islaybower

Birth control (I will NEVER touch a hormonal contraceptive again), and then pregnancy (once I'd stopped the birth control, I hasten to add!) I really believe that stuff that mucks with your hormones if you have no underlying hormonal issues that need fixing it Not A Good Thing now, and really regret the decade or so I…

I'm currently doing Insanity, which I love, but although it has strength (own body weight, rather than weights), it's largely cardio, so possibly not what you're looking for. Definitely a fab workout though! Body revolution sounds great, I think I'm going to have a couple of weeks off after Insanity then tackle it. ChaLean…

I can't really, as I'm only on 0.5lb per week weight loss, so I can easily cancel out my week's deficit with a binge day. Saying that, on days where I do a lot of exercise I will allow myself whatever I want up to my calorie limit (and sometimes a bit beyond, if I know I can balance it out later in the week). I ALWAYS eat…

18% for a woman is a very impressive fat %! I recall reading that 8-12% is a bear minimum for functioning (for women), and 'athlete' body fat is 14-18%. So really you don't want to lose more than another couple of percent! I'm trying to shift my last 10lbs or so, which will take me down to something like 20% body fat, and…

Sounds like you'll be doing all the right things, but definitely agree with others saying you hardly need any more calories - certainly no more than 300 per day, and I think it maybe goes up to 500 more per day for the last few weeks?. Make sure you are getting plenty of nutrients and vitamins for your calories (your own…

Three days? I've only just changed weight after being the same weight for SIX WEEKS. As others have said, it's much more unusual to have changed every day than to have stayed the same for 3 days. Give it a couple of weeks, and if there's still no change maybe think about mixing up your exercise or calories a little, but it…

Opening up your diary would enable us to give more advice :) Are you exercising lots? Is that why you're netting fewer calories? High calorie snacks include nuts, dried fruit, full fat greek yoghurt, toast with whatever you can spread on it, the list is endless! Don't fill up too much on veggies if you're struggling to…

You're not big (sorry, nosed your info on your profile!), so that seems like a realistic calorie burn. From reading the forums here, the elliptical seems to be the most optimistic machine EVER. I don't think anyone has ever burned what the elliptical says they do.

My diary isn't perfect, but feel free to take a look! We shop on a bit of a budget, so not much meat, but plenty of fish (I appreciate you say you don't eat this, but there are so many types! Can you get your family into a tuna mayo sandwich or something as a beginning?), lentils, chickpeas, eggs (frittata is your friend…

I normally measure it, and depending on how my macros are I reduce the flaxseed/hazelnut butter (I struggle with my fat more than anything else normally) if required. I don't have a straight up nutritional assessment for it because I change it every time, but it varies from 200-350 calories and 12-20g protein.

Yup, blend until smooth. I'm not a massive fan of cottage cheese straight, but blended with ice till it's smooth it's a great protein addition.

I make my own shakes (no powder, just cottage cheese, yoghurt, milk, nut butter with fruit or whatever), but I'm definitely a slow drinker, not a chugger! Because they're made with proper yummy ingredients they taste nice enough not to chug. I imagine I would chug something if it tasted gross. My favourite recipe at the…

Most gym machines over-estimate, so your HRM is probably more accurate. Neither is absolutely perfect, but HRMs are generally more accurate than gym machines.

I burn slightly more (measured with my HRM) than I was inputting when I was using "circuit training" or "high impact aerobics" to guesstimate my calorie burn for each session, but they actually aren't far off what I'm burning, so not bad in terms of estimating. Play it safe and don't eat back ALL the calories you burn, and…

400 calls for a 50 min class sounds about right to me. Maybe your friend's monitor is malfunctioning? Or she is bigger?

Your 'new' numbers sound at the low end of average, but not completely unrealistic. I'm not an expert in HRMs, so I can't comment on the brand as a whole, but it's not impossible that you'd be burning those figures. 58 is a good healthy resting heart rate, so you're obviously reasonably fit, as you say. Could you maybe get…

I have at least one rest day a week (I'll usually go for a walk or something, but only a leisurely one with my kids) and I always notice a slight improvement in my cardio and strength on my first day back after resting compared to my sixth day of exercising. Some weeks I take two rest days, if I've really pushed myself…

I am in no way an athlete, but I have done 30 Day Shred a couple of times and was up to Level 3 in Ripped (and I run a few times a week, but not hard), and fancied a change from Jillian. I'm finding Insanity tough, but not so tough that I feel I'm never ever going to be able to keep up with the people in it. I can imagine…

I have saddlebags, and it's only now I'm down to 140lbs and fit enough to REALLY work out hard that they're beginning to go down a bit. I think if that's where you store weight, the only solution is to lose more, sadly :grumble: I'm sure there are some strengthening exercises that will improve muscle tone underneath (any…

I breakout if: a) I exercise and don't wash my face really soon after b) I eat more than a very occasional bit of processed food c) I don't wash my face morning and evening. Even if i've been make up free I need to cleanse and moisturise d) I use cleansers that are too harsh

Hi, I'm Jo and I just started Insanity a couple of days ago. I am so impressed with the workouts, a really great mix of super-high intensity intervals and proper genuine rests in between. I'm also on a mission to kick the last 5-10lbs (haven't really decided on a target weight yet, depends on how I look!) and tone up a bit…

My kids won't let me have a day without even a stroll (I think we'd all go a little crazy), but I ensure I have at least one day a week where I am not doing any formal workout - running or Insanity, at the minute. Sometimes I end up having two days, but as I fit in two workouts three days a week and one workout the other…

I think I'm fit. Not an athlete, but fit for my life. I can jog 5k without absolutely dying, I can get through a first-month Insanity workout, I can chase my kids all day, and I'm not so bone tired at the end of the day that I can't be bothered to brush my teeth before falling into bed. I'd like to be fitter though, hence…

Just a quick check - did you subtract the last but of the sum instead of adding it? I was all excited that I had loads and loads of calories, then realised I had added instead of subtracting one bit. Whoops!

I don't really enjoy green tea, but I absolutely swear by matcha powder - I mix 1g with a shot of water every morning and gulp it down, then I'm done for the day! It may be placebo or coincidence, but I was stuck on a major plateau and when I started drinking the matcha the weight started to shift, and I'm also convinced I…

I've just done day 2 of Insanity (the first workout, did the fit test yesterday), and I am SO impressed with it! It's such a well thought out workout. Exactly the right amount of recovery time between the evil circuits. I've just done all my measurements and I'm really hoping it will helpon break me through the 140lb…

I'm not a massive clean eater (I try, but I don't do it religiously), but I would say full fat is more 'clean' than anything that's been tampered with to reduce fat. But then, it all comes down to your own definition of clean. I have absolutely no problems with dairy (heck, half my protein is dairy!), but I know lots of…

I've read a whole slew of weightless books too, and have eventually come to the conclusion that: (a) different things work for different people - some love the rules of low carb, some are calorie counters, some like 'points' or 'red' days or 'green days' or concentrating on macros. There's a solution for everyone, and…

Another vote for Shred. Your diary's empty for the past few days (unless it's my slow computer not loading it again), but really keeping an eye on making sure you're getting enough protein and fat and not too many carbs helped me make the most of my last round of Shred -I look much more toned than when I was just eating…

Did the 45 minute class include a warm up and cool down? If it did then 161 calories is a not-unrealistic burn for 30 minutes of actual exercise. Most calorie calculators online are HUGELY optimistic - I only burn something like 180 calories doing 30 minutes of circuit training, but most online calculators have me burning…