its done and out of the way as night times are a busy time with kids baths and things to get done. But I dont know if this is wise as Im not sure how many calories Im burning on my workouts (waiting for my hrm to arrive) and then yesterday I dont think my breakfast replenished what I had lost and I felt really sickly all morning so had to get eating and gradually wore off. I think its catch 22, I want to lose weight so am trying not to eat loads for the sake of it but at the same time I dont want to risk not eating enough and my body going into starvation mode and not losing any weight!! Think Im just going to go with it and stick to about 1700 a day, hopefully when my hrm arrives I will be able to gauge how many calories my insanity workouts are burning and so eat accordingly.
    Thanks again guys!!

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