Insanity Workout Plus: Day 17

Well, I have completed 17 days of the Insanity Workout, plus my 4 days a week of exercise classes, and the nutrition program by Insanity.  I have been slightly dissapointed with my results so far.  I have done all the workouts faithfully.  I am also eating the best I have eaten in years...but alas not much movement on the scales.  Part of me wants to forget looking at the scale all together...but its hard not to peek every now and then.  I have been averaging 1500 Net calories and 2300 calories consumed daily.  The recommended number for me was 3200 calories, but I had scaled that down to 2700 calories and I still can barely eat any more food.  I feel full most of the times and find it hard to get all my calories in....good calories that is.  I have lost a total of about 5 lbs now.  It seemed I lost 8 lbs before, but now it says about 5 lbs.  Its hard to understand since I am exercising more than before and eating better.  The good thing is that it seems I have lost about 1/2 inch off of my chest, stomach and hips.  But I think to myself sarcastically,"Wow! A whole 1/2 inch and 5 lbs after 17 days"...Strange times indeed. 

Day 10 - Insanity Workout (a break through)

This picture that I have up here describes my feelings about how things are going.  I am elated and excited...and also this is the type of stuff that you do in the Insanity Workout too.

I got on the scale this morning and it said 262 lbs.  That means I am down 8 lbs, since I started Insanity + My regular weekly workouts.  That is cool stuff.  One thing I do notice while doing Insanity:  I sweat like crazy.  I mean, I sweat when I work out at the gym.  Especially during Tae Bo classes...BUT I haven't sweat this much since I was on the wrestling team in high school.  Crazy.  My little girls will say stuff like, "Wow Dad..that's a lot of sweat!"  and try to help by toweling off my face, arms and legs..lol.

One cool thing though, my 9 year old daughter has been doing the Insanity workouts with me..from day one.  She loves exercising. I call her my gymnast and fitness instructor, because I have come home from work sometimes and found her working out with a fitness DVD.  And by the time I see her, she had already done an hour worth of exercise.  Even still she hits the floor in exhaustion when doing these workouts with me.  Although she could probably go right along with me if she would eat more than she does.  I try to tell her that I can go as long as I can, because I have the fuel/food to give me the energy.  So I can continue on while she needs to take a break.  Which leads me into the next part of this entry...The amount of food.

I haven't eaten as much food as I have been eating, in a long time.  I have to look around for food (in Tier 1 from Michi's Ladder /healthy foods) in order to have enough good calories and eat more food.  I am rarely hungry and I am eating way more calories than I have in a while...plus I'm losing weight and getting more toned.  Exciting!

That is all that is on my mind right now...Anyway..as you do this workout..just do what Shaun T says and
Dig Deeper!  You can do it!

Insanity Day 8

Well yesterday was a day of rest.  A day off according to the Insanity workout calendar.  My body thanked me much for that.  It is weird so far.  At first it seemed I lost 10 lbs, then it seemed I lost 2 lbs and I checked the scale this morning (officially 1 week later) and it said I lost only 1 lb....What in the world?

It is a little disheartening, especially after I worked so hard last week.  I will see what the scale says next week, then I will have to adjust my calories down, if I haven't lost more than 3 lbs total or if my measurments aren't any smaller.  We will have to see.  Although, if I measured correctly, I have lost about 1/2 inch off of my waist.  I will have to have my wife measure me to see if that is actually true.  The funny thing, I actually ate less this weekend, than I did during the week.  It is usually the other way around.

Well, I am on this journey for the long haul, so I will see where this takes me.

Insanity: Day 4

Well, after checking my weight.. I have really only lost 2 lbs.  But that is still great!  I thought the other numbers were an anomaly.  And sure enough it was.  But 2 lbs after only being my 4th day doing Insanity + my normal routine is pretty good.

Starting Insanity Workout

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/best_sellers/insanity.do

So I have decided to try this Insanity workout.  I am the type of person that, when I "DECIDE" to do something, then it is as good as done.  The hard part for me, most times in my life, is that I usually don't truly DECIDE to do things.  But when I do...look out.  So thus begins my journey with the Insanity Workout. 

I have been kind of gaining weight slowly over the past year and it has been hard for me to figure out why that is.  I track all of my food with http://www.livestrong.com/myplate and I have been consuming about 1700 calories net; that is after the calories I have burned through exercise.  I usually workout about 4-5 times a week depending if  I have an errand or an appointment during lunch or not ( I workout at lunchtime at work).  On Mondays I used to do the Elliptical machine for 30 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of weights. I have recently switched to doing a Core and Cardio class on Mondays for the past month.  I do Les Mills Body Pump on Tuesdays for 45 minutes. I do a Spin Class for 45 minutes on Wednesdays.   I do the Elliptical machine for 30 minutes  and weights for 10 minutes on Thursday.  And I do a very intense Tae Bo Class on Fridays for 45 minutes straight with no resting periods in the class.

I have been doing this routine for over 6 months and it seems I have not lost any weight, and in fact I have gained some.  I don't "seem" to be any more tone than I was before...So Iwas scratching my head as to what the problem was.  A co-worker who works out 7 days a week, suggested that I don't eat enough calories and that is probably why nothing is working for me.  So for about a month I increased my calories to 1800 calories net and I didn't get any better results.

So fast forward to today.

I bought the Insanity Workout on Ebay, because I didn't really want to pay that exorbitant amount of money, $144.80, for a workout program. Call me cheap .   And I started it on Monday, two days ago, right after I got back from a 7 day cruise.  I wanted to log what happens to me as I take this Insanity journey and let you know how it is working out for me.  And just to let you know, I intend on continuing my normal workout routine as well.  So hopefully I will see results even sooner.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I am going all out with this and decided to follow the nutrition recommendations of the program as well.  That is a big thing for me, because I had done so much exercise and eating with no results, I needed some guidance about what I should eat and how many calories I should be consuming with the amount of exercise I do.  I was shocked to see the amount of calories that the formula recommended for me to eat, since I have been averaging about 1700 calories Net daily for almost a year.  After working through the formula they gave for calculating the calories needed for maintaining my weight, I was completely SHOCKED, to say the least.  It said that I would need 3200 calories to lose weight while following this program.  That number seemed way too high to me.  So I brought it down to 2700 calories Net.  It also suggested eating five meals a day.  So I would have to average about 740 a day, during the week (if you are wondering where I got 740 from, I have to account for the 1000 or so calories I burn while doing my normal exercise routine and the Insanity workout.)   I just have to make sure that I am eating the right types of foods, as suggested by the nutrition guide. 
This is the formula they use for calculating the calories:

STEP 1
For Women:   655 + (4.35 weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
For Men:     66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

STEP 2
Now take the number from Step 1 and multiply it by the level of exercise listed below.  Since you're doing INSANITY, the "moderately active" or "very active" should apply.

Exercise Factor                                 Category                                    Explanation
1.2                                                         Sedentary                                  Little or no exercise
1.375                                                     Lightly Active                         Light exercise (1 to 3 days/week)
1.55                                                       Moderately Active                 Moderate exercise (3 to 5 days/week)
1.7                                                         Very Active                              Hard exercise (6 to 7 days/week)
1.9                                                         Extremely Active                    Hard daily exercise and/or a physical job

STEP 3

The number you now have will tell you your calorie needs for weight maintenance. 

• For weight loss subtract 500 calories per day from your number in Step 2.
• For weight maintenance do nothing, just use the number from Step 2
• For weight gain, add 250-300 calories per day to your number from Step 2.

While this equation may seem confusing, it's the simplest scientific way of truly estimating your needs.  Keep in mind that after starting the Elite Nutrition program, you may want to alter your calories up or down based on the feedback you are getting from your body, i.e. too much food, not enough, losing or gaining weight, etc.

Once again I will be brutally honest, if not for your sake (whoever you are who may read this), but mainly for myself. I need to be honest with myself about where I am.   

So...these were my stats on Monday morning:

Weight:         270lbs
Height:          6' 2"
Chest:           46"
Waist:           48"
Hips:             46"
Neck:            17"
Left Thigh:     28"
Right Thigh:   28"
Left Arm:      16.5"
Right Arm:    16"
Today when I weighed myself (on Wednesday morning) I weighed 259lbs.  This is what I weighed a couple of weeks before I went on the cruise.  I had went up to 263 just before the cruise.  I will have to see if the scale was correct/consistent when I weigh myself tomorrow morning..hopefully the number will be the same...or less.  Type to you later!