Pretty bummed...

jaymesjourney
jaymesjourney Posts: 85
in Health and Weight Loss
For two reasons:

I've been at the same weight since late March early April. haven't lost anything but luckily haven't gained either except for the fluctuation that normally happens with water weight. I upped my calories from 1500 to 1800 since I started doing insanity(which is my reason number 2 for being bummed) and would eat back my calories to get my NET calories of 1600(BMR is 1563). MY TDEE was 2423 to maintain and I was -25% to make it 1818. I honestly dont know what I'm doing wrong :(


Number 2: I started doing Insanity about a week ago I LOVED it. I also have a herniated disc in my L5(lower back). I have been modifying my workouts so I dont hurt my back even more (ie jumping, twisting, etc) and taking more days to recover if I start feeling my back hurt. The last day I did insanity was on Friday. Woke up Saturday feeling sore but thinking that since it was Pure Cardio it was normal. Saturday was my recovery day and Sunday I was super excited to get back into day 4. I started doing the warm up and went to flat back and had a sharp pain in my lower back. I knew I needed an extra day to recover and listened to my body. Come today I can barely move or put pressure on the left side of my back. I'm pretty sure that I have to stop insanity for awhile and go back to doing Zumba, swimming, walking and steorid injections in my back :( I'm so upset because I was determind to finish Insantiy but I have to listen to my body because I dont want another surgery added to my list!

Replies

  • snooj
    snooj Posts: 69 Member
    Why did you up your calories? I've done insanity too, and guess that during a workout I burn maybe 200-300 calories by results I'm getting. So if I took in an extra 300 calories (1500 to 1800) on top of eating back exercise calories (another 300) if I added insanity as a weight loss tool, I wouldn't lose weight, since I'd be eating an extra 600 but only burning maybe 300.

    Where you losing weight before you made the changes? If so, at what rate?

    Your numbers are pretty precise, so I feel like you're using calculators rather than your body to tell you how much you're burning, your TDEE, etc. Calculators can be pretty off, they're just a guideline and then you need to adjust.

    But yeah, I agree you need to stop for your back. :\ I hope you get better!
  • jaymesjourney
    jaymesjourney Posts: 85
    Why did you up your calories? I've done insanity too, and guess that during a workout I burn maybe 200-300 calories by results I'm getting. So if I took in an extra 300 calories (1500 to 1800) on top of eating back exercise calories (another 300) if I added insanity as a weight loss tool, I wouldn't lose weight, since I'd be eating an extra 600 but only burning maybe 300.

    Where you losing weight before you made the changes? If so, at what rate?

    Your numbers are pretty precise, so I feel like you're using calculators rather than your body to tell you how much you're burning, your TDEE, etc. Calculators can be pretty off, they're just a guideline and then you need to adjust.

    But yeah, I agree you need to stop for your back. :\ I hope you get better!


    Thank you for your reply. I upped my calories because since I'm still about 60-70 pounds overweight I would burn anywhere from 700-1000 calories according to my HRM during an insanity workout. Before I found out about TDEE and BMR from the awesome CoachReddy I was only eating 1200 and I did lose 28 pounds from August-November it just stopped at 178 and since Janurary I've lost another 8 pounds when I started walking/running on the elliptical. Now that I cant do Insanity I dropped my calories down to 1500 again.
  • JennyBooth70
    JennyBooth70 Posts: 3 Member
    I can totally understand how you feel right now. I ran a half marathon back in November and ended up with a stress fracture (second one in a year) and had to stop my exercises because I was on crutches for 8 weeks. I have gained back 20 pounds of what I had previously lost. I got to the point that I just was so down emotionally that I didn't care about what I was doing, eating, etc. Don't make that same mistake. Keep watching your diet and remember calories in...calories out. If you aren't able to do Insanity, just keep moving and exercising in ways that you can without causing further injury. You have done SUPER so try to keep your mind straight.
  • jaymesjourney
    jaymesjourney Posts: 85
    I can totally understand how you feel right now. I ran a half marathon back in November and ended up with a stress fracture (second one in a year) and had to stop my exercises because I was on crutches for 8 weeks. I have gained back 20 pounds of what I had previously lost. I got to the point that I just was so down emotionally that I didn't care about what I was doing, eating, etc. Don't make that same mistake. Keep watching your diet and remember calories in...calories out. If you aren't able to do Insanity, just keep moving and exercising in ways that you can without causing further injury. You have done SUPER so try to keep your mind straight.

    Oh no :( I hope you are feeling better!!
    I'm excited to start swimming again 3x a week. With my calories I've been trying to see what works best so its been a rollar coaster the last two months!
  • snooj
    snooj Posts: 69 Member
    Why did you up your calories? I've done insanity too, and guess that during a workout I burn maybe 200-300 calories by results I'm getting. So if I took in an extra 300 calories (1500 to 1800) on top of eating back exercise calories (another 300) if I added insanity as a weight loss tool, I wouldn't lose weight, since I'd be eating an extra 600 but only burning maybe 300.

    Where you losing weight before you made the changes? If so, at what rate?

    Your numbers are pretty precise, so I feel like you're using calculators rather than your body to tell you how much you're burning, your TDEE, etc. Calculators can be pretty off, they're just a guideline and then you need to adjust.

    But yeah, I agree you need to stop for your back. :\ I hope you get better!


    Thank you for your reply. I upped my calories because since I'm still about 60-70 pounds overweight I would burn anywhere from 700-1000 calories according to my HRM during an insanity workout. Before I found out about TDEE and BMR from the awesome CoachReddy I was only eating 1200 and I did lose 28 pounds from August-November it just stopped at 178 and since Janurary I've lost another 8 pounds when I started walking/running on the elliptical. Now that I cant do Insanity I dropped my calories down to 1500 again.

    700-1000 sounds way too high to me. I think a lot of these monitors overestimate how much we burn during cardio. The idea of being able to workout for just one hour and be able to eat a whole extra 1000 calories seems too good to be true. Over time you'll get a feel for how much your body really burns, and until then just realize you'll have to fiddle around. So if you add another program now and eat more as a result as you did before, and don't lose weight, make a mental note that you burn less than you think and reduce calories.

    Personally, I like to add things slowly. If I'm unhappy with how slow my weight loss is, I'll add just one day of cardio and leave my calories as is. If it's not enough, I'll add another day. If my weight loss speeds up too much, I'll add a bit more calories.
  • ctpeace
    ctpeace Posts: 327 Member
    I don't mean to be a downer, but a lot of the insanity burn comes from the jumping and twisting. I'm not sure how you're modifying the exercises, but you're likely over-calculating your burn, That said, keep it up! It's still worthwhile. You may need to adjust your calories downward. Also, consider a heartrate monitor, fitbit or other calorie-counting tool if you're having trouble gauging how much you should be eating and exercising to stay on track.
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
    You said you were using TDEE AND eating back exercise calories? TDEE already includes your activity level so you do nto eat them back in this method. That could be the problem - you are eating at your maintenance level by eating those calories back?
  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
    You said you were using TDEE AND eating back exercise calories? TDEE already includes your activity level so you do nto eat them back in this method. That could be the problem - you are eating at your maintenance level by eating those calories back?

    Not everyone calculates their TDEE with their exercise added in. If people are using heart rate monitors and will know more exactly what their cals are for exercise they may just do their normal everyday life by TDEE then adding in what their heart rate monitor says for exercise. and such

Categories