Confused about Caloric Intake for Insanity workouts.

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mamacita4life
mamacita4life Posts: 12 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am doing the Insanity workout plan and it has its own calorie intake. According to them I should be taking in at least 1900 calories to lose weight by their calculations. However, according to myfitnesspal, I should be only taking in 1200 calories. How do I know what is right. Does anyone know?

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  • ilovegreg05
    ilovegreg05 Posts: 96 Member
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    Trial and error, my friend.

    Started at 1900 if you like and if you don't lose - you'll know you need to eat less.
  • RuthieCass
    RuthieCass Posts: 247 Member
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    I am doing the Insanity workout plan and it has its own calorie intake. According to them I should be taking in at least 1900 calories to lose weight by their calculations. However, according to myfitnesspal, I should be only taking in 1200 calories. How do I know what is right. Does anyone know?

    Sounds like you either set a very large weekly weight loss goal (MFP won't let you go below 1200 calories/ day) and/or you set your activity level as sedentary. I'm not sure how the insanity program calculates these things. You can try 1200 for a while, but most people don't do well on that little calories, especially if doing intense exercise. A better way to do this is to set a moderate loss goal (say your TDEE - 15%) and correctly identify your activity level (probably lightly-moderately active, if you are working out a few times per week). Then do not eat back exercise calories. If you want to log your exercise, just put them as 1 calorie.
  • amoeni1
    amoeni1 Posts: 87 Member
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    I am currently doing insanity, in week 3, and have lost some weight and inches doing it with the almost 1900 calories that the guide tells me. The insanity workouts are intense and if you do anything active besides that your body will need those calories. I'd say try it at the higher number and record it for a week or two and if you dont like what you see then change the number, only your body well tell you whats right for you.
  • taylor_lynn
    taylor_lynn Posts: 27
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    Trial and error is right. 1900 was what Insanity told me to start with but I thought that was way too much so I dropped it to 1600. After 2 weeks of not losing any weight I decided to just go with MFP (1250) but I also add it all my calories burned (I use a heart rate monitory to accurately gauge burned calories). So I start with 1250, burn 400, that gives me 1650 to eat, but honestly I never eat back all the calories I burned, I typically eat around 1300-1400/day and that has seemed to work for me. If you don't lose any weight after a couple weeks, lower your calorie intake. If you start feeling dizzy, nauseous, sick, etc. you need to eat more.

    Good luck!
  • crazy8ts
    crazy8ts Posts: 360
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    When doing Insanity, I averaged a calorie burn between 500 and 750 per workout... If I was eating 1200 calories, and burning 500 to 700 a workout... it may behoove you to eat back those calories... hence your 1900ish calorie consumption...

    but that's just my guess...
  • mamacita4life
    mamacita4life Posts: 12 Member
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    That would explain why I feel dizzy and nauseous when exercising. I am starting to day with the new calorie regimen. I am going to see how this works. Someone explained it too me so I understand. If I take in 1900 calories but burn 4 or 500 doing insanity. I am actually only consuming 14 or 1500 calories. That doesn't seem that much. Which now terrifies me because I was only eating 1200 calories and burning with Insanity so I was only getting 700-800 calories, thats nothing. omgosh. no wonder my scale wasn't moving.
  • purch1977
    purch1977 Posts: 26 Member
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    I am also doing insanity and was starting to get concerned with the lack of weight loss so I popped in the app and recorded what I had consumed today compared to used and I still have over 900 calories to take in.
    I used the calculation in the nutrition book and I am supposed to be taking in around 2700 calories which is also really worrying?
    So was wondering if you had any results yet?
  • jonyappy
    jonyappy Posts: 1
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    I am confused as well because just today I started insanity and MFP put me 1200 calories a day and I feel that the 1900 calories is way to much for me. So I'm very confused about this. Also I'm new here on MFP so I'm completely lost in many things.
  • Gato87
    Gato87 Posts: 1
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    You want to be super careful about under eating when you're working out (and in general). I joined MFP about a month and a half ago, and I've lost 8 lbs taking in 1400 cals a day. I started insanity on the 25th of this month, and instantly bumped my caloric intake to 1900. I will watch that for a couple weeks, gauge how I feel, my measurements and along with my weight. Insanity says it's super important to do your measurements, as your scale might not move, but you may lose inches. This is because muscle weighs more than fat, and insanity will have you putting on muscle like nobody's business (if you're eating properly). I didn't buy the shake, nor am I following the 'food guide' but I do know what foods are good/bad, how to balance food throughout the day, and how to take care of myself pre/post work out. (Chocolate milk is one of the best post work out drinks on the market). It's a nice treat and helps bump up the calories if you're having difficulty reaching your goal. If you're not eating enough, you will get sick - your body will go into starvation mode. Starvation mode is kind of controversial. When you stop eating for short periods of time, your body uses your glycogen storages for energy. Glycogen storages are comprised mostly of water, so you will notice a bit of a drop on the scale, as soon as you eat however, they are replenished, and the scale goes back up. When you stop eating for prolonged periods of time, the glycogen storages are depleted and then your body burns other fuels (lean muscle mass, fat) - but this is extremely dangerous. There have been 'near starvation diet' studies done where people cut their BMR to 50% of what's recommended FOR 6 MONTHS (could you imagine? yuck.). They did continue to lose weight, and their metabolism slowed down (approximately %40) but they slimmed down to 5% body fat. This is a dangerous way to diet, and I don't think many dieticians or doctors would recommend it.

    I am not a doctor or a dietician,

    I just watched Hungry for Change a couple months ago and it has taken my world by storm lol. Anyways! To sum this all up, yes math says less calories, less weight but what's the point of starving yourself if you still don't feel good? The whole point of being 'healthy' and 'losing weight' is to FEEL GOOD. The big number may sound scary to you, but try it, and just pay attention to your body and how it reacts.
  • laylaness
    laylaness Posts: 262 Member
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    I was set at 1646 for doing 30 Day Shred. I stayed there and ate like 100 extra kcal for the first couple days of Insanity, but I was STARVING still, and this is while I'm on a daily medication that suppresses my appetite (though this is a side effect, NOT what I am taking it for). So I bumped up my goal to 1860 based on Scooby's Workshop and the Moderately Active setting, with TDEE -20%.

    It was hard to do mentally for the weight loss issue (and, let's face it, when most people on MFP say they struggle to eat their daily calories, it's a psychological thing where they're terrified they'll gain weight instead of lose), but it's been a week and a half, and I'm down a pound and already seeing changes in my body.

    I'm on week 2, for what it's worth, and this is my first round.

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