Calculating Daily Caloric Needs for Insanity

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Healthy_Hunnie
Healthy_Hunnie Posts: 60 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey All,

I would love some advice. I am in my second month of insanity. I had great results from my first month, but I seem to be having trouble determining my caloric needs for the second month. I would like to lose weight the healthy way and consistently over time.

I started gaining weight in my second month, but I think it was a mixture of good and bad weight, due to gaining muscle and a bad week of eating. Birthday Weekend primarily. Its been 2 weeks since then and I am still not losing weight so I tried to scale back my net calories to 1200 a day from 1400. This just isnt working for me. I am really tall (6'1") and I weigh about 180. 1400 worked well for the first month, but the second month work outs are too intense to stay that low, at least in my experience.I literally could not do my work out this morning because I was exhausted and had no energy.

Has anyone else used the calculation insanity provides to determine their daily intake? Its giving me a slightly scary number of 2200 cals a day. I want to do this right, but at the same time, I dont want to be over eating. And this number IS subtracting out 500 cals a day.

<b>Please please help me :) </b>


For the calculator - I searched in google "Insanity Calorie Calculator Excel" then about 4 options, down called "Insanity-Elite-Nutrition-Guide-Made-Easy3-1.xls - The Fit Club Network".. I would provide the link but its a document that you need to click on and open. No URL.

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Are you doing 1400 Net, or just 1400 cals. 1400 Net may be okay. That means if you burn 500 cals from insanity you would eat 1900 (1400+500). Even the lowest intake in the diet guide is 1700 cals.
  • Healthy_Hunnie
    Healthy_Hunnie Posts: 60 Member
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    I was aiming for 1400 net my first month, I tried doing 1200 net in my second month. But I am somewhat half assed, and dont work out on the weekends which leaves me no energy for the monday/tuesday work out because Im trying to eat only 2400-2700 cals all weekend.
  • ellew70
    ellew70 Posts: 222 Member
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    So when I did the calculation in the book it set me at 1800 - I'm 5 2, 42, started at 160 (now 135 insanity x2 later, just started Les Mills Combat on Monday!)

    1800 seemed like a lot to me, so I went to a flat 1500 (no eat back or anything, just a flat 1500 incoming) and it worked well for me. I had been on the MPF 1200 before, so it seemed like a lot. On days when I under ate significantly, I could tell the difference.

    I am thinking of going to 1400 on LMC because I think the calorie burn isn't quite as high.

    I would say just go to a flat 1500 or 1600 and see how it works for a few weeks. You can go up if you feel like you are bonking, or go down if you think it isn't working. The book is just guidelines based on averages.
  • Healthy_Hunnie
    Healthy_Hunnie Posts: 60 Member
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    Thanks for your advice! Do you eat that amount everyday whether you work out or not. I think thats a major flaw in my plan. If I dont do insanity, I act as if im not burning anything, when in reality, Im still doing quite a bit of walking and runnung around on the weekends. I walk pretty much everywhere due to visiting a college town where everything is walking distance. During the week, I have to drive everywhere.
  • ellew70
    ellew70 Posts: 222 Member
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    I don't vary... that being said, I was doing Insanity 6 of 7 days, so Shaun T was always there. That's the beauty of keeping level - I'm sure there were days that I was under, and some I was over, but it felt like it averaged out and I wasn't constantly guessing how much did I burn on my HRM (as if that's accurate). Predictable and easy to manage.

    I also felt like doing the 5 small meals really helped, but I'm sure there is little (or controversial) science behind that and that not everyone's job accommodates that. I did 40/40/20 macros. I didn't use the recipes in the book exclusively.

    Good luck to you!!!!

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