low carbs & insanity

Veeegataaarian? How do you get get 35% carb, 45% protein, 20% fat, I'm curious. I don't have much knowledge on vegetarian diets I'm just wondering where you consume most of your protein and how much of the other macros affect it. Carb seems favorable to vegetarians, no? But if you are going low carb, then upping your fat intake wouldn't hurt. Just know if you're going for more carb then you'll need to intensify your workout.

Your "insanity" isn't the same as everyone else either, I'd do that second round and see your improvement so you can have better judgement. You look good.

To see your abs, you have to lose fat. To lose fat, you eat at a calorie deficit. It doesn't matter what your macros are when your goal is simply to lose fat. You do not need to decrease your carbs to accomplish this, unless for some reason you just want to.

Hi there,
Many thanks for all your responses, i eat dairy just no meat or fish. I do have shakes after my work out and mixed in to make pancakes so that accounts for a lot, greek yoghurt, quorn and i also make a soup with cannelini, aduki beans and barley. But along with getting my protein from this there are loads of carbs.
I'm not over weight but know to see my abs i need to drop my body fat percentage and read some where that high protein, low carbs is the way forward. I also read that upping my fibre intake would do me good.
will have to look into hemp protein as i am currently on whey.
I am currently insanity and cycle around 6 miles a day on weekdays. My partner has lost 2 stone on the same programme but he had some weight to drop and i'd like to lose a little too.
Many thanks people for all your help,

As a disclaimer, I am not an expert, but this is what I have gathered from doing my research. In terms of scale weight, all you need is the almighty calorie deficit. So comparing to your partner who has lost scale weight, that is the most important thing.

In terms of body composition, different story. WHAT you eat (i.e. your macros) to make up your calorie total can make a difference. I believe the reasoning behind a higher protein diet is to help maintain your existing muscle mass ("feed the muscle") when you train while you lose that weight ("burn the fat"). Having said that, I have no idea how much impact a high protein diet *without* doing any strength training makes a diff.

Insanity is probably good for the full body strength training that will go along way with that first part of the equation of maintaining (or slightly increasing, due to beginner gains) your existing muscles. As you do strength training, your body will put that protein to good use for muscle repair, etc. In a use it or lose it scenario, you want to keep as much muscle as you've got so that the fat is what gets burned off (revealing the hot abs you've got underneath the fat).

Between whey, eggs, and yoghurt, how much protein do you get on average? I tend personally not to focus too much on carbs themselves, as I prioritize hitting my ~100g of protein a day while staying within my calorie limit. The next number I personally work towards hitting is my fibre intake (I read that women should get at least 25g/day, I aim for 30-40g + tons of water...again...the higher protein has had some impact in my "output" :P)

This seems to steadily be having the desired effect for me. 2 months into my lifestyle change now, and I am really starting to see where the layers of fat are disappearing. I didn't have a lot (if any) scale weight to lose in the first place, and to be honest, I haven't yet, but like you, I want to lower my BF% (and am apparently succeeding...I would eyeball estimate from ~23% to 21ish).

Chris Powell's carb cycling diet...I tried Atkkins, Low Carbs, etc,,,,Chris Powell's carb cycling diet has been the ONLY thing I can utilize AND have lost those last 10 lbs! PLUS you get a cheat day! Look him up!

hey grandevampire,
many thanks for your informative response, maybe i'm overthinking it. I'm not sure if the amounts on mfp is measured overall in grams but it has my protein at 190 something and my carbs at 149 which i may need to look at lowering. My sugar count is minimal. i will re *kitten* fibre and how i can up that count.
Possibly i'm being too hard on myself and need to take measurements again to verify that body fat is coming off all be it slowly but whilst i can see physical changes elsewhere my tum is the last place i am seeing definition but i understand this can be the case.
i must be at a deficit with carrying out insanity and cycling as well and 1700 calories but am possibly gaining a little muscle - or at least i am hoping so.
i may possibly look at upping my protein another 5% and drop carbs by the same amount, a lot of this journey is trial and error and i will pesevere. All best with your journey too it looks like you have it all figured out and are doing well.
Many thanks everybody for your advice & help

Tum fat is generally the last to go, I've heard, so that in itself would be pretty normal. It's a bit late to go back and take before photos, but you could always take some now and continue to track your progress. That was initially the only way I was convinced anything had physically changed in addition to the other complementary benefits of exercise. (I am doing P90X and progress pics are encouraged. I didn't think anything of it and figured what the heck, but now I'm realizing that it is nice to have something concrete to be able to take a step back and compare for sure.)

Are you eating 1700 calories total, or are you logging your exercise and as a result eating a total of 1700+Insanity/biking? You sound as if you're exercising a lot, so that would make a big diff. On my hard workout days, I eat about 1900 calories (I am 5'8.5", 132 lbs), and I still am seeing (slow) fat change in the abdominal area. It is often strongly encouraged on here to try upping your calories a little, reducing your deficit, to see if it helps with your training and metabolism as you get within 10 lbs of your goal weight. As it's not a race, it might be worth a shot for a month or two to see if that does anything positive/negative regarding your body changes.

190g of protein sounds really really high..........To confirm, you can go to My Home > Goals, and you'll see it with the units. The *highest* reasonable estimated target I have seen (i.e. not a bodybuilder saying they want 1.5-2g per lb of body weight) is 1g/lb. Other people say less than that is sufficient, something like 1g/lb of lean body mass or 1.4 - 1.6 per kg. Obviously, these are slightly arbitrary estimations, but 190g sounds way above those for your weight. [Anyone else want to weigh in here??]

I don't see why you would have to further lower your carbs unless you were following some specific diet that you want to be following. I have my macros set at 40/30/30 and it seems to be working out. I think it depends on the person, so you can play around with that a bit, but if you are already only having 100g and cut them even more, for me, that would be if you are following a specific very low carb plan? If your goal is just to lose the tummy fat, I wouldn't think that would be necessary for that particular reason. I admit I haven't looked into the overall health benefits of very low carb diets, and I am not really that interested at this point as what I'm doing seems to be working.

I wish I had it all figured out!! I seem to spend a lot of time reading blogs, looking up articles, and generally trying to sort the likely-to-be-legitimate notions from the fanatical, unreliable, or "bro science" information. I finally think I have a rounded enough perspective to even be able to hit reply on one of these threads. I agree totally that it is trial and error, because at the end of the day, the only reliable evidence isn't on the internet, it's your own body.

Hey grande vampire and kahxdoom many thanks, I am eating 1700 cals in total I don't take away exercise cals but I'm scared of upping in case I put on the weight. I must look at fibre and how i can gain a little fibre in my diet. Will check out Chris Powell too sounds like it could be of use. Definitely food for thought people thanks for taking the time to comment every body and I hope I reach what ever goals you have :-)

Don't fear trying to eat more calories, as if you think about it, one day you will need to maintain your goal weight, and that will have you eating quite a bit more daily without gaining any meaningful amount of weight (I wouldn't eat at a deficit forever after it becomes unnecessary). I started, like most, at 1200 calories a day, then I started working out and it was obviously making me low energy. I upped to 1400, then 1500, and now a base of 1600 PLUS my workout cals (350 - 400 depending on my 1 hour workout), and I haven't *gained* weight. Each increase, I initially saw maybe 1 kg for a day or two, but it always went back down. The only time it started climbing beyond the adjustment phase was when I started trying a base of 1900 + workout (I was overestimating my TDEE using online calculators, I discovered I am much more sedentary at work than I expected once I got a FitBit. I go for hours without doing more than walking to the bathroom once in a while.) Having said that, I haven't steadily lost weight either, but as I mentioned before, I don't believe I have much scale weight to lose healthily at 5'8"/132 lbs, just fat.

I also forgot to mention before to keep an eye out if you do for whatever reason further increase your protein intake. I have read that excess protein can put strain on your kidneys (as what your body cannot use will get filtered/excreted), so if you see cloudy pee, dial it back. Again, I wouldn't see a reason to push it to that point though, 1g/lb of weight is most likely sufficient for a general fitness regime.

I also have not tried Insanity myself, but it seems cardio heavy. What has probably changed my body the most doing P90X has been the upper body resistance workouts like pull-ups, so as others have also said, trying to incorporate more resistance/strength into your plan might make the difference you're looking for. I don't even use dumbbells/bar (yet), just a heavy resistance band.