Insanity Calorie Counting

Okay, I *think* I'm struggling with my caloric intake. I've followed the formula from this... http://www.teamunify.com/cast/__doc__/Insanity Nutrition Guide.pdf starting on page 10.

I'm a female, 5'2, currently 134.4 and 33 years old. My goal is to lose and my final caloric intake (with moderate activity) shows 1633. Keep in mind, that's with the 500 calorie deficit intended to lose.

My two questions are this....

1. Why does that seem like so many calories? I adjusted my calorie intake to 1390 because I seem satisfied at the end of the day with that. I just don't want to do any harm to my body or have my body store fat because it thinks I'm in starvation mode.

2. When using this formula, it's calculating your activity level. Do you think it's because it A - assists with the metabolic burn each day or B - it's assuming how many calories you will more thank likely burn during a workout.

I'm asking because on MFP, I have 1390 listed as my goal. When I do exercise though, I add those calories burned. So, some days I'm under my goal of 1390 by 250 (because of exercise) and other days I'm right at my goal of 1390 because I'll eat that 250 I burned.

I know, this is so confusing! I just want to be sure that it's okay to eat those calories back some days without ruining my goal of weight loss.

I hope this makes sense!!

Replies

  • @Andriachelle1,

    By "standard' norm for women no less than 1500 I believe (google that). So doing Insanity will require you to really increase cal to keep up with the intensity of it, (energy) burns like crazy. You will starve with Insanity if 1390 is what you normally consume.

    1390 cals, how long have you been at that calorie level?
  • Darkladymelz
    Darkladymelz Posts: 9 Member
    I just worked out my calorie intake using the equation in that document and it says I should be consuming 2300 calories a day and that includes taking off the 500 calories for weight loss. That is ridiculous! I'm 190lbs and along with my wallking the insanity workout is the only exercise I do. If I eat that many calories I will be gaining weight not losing!

    I'm just going to stick to eating between 1200 - 1500 calories a day, I seem to be doing ok with that.
  • andriachelle1
    andriachelle1 Posts: 8 Member
    @Andriachelle1,

    By "standard' norm for women no less than 1500 I believe (google that). So doing Insanity will require you to really increase cal to keep up with the intensity of it, (energy) burns like crazy. You will starve with Insanity if 1390 is what you normally consume.

    1390 cals, how long have you been at that calorie level?


    Well, I was at 1200 for almost 3 months (at least 5 days out of the week) with minimal exercise. Now that I started Insanity, I increased it to the 1390. Some days I would eat some of those calories back though....

    Ex: Monday 04/29

    Goal 1390
    Exercise 230
    I ate 1450

    So "technically" I was under my goal of 1390

    Since I've started Insanity, I've been so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. Really. Totally exhausted. Maybe that's my issue. I need to focus on putting 1500 calories in my body. I'll start today and see how I feel. Thanks for your input! I just think I'm so scared to ruin any progress. :smile:
  • andriachelle1
    andriachelle1 Posts: 8 Member
    I just worked out my calorie intake using the equation in that document and it says I should be consuming 2300 calories a day and that includes taking off the 500 calories for weight loss. That is ridiculous! I'm 190lbs and along with my wallking the insanity workout is the only exercise I do. If I eat that many calories I will be gaining weight not losing!

    I'm just going to stick to eating between 1200 - 1500 calories a day, I seem to be doing ok with that.

    It's quite scary isn't it? But from what I researched last night, it seems accurate. I just think that's a big step in calories for both of us. I don't want to ruin any progress but then again, I don't want to hit a plateau or damage my body. Maybe you could try it with me for one week - I'm starting today and will do 1500. Maybe you should try 1500-2000. Let me know if you decide!
  • ghsfitnesspal
    ghsfitnesspal Posts: 260 Member
    I decided to step it up a bit too - I've been between 1700-2000 for a coupla days, and only one of those was with cake making up the cals :P I'm vegetarian too, so its that tiny bit harder to boost protein and cals without adding a heckuva lot of fat.
  • KristaHuyer
    KristaHuyer Posts: 57
    I was at 1300 as well for a while, and did the calorie counter with insanity and it brought me up to like 1640. I have been STRUGGLING to eat that much, but hopefully with insanity starting I will need more food. I literally just haven't been able to eat that much! It makes sense though.. the more you work out, the more you need to eat. and the more we eat, the more we burn!!
  • Darkladymelz
    Darkladymelz Posts: 9 Member
    I just worked out my calorie intake using the equation in that document and it says I should be consuming 2300 calories a day and that includes taking off the 500 calories for weight loss. That is ridiculous! I'm 190lbs and along with my wallking the insanity workout is the only exercise I do. If I eat that many calories I will be gaining weight not losing!

    I'm just going to stick to eating between 1200 - 1500 calories a day, I seem to be doing ok with that.

    It's quite scary isn't it? But from what I researched last night, it seems accurate. I just think that's a big step in calories for both of us. I don't want to ruin any progress but then again, I don't want to hit a plateau or damage my body. Maybe you could try it with me for one week - I'm starting today and will do 1500. Maybe you should try 1500-2000. Let me know if you decide!

    I'll try 1500-2000 for a while and see what happens. I never seem to feel full eating 1200-1500, i get late night munchies. Maybe uping my calories during the day will help. They do say if you don't eat enough calories you can send your body into starvation mode and therefore your body starts to store anything you do eat as fat (or something like that).

    I think as long as I'm pushing myself to workout as much as i can i should se results.
  • So how has it been going thus far? Have you noticed fatigue or lack of intensity in workouts or bonking out in the evenings? I know it seems strange to eat so much, but it does work and has a method behind it.
    I just wanted to check in with you ladies that decided to alter the intake and see how things are going about 1 week in. :D
  • ghsfitnesspal
    ghsfitnesspal Posts: 260 Member
    I'm finding that the only thing that knocks me out when Im in a session is not having had enough sleep the night before. Cals mare varying between 1400 and 1900, and Im starting to try and eat up to the 1900 ignoring if I go over any macros....

    3kg up in the last 4 months though so if they go again I'll know it's working