not losing weight with "Insanity" program??

KLynn163
KLynn163 Posts: 9
in Health and Weight Loss
ok so here's the thing! i'm gonna be on the second week of month 2 of insanity tomorrow. i've lost only 3 pounds so far, and havent seen much difference in the mirror or with pictures. the nutrition guide tells me to eat 1800 calories, but i've been eating about 1600 for most weeks. i'm thinking of increasing it to 1750 calories + adding in a treadmill workout or insanity fast n furious workout each day along with the normal schedule. (i'm a 19 yr old girl, 5'4, 143 pounds...i wanna lose about 15 lbs) what do you think, will this help me lose weight???thank you a tonnnn for any advice/suggestions!!

Replies

  • chefwrx
    chefwrx Posts: 59 Member
    You want to lose 15 pounds over what period of time? What are you eating (can't see you diary)? The additional cardio you are adding to you plan may be counterproductive...
  • KLynn163
    KLynn163 Posts: 9
    You want to lose 15 pounds over what period of time? What are you eating (can't see you diary)? The additional cardio you are adding to you plan may be counterproductive...

    i'd love to lose it by the end of november..i'm 143 right now, i'd loveee to be about 135 by the end of october at least. I'm eating pretty clean...i drink shakeology every morning for breakfast, eat veggies every day, i try to eat chicken breast as much as possible, and i'll have a protein shake most days. i haven't been eating junk at all except for the occasional treat, but other than that i have nooo idea why i'm not losing :/
  • Touji
    Touji Posts: 32 Member
    You probably have a combination of problems going on here.

    I calculated your basal metabolic rate, which will determine how many calories your body would naturally burn doing nothing but sleeping for 24 hours. Your BMR is 1489 calories per day - you can round it up to 1500 or down to 1450 for functional purposes (I'll use 1500).

    However, My Fitness Pal does a different calculation - it takes into account your lifestyle and assumes you don't spend 24 hours a day in bed. On one hand, this is good because it's more realistic - on the other hand, it's bad because you won't lose as much weight. ***You may have the wrong profile type set - check for "sedentary" and click that one.

    Usually, you'd eat 500 calories BELOW your BMR if you wanted to lose 1 pound a week, which means eating approximately 1000 calories a day. This poses some risk because you will probably lose muscle along with fat when doing this. You should eat 1200 calories a day minimum to lose weight healthily. Therefore, I'll divide the rest of this post into unhealthy and healthy weight loss.


    THESE PLANS -DO NOT- COUNT IN EXERCISE AND ARE BASED ON YOUR BMR:

    ----HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS----
    -Eat 1200 calories a day, for a calorie deficit of approx. 300 calories a day. (1500 - 1200 = 300)
    -This 300-per-day deficit adds up to 2100 calories a week
    -You will lose roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of a pound a week.

    ----UNHEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS----
    -Eat 1000 calories a day, for a calorie deficit of approx. 500 calories a day. (1500 - 1000 = 500)
    -This 500-per-day deficit adds up to 3500 calories a week
    -You will lose 1 pound a week.



    ***The way you count food may also be hampering your weight loss. Weigh your vegetables before you eat them and calculate how much calories they are EXACTLY. Similarly, do the same with meat before you cook it. Count the oil and spices you use as well.
  • fivethreeone
    fivethreeone Posts: 8,196 Member
    You probably have a combination of problems going on here.

    I calculated your basal metabolic rate, which will determine how many calories your body would naturally burn doing nothing but sleeping for 24 hours. Your BMR is 1489 calories per day - you can round it up to 1500 or down to 1450 for functional purposes (I'll use 1500).

    However, My Fitness Pal does a different calculation - it takes into account your lifestyle and assumes you don't spend 24 hours a day in bed. On one hand, this is good because it's more realistic - on the other hand, it's bad because you won't lose as much weight. ***You may have the wrong profile type set - check for "sedentary" and click that one.

    Usually, you'd eat 500 calories BELOW your BMR if you wanted to lose 1 pound a week, which means eating approximately 1000 calories a day. This poses some risk because you will probably lose muscle along with fat when doing this. You should eat 1200 calories a day minimum to lose weight healthily. Therefore, I'll divide the rest of this post into unhealthy and healthy weight loss.


    THESE PLANS -DO NOT- COUNT IN EXERCISE AND ARE BASED ON YOUR BMR:

    ----HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS----
    -Eat 1200 calories a day, for a calorie deficit of approx. 300 calories a day. (1500 - 1200 = 300)
    -This 300-per-day deficit adds up to 2100 calories a week
    -You will lose roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of a pound a week.

    ----UNHEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS----
    -Eat 1000 calories a day, for a calorie deficit of approx. 500 calories a day. (1500 - 1000 = 500)
    -This 500-per-day deficit adds up to 3500 calories a week
    -You will lose 1 pound a week.



    ***The way you count food may also be hampering your weight loss. Weigh your vegetables before you eat them and calculate how much calories they are EXACTLY. Similarly, do the same with meat before you cook it. Count the oil and spices you use as well.

    THIS IS FALSE.

    You should not be eating less than your BMR, and certainly not 500 calories less.

    You should be eating about 500 less than your TDEE, which is the number that takes into account your activity level.

    Your BMR is the bare minimum that you should EVER eat, and doing an exercise program as intense as insanity, you should be eating a total of between 1800 and 1900 calories a day.
  • Will_Thrust_For_Candy
    Will_Thrust_For_Candy Posts: 6,109 Member
    First off, it's 500 calories below your TDEE NOT your BMR (to the above poster)

    Are you weighing and measuring your food? Are you logging accurately and honestly? Are you just following what the Insanity guideline tells you to based on that alone or have you cross referenced with other methods such as the MFP method or a TDEE method?

    At the end of the day weight loss comes down to calories in vs calories out. If you aren't losing it's because you are eating too much for your activity level.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
    You probably have a combination of problems going on here.

    I calculated your basal metabolic rate, which will determine how many calories your body would naturally burn doing nothing but sleeping for 24 hours. Your BMR is 1489 calories per day - you can round it up to 1500 or down to 1450 for functional purposes (I'll use 1500).

    However, My Fitness Pal does a different calculation - it takes into account your lifestyle and assumes you don't spend 24 hours a day in bed. On one hand, this is good because it's more realistic - on the other hand, it's bad because you won't lose as much weight. ***You may have the wrong profile type set - check for "sedentary" and click that one.

    Usually, you'd eat 500 calories BELOW your BMR if you wanted to lose 1 pound a week, which means eating approximately 1000 calories a day. This poses some risk because you will probably lose muscle along with fat when doing this. You should eat 1200 calories a day minimum to lose weight healthily. Therefore, I'll divide the rest of this post into unhealthy and healthy weight loss.


    THESE PLANS -DO NOT- COUNT IN EXERCISE AND ARE BASED ON YOUR BMR:

    ----HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS----
    -Eat 1200 calories a day, for a calorie deficit of approx. 300 calories a day. (1500 - 1200 = 300)
    -This 300-per-day deficit adds up to 2100 calories a week
    -You will lose roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of a pound a week.

    ----UNHEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS----
    -Eat 1000 calories a day, for a calorie deficit of approx. 500 calories a day. (1500 - 1000 = 500)
    -This 500-per-day deficit adds up to 3500 calories a week
    -You will lose 1 pound a week.



    ***The way you count food may also be hampering your weight loss. Weigh your vegetables before you eat them and calculate how much calories they are EXACTLY. Similarly, do the same with meat before you cook it. Count the oil and spices you use as well.
    NO.
  • mikenelson20
    mikenelson20 Posts: 44 Member
    I agree, 15 pounds in 7 weeks, for a girl your size, that is tough. I don't think you will be able to drop that much weight without losing lean muscle mass. Lots of people often say they don't see the scale move when on Insanity but say they are much more toned. Have you done any measurements to compare? I have done a round of it and found it to be quite the opposite. I was, however, extremely diligent in logging every I ate. I always weighed everything possible. For someone like you, even if you have 10% error in your logging, that adds up to almost 200 calories a day. For someone as small as you that can affect your weight loss. And if you are going to go to 1200 calorie diet you must eat back your calories from Insanity. You probably burn closer to 500 calories per workout (for month 2). That would leave you only 700 calories to live off of.
  • silken555
    silken555 Posts: 478 Member
    Um...the BMR thing is incorrect. You don't eat below your BMR. You eat below your TDEE.

    Klynn...I quickly entered your stats in the scoobi calculator and put you as sedentary as I don't know your daily happenings. At that setting, your BMR is 1482 and your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure which is how much you would eat to maintain your current weight) is 1778. Because you have so little to lose a 2lb/week goal is too much for healthy weight loss. I therefore chose to calculate your TDEE-15%. That would give you a calorie goal of 1512 daily. With TDEE you do jot eat your exercise cals back.

    I agree with the person who said extra cardio is unnecessary. Exercise is only for health and to help you look better as you lose.

    Now if you actually aren't lying about in bed all day then I would suggest going to the site to recalculate your TDEE-15%.

    Here's the link: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Forgot to add that calculators like the above are still only estimates. You need to try the suggested calorie intake for at least 3-4 weeks before you increase or lower their amount. If after that amount of time you are either still maintaining or gaining lower the cal intake by 100 and try for another few weeks and repeat until you start losing.
  • mikenelson20
    mikenelson20 Posts: 44 Member
    Sorry missed that. I skimmed the thread to quickly. They are right you should never go below you BMR. Calculate your TDEE to maintain your current weight (should be around 2000 calories) then multiply this by 20%. This 20% should be deficit that you are trying to create to loss fat. So if your TDEE is 2000 calories then a 20% is equal to 400 calories. 1600 calories will give a safe deficit and you should not lose any lean muscle. This will give you about 3/4 pound per week. So your 15 pounds in 7 weeks is just too unrealistic. Don't set yourself up for failure. Take the time to do it right.
  • TheFitHooker
    TheFitHooker Posts: 3,357 Member
    Keep in mind that with working out muscles as intense of a workout that insanity is, you risk the chance of retaining water in your muscles. You might not see a loss at all till the end. Don't get discouraged by it, take your measurements once a month and take your photo's once a month. It's a great workout if you can handle doing it. I quit because I personally didn't like it, I love T25 though.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    You probably have a combination of problems going on here.

    I calculated your basal metabolic rate, which will determine how many calories your body would naturally burn doing nothing but sleeping for 24 hours. Your BMR is 1489 calories per day - you can round it up to 1500 or down to 1450 for functional purposes (I'll use 1500).

    However, My Fitness Pal does a different calculation - it takes into account your lifestyle and assumes you don't spend 24 hours a day in bed. On one hand, this is good because it's more realistic - on the other hand, it's bad because you won't lose as much weight. ***You may have the wrong profile type set - check for "sedentary" and click that one.

    Usually, you'd eat 500 calories BELOW your BMR if you wanted to lose 1 pound a week, which means eating approximately 1000 calories a day. This poses some risk because you will probably lose muscle along with fat when doing this. You should eat 1200 calories a day minimum to lose weight healthily. Therefore, I'll divide the rest of this post into unhealthy and healthy weight loss.


    THESE PLANS -DO NOT- COUNT IN EXERCISE AND ARE BASED ON YOUR BMR:

    ----HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS----
    -Eat 1200 calories a day, for a calorie deficit of approx. 300 calories a day. (1500 - 1200 = 300)
    -This 300-per-day deficit adds up to 2100 calories a week
    -You will lose roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of a pound a week.

    ----UNHEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS----
    -Eat 1000 calories a day, for a calorie deficit of approx. 500 calories a day. (1500 - 1000 = 500)
    -This 500-per-day deficit adds up to 3500 calories a week
    -You will lose 1 pound a week.

    Um, no. Just no.
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    OP, I would find a good tdee calculator, take around 500, track diligently and weigh everything. and adjust according to your results.
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    Also, can you open your diary? Some people may be able to provide feedback. How are your weekends? anything untracked? Do you weight your food? There are alot of factors. 3 lbs down is still 3 lbs down. You are closer to your goal and the weight is going to be coming off slower.
  • tarag1993
    tarag1993 Posts: 3
    I am also 19 and doing this program, at first I lost a lot of weight really fast. buttttttt all in all I am not worried about losing the weight. im more worried about looking and feeling better.... since you are 19and 5'4" and at your current weight you probably will not lose that weight as fast as you want in a healthy way. Do you feel better about the way you look yet?
  • silken555
    silken555 Posts: 478 Member
    Also forgot to mention that you have to recalculate at some point seeing as caloric needs change as you lose.

    I suggest recalculating after you've lost 5-7 lbs. When you do, select TDEE-10% seeing as at that point you'll be very close to goal.
  • asmylie80
    asmylie80 Posts: 60 Member
    I am doing this program too. The only thing is I got sick the end of the second week with a cold. Stopped working out and the weight started falling off. I think, at least I found, that When i started my body held on to the weight.... I think it wants to turn all the fat into muscle and it knows if it looses fat it may not have enough to endure such a workout. I measured myself when I started... I have lost 9 inches (mostly in my hips) I like that. So I keep going. When I started back up again my body stopped loosing weight, I didn't change anything about the way I eat. So I think that it is just turning to muscle... and boy do I feel better! Thats all that matters right?!? I look better too. f*c* the scale, It doesn't know anything. FYI my Body fat percent went from 41-31% in those 3 weeks (after the week i was sick)
    About me 5 foot 1 139 pounds eating 1200 per day ( I don't eat exercise calories)
  • suerop
    suerop Posts: 8 Member
    Try to remember, you may not be seeing as much actual weight loss as you would like, but you should be seeing improvement in your body, such as better muscle tone. Don't let the scale create havoc in your body and life.
  • LCFulmer
    LCFulmer Posts: 183 Member
    My best advise talk to a health care professional... In person.
  • frugalfitmom
    frugalfitmom Posts: 12
    I only lost 4 lbs in 60 days with Insanity, but I lost 20 inches overall. Are you measuring as well as using the scale? If I had just gone by the scale, I'd have given up. 5 inches gone from my waist...I'll take! :)
  • Avrakadabra
    Avrakadabra Posts: 1
    Go full speed. Listen to everything Shawn T says. I lost 22 pounds in 34 days with insanity, I am on month 2 second week right now. Just go full speed, make your fat cry, make your body a human oven and make your fat cry for mercy, forget about your humanity, don't take rests, GO FULL SPEED. LOSE your humanity, and you'll see ;) I even grew packs in just 30 days with insanity.
  • ihateroses
    ihateroses Posts: 893 Member
    Are you modifying a lot of moves?
  • jodyb23
    jodyb23 Posts: 101 Member
    I lost almost no weight with insanity and logging calories. I did lose inches and build muscle and my fitness level, but for weight loss it's not something I'd do again. Everyone's different but a less intense program is what finally helps me get the scale moving.

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