contingencyplan Member

This is my personal observation and opinion: There is a belief shared by many that taking this concept of logging and micromanagement to THAT level is a sign that you have taken it to an unhealthy obsession. While this is not true in many cases, I think it is a valid and logical fear given the prevalence of eating…

Whey protein does not contain anything that causes a person to bulk up. There are specific protein shake blends designed for bulking that have added fats and carbohydrates sources leading to much higher calorie content. These will cause you to bulk up. Regular whey protein shake mix does not. Also, there is no such thing…

It's no better or worse than doing it using the specific meals listed in the Insanity nutrition guide. It'll probably save you money in the long run because the specific combination of foods you need to stick to the recipes outlined in the nutrition guide will run up your grocery bill a LOT.

I purchase prepackaged single serving quantities of foods I know I struggle with, such as Doritos. Additionally, for things like pizza, I go out to places that give you pizza by the slice and I never ever get delivery unless I have my sister's kids over.

You are going to screw something up and badly. You are going to injure yourself. Pick one and do only that one.

You're going to have to prioritize one over the other in order to see significant progression in either one, while doing the other as more of a supplemental thing. For injury prevention's sake, strength training should ALWAYS take priority over anything else in your regimen simply due to how sufficient rest can further…

Resisted cardio is not the same as strength training. In order to stimulate muscle growth, the resistance should be at such a high level of intensity that the repetitions needed in order to reach a state of fatigue can be counted on two hands. Otherwise all you're stimulating is endurance/cardiovascular fitness. You're not…

Generally speaking it's best not to attempt any high impact workouts when you are obese/very overweight, as your knees cannot safely handle the stress. And many of the moves in Insanity cannot be safely modified. The program was put together for people who are already reasonably fit trying to get even fitter. Bear that in…

From what it sounds like you would better benefit from switching to a program that is not so demanding on already having a high fitness level. You could modify the schedule and individual workouts, yes, but you would get better results if you were to just do a program that is designed from the ground up for your current…

Anorexia is not a weight but a psychological issue that is just one of the many ways (others are medical) that can lead you to such an unhealthily low weight. Yes, you need to gain and badly.

This is not a result of MFP. It is an issue with your fitbit (personally I don't understand why people use those things--all they do is cause problems with logging). Fitbit will actually deduct from your calories "earned" throughout the day if it deems that your activity level is not what you say it is. However, because it…

I know this doesn't answer your question, but hopefully it helps. In my experience, women who work to build the kind of body that is strong and athletic looking tend to look amazing regardless of what natural body shape their genetics left them with.

Recommend books instead of videos. Most videos are geared exclusively towards people whose primary goal is fat loss and don't emphasize enough the muscle gain part of the equation. If you look to books such as Convict Conditioning, Starting Strength, and other books like those, you'll see there are a wider variety of…

Your calorie intake sounds like it's not high enough for the program. That being said, many people, due to fact that the program was designed for people who are already fit, need to take more frequent rest days than what they 6 day a week schedule permits for.

There is only one thing in your life you will ever TRULY have dominion over--your body. Never let anyone else take that one thing away from you. You give her say in what you do to it (including the clothes you put on it) and you lose control over the one and only thing that will ever really and truly be yours to control.…

The shoes are nothing but a sales gimmick and there were class action lawsuits against them over the fact that they are BS. That being said... Lift weights. Big, heavy ones that you can only manage a single digit number of reps for. Eat plenty of food.

This. There is no such thing as a weightlifting program specifically for women, and anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something. You should be doing the same things men do.

This. Weight loss is a result of calorie deficit, plain and simple. If you're not losing after months you're not in a calorie deficit. Plain and simple. In terms of heavy lifting, heavy is relative to the person. Find a weight that challenges you, so that the amount of repetitions you can complete remains in the single…

Ditch the machines. Heavy lifting generally refers to the use of free weights, specifically barbell based lifting programs. Look up the programs New Rules of Lifting for Women, Starting Strength, and Stronglifts 5x5. Pick one, and start it.

I think they're two words for the same thing, just people who tend to take it too seriously get offended when a specific term isn't used. I think anything less than full on sprint pace could be called either/or. Six in one hand, half dozen in the other.

Insanity is primarily cardio/circuit training. I think the OP is referring to work with a more strength focus. It's a completely different format.

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The fitbit is a pedometer. It won't register calories burned from swimming because it works by way of processing jarring impacts, like those generated taking steps. For swimming you would want a heart rate monitor.

I've tried a lot of different programs always doing the band substitutions since I don't own regular dumbbells. Although many of them claim that you can get just as good of results from using bands, it's just not the case. The only ones I've ever tried that actually delivered on their claims in that regard were the…

I'm not a huge fan of X3 because I find the band modifications (I don't own dumbbells) to be just plain stupid and awkward to do, and also the workouts seem to have a much stronger focus on cardio than the X and X2. Not digging that. The focus on strength training in X and X2 was the reason I felt they were such good…

I'm very limited in what types of workouts I can and can't do because I have to work out at home with limited equipment and I always have to be ready to drop what I'm doing to help mom out with something since she can't really live independently. Basically, there's no such thing as "uninterrupted workout time." That and I…

I think taking it to such an obsessive level where this becomes a consideration is a bad thing psychologically, personally.

As long as you're performing aerobic activity (moderate intensity sustained for long durations, such as joing for jogs) they are pretty accurate. For higher intensity work that spikes the heart rate (such as sprints, weightlifting, or HIIT), though, no.

In my opinion, attaching a time limit to weight loss goals only serves to make you stress about it, and pressures you to pursue more extreme/unhealthy ways of going about it.

Get the book Starting Strength. It is a complete guide on everything you need to know about how to perform the most basic functional lifts with free weights and guides you along on a good program (one of the best) to follow as a beginner. Do it now before you fall into the bad habits most people who start out on machines…