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Insanity and Calories

dshams
dshams Posts: 2 Member
in Social Groups
Hey everyone! I've been using the MFP app for a while, but never been on the site before. I started Insanity last week and I'm actually going to stick with it this time, haha. I did have a question for the Insanity veterans out there though. I'm 23, 5'10", and weighed in at 193 last time I weighed myself. Before I started Insanity, MFP had calculated my BRM to be somewhere around 2350, so I was taking in 1850 to lose 1 lb a week. I had the lifestyle option set to sedentary as I'm a student and spend most of my time sitting on my butt studying. However, I haven't changed that now that I've started Insanity, and I was wondering if I should? I'm adding in the calories I think I burn with Insanity as "Aerobics, High Impact" for 30 mins, which MFP calculates to be around 309. I probably burn more during some than others, but I was guessing that might be a right value. Should I add the workouts into MFP and increase the activity level to active, or am I fine keeping the same base BMR and just adding the exercises in as negative calories and eating to keep up with it?

I want to be burning fat, not muscle, so I just want to make sure I'm taking in enough calories to make up for what is being burnt.

Replies

  • kelso235
    kelso235 Posts: 7
    Hey!
    I would highly suggest getting a heart rate monitor, either one that goes around the chest or around your wrist. It gives a far more accurate count of how many calories you're burning. I kept putting in the Circuit Training, general into my workout pages and it comes out to about 10 calories/minute. Though I find that I burn closer to around 550-675 calories per major workout which is 12-15 calories per minute based on the 45 min workouts. Obviously our body types are not very close based on gender alone, plus I'm 5'6 and now 174 lbs. But I am 23 so maybe there's some kind of a correlation there (haha). It really depends on how high your heart rate gets, how long it stays there etc, but it is 99% likely that you are burning way more than 309, even for 30 mins. The Cardio Recovery is the closest you would ever get to that and for me that's even usually closer to 400.

    So far I've gained muscle, lost a fair bit of fat and 7 lbs. in about a month of doing the workouts 80% of the time I should. The booklet that comes with Insanity says to eat about 1800 calories a day. My fitnesspal goal has been 1220 net calories (and I've been pretty good about sticking to that) so at 575 calories a workout on average it works out. Sometimes I eat a bit less but everything definitely has to be good for you before and immediately after. I had 5 (not kidding) onion rings one day about 2 hours before I worked out and I even felt sluggish then. Also, do not drink alcohol at any point in the day before working out - you will either feel nauseous or just like crap. Save it for after the workout - your metabolism is up anyway so your body theoretically burns it away faster!

    This is a novel... sorry haha... was just wondering similar things a month ago and wish someone had mentioned something similar to me!
  • dshams
    dshams Posts: 2 Member
    Haha, thanks for the reply. I figured I would get an email that someone had replied, but I'm just now seeing this. I actually have been looking into getting a HRM (leaning towards the Polaris FT7), just haven't committed yet. But yeah, if you're burning ~600, I probably should be too since I'm about 4" taller and 20 lbs heavier. My heart rate normally gets up around 160-170 near the end of exercises (manually measuring heart rate), but I think I average around 140-150. I'll be getting the HRM soon-ish, so that'll solve the issue I suppose.
  • marshmallow31
    marshmallow31 Posts: 2 Member
    Hi! I've been reading a lot of blogs about the Insanity workout and I even joined a group called NO EXCUSES, and everybody there is really very supportive. The owner of the group is a Beachbody Team coach. Regarding your question on the number of calories burned after each Insanity workout, based on your age, height, weight, and gender, I believe you are burning around 700 to 1000 calories per workout. :-)

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