Greetings from England!
- Thread starter Callum88
- Start date
Steve21
New member
Welcome Callum,
It would help us if we knew a little more information like your height etc. 200lbs on someone like me at 6ft 6 is a lot difference to someone at 5ft
What's your goal you're aiming for with insanity? Losing weight? Gaining muscles? Both?
What's your current food intake like on a day/week basis? Would be great for you to post a diary of what you're eating etc.
Steve
It would help us if we knew a little more information like your height etc. 200lbs on someone like me at 6ft 6 is a lot difference to someone at 5ft
What's your goal you're aiming for with insanity? Losing weight? Gaining muscles? Both?
What's your current food intake like on a day/week basis? Would be great for you to post a diary of what you're eating etc.
Steve
Callum88
New member
Hey sorry I'm just under 6 ft and I'm a ground worker so do a lot of physical work however I got into some very bad eating habits eating crisps and general rubbish whilst relaxing after work also when working late ( my job is emergency based so callouts etc) I play football and I'm generally quite fit however I could do with losing a couple of stone at getting fitter, I'm on day 6 of insanity and I can honestly say it is fantastic I have followed the nutrition plan religiously my cal intake at the moment is 1600 which is over half what it used to be! I wondered if anybody else is doing it and is the odd chocolate bar/packet of crisps( my odd I mean once a week) ok? And btw Steve very well done on your journey I was in awe reading what you have achieved
Callum88
New member
My food diary is this at the moment
Breakfast
1 slice of whole meal toast with peanut butter
Mid morning snack
A low fat yoghurt, with a handful of pistachios
Lunch
Turkey sandwich with salad
Mid afternoon snack
Low fat go ahead bar
Dinner
Varies but following what's in the insanity guide
Snack
Fruit usually bananas or apples
Breakfast
1 slice of whole meal toast with peanut butter
Mid morning snack
A low fat yoghurt, with a handful of pistachios
Lunch
Turkey sandwich with salad
Mid afternoon snack
Low fat go ahead bar
Dinner
Varies but following what's in the insanity guide
Snack
Fruit usually bananas or apples
Steve21
New member
Thanks! Still a way to go but hey
Never tried insanity, but I can honestly say eating "anything" won't harm your loss, as long as it's in moderation.
I haven't cut a single thing out completely, just eat it in "proper" quantities, whether it's chocolate, crisps, pizza, alcohol etc.
What would you say your end goal is in terms of weight, and over what period?
Steve
Never tried insanity, but I can honestly say eating "anything" won't harm your loss, as long as it's in moderation.
I haven't cut a single thing out completely, just eat it in "proper" quantities, whether it's chocolate, crisps, pizza, alcohol etc.
What would you say your end goal is in terms of weight, and over what period?
Steve
Callum88
New member
I thought as much but reading some 'horror' stories on the net I got a bit worried, people saying they had one day off and put 4 pounds on! And how it takes 3 days to make up for 1 chocolate bar!
My aim is to get to 12.5 stones in about 3 months, I'm fairly confident as not only insanity fantastic but job is physical digging etc. and my eating is spot on, although I might have a chocolate bar tonight!
Steve21
New member
You'll find a lot of that would be due to water weight more than food. Having something high in salt would make the body hold onto your water for longer, and thus would "look" like increased weight, but in reality it isn't.
In terms of the days for a chocolate bar, obviously it depends what you're doing. In the sense of a 200calorie chocolate bar could be burnt off in 30mins or less if you're doing excercise a lot, or take a week of slow walking for only a few minutes a day.
Steve
In terms of the days for a chocolate bar, obviously it depends what you're doing. In the sense of a 200calorie chocolate bar could be burnt off in 30mins or less if you're doing excercise a lot, or take a week of slow walking for only a few minutes a day.
Steve
Callum88
New member
Would I be ok then or would you recommend I leave it altogether?
Omega
Moderator
Well - chocolate and crisps are generally classed as junk food and therefore empty calories...
Having said that - we are only human and there is a lot to be said for the notion that treats are fine in moderation.
The bottom line is that you can count the sodium in your food... Simply use one of the tools available that allow you to analyse your nutrition. I have a free account from - all you do is set up your profile information and log all your food and activity... It analyses your food and tells you the calorie content - but also a whole heap of other nutritional data which you can use to fine tune your food plan for good health and also effective weight control. You can set targets for all sorts of things like protein, fibre, healthy fat etc to ensure that you hit a number of key RDAs.
You can thus ensure that you do not take your sodium count over 2300mg each day.
Crisps bring in a lot of sodium - so if you have crisps you are much more likely to go high sodium... It is really easy to go high sodium - even without adding any salt to your plate or in the cooking...
If you go high sodium - there is a strong risk that you will retain water... If you retain water - the scales go up.
You can reduce the water weight that you may be carrying by making sure that you drink enough water. A lot of us here shoot for the recommendation to drink 1 fluid ounce of water for every 2 pounds that we weigh. That would be about 100 ounces for you which I think is something like 3 litres (but you would need to calculate it for yourself)...
The calories in the chocolate or crisps that you are toying with as a snack treat may not be too many calories... Although it is simplistic and our bodies do not work like machines - it takes an overeat of something in the area of 3,500 calories to gain a pound of fat. Clearly you would have to have a fair bit of chocolate or crisps to put on the 4 pounds in fat that you spoke of in your earlier posting.
The important thing is to be mindful about exactly what you are eating as a treat and whether you want to spend that many calories on a treat. If you want to do it - be sure that you enjoy it and do not beat yourself up wishing that you hadnt done it...
If you go high sodium when indulging in such a manner - be aware that the scales will probably go higher and be sure not to despair at the weight gain and beat yourself up - because negative feelings can make us stop trying to be more healthy. Maybe drink a little above the calculated amount of water to try to flush the sodium out of your system.
Having said that - we are only human and there is a lot to be said for the notion that treats are fine in moderation.
The bottom line is that you can count the sodium in your food... Simply use one of the tools available that allow you to analyse your nutrition. I have a free account from - all you do is set up your profile information and log all your food and activity... It analyses your food and tells you the calorie content - but also a whole heap of other nutritional data which you can use to fine tune your food plan for good health and also effective weight control. You can set targets for all sorts of things like protein, fibre, healthy fat etc to ensure that you hit a number of key RDAs.
You can thus ensure that you do not take your sodium count over 2300mg each day.
Crisps bring in a lot of sodium - so if you have crisps you are much more likely to go high sodium... It is really easy to go high sodium - even without adding any salt to your plate or in the cooking...
If you go high sodium - there is a strong risk that you will retain water... If you retain water - the scales go up.
You can reduce the water weight that you may be carrying by making sure that you drink enough water. A lot of us here shoot for the recommendation to drink 1 fluid ounce of water for every 2 pounds that we weigh. That would be about 100 ounces for you which I think is something like 3 litres (but you would need to calculate it for yourself)...
The calories in the chocolate or crisps that you are toying with as a snack treat may not be too many calories... Although it is simplistic and our bodies do not work like machines - it takes an overeat of something in the area of 3,500 calories to gain a pound of fat. Clearly you would have to have a fair bit of chocolate or crisps to put on the 4 pounds in fat that you spoke of in your earlier posting.
The important thing is to be mindful about exactly what you are eating as a treat and whether you want to spend that many calories on a treat. If you want to do it - be sure that you enjoy it and do not beat yourself up wishing that you hadnt done it...
If you go high sodium when indulging in such a manner - be aware that the scales will probably go higher and be sure not to despair at the weight gain and beat yourself up - because negative feelings can make us stop trying to be more healthy. Maybe drink a little above the calculated amount of water to try to flush the sodium out of your system.
Callum88
New member
I'm eating 1600 calories a day and with all the exercise ( heavy digging at work and the insanity programme plus walking 3-4 miles a day ) I would think the odd packet of crisps is ok but some of the horror stories are scary! I do follow my diary above religiously I eat very healthy. But would like 1 snack say on a Saturday a week and wondered if this would slow my weight loss or work against me
alisha1610
New member
Hi Callum, how are you? Just want to wish you all the best and hope you get what you are looking for. Best wishes and regards
Callum88
New member
Hi Callum, how are you? Just want to wish you all the best and hope you get what you are looking for. Best wishes and regards
Hey im good thanks, thank you very much you too
Omega
Moderator
Calories and sodium are two very different things...
You can have a major deficit in calories - exercise like a demon and gain weight if you go high sodium.
It is like having a bucket on the scales next to you... You are not going to get a similar weighing if the bucket is full of water - even if you have eaten carefully and exercised so that you have burnt a pound of fat.
Be glad that you are a man... A lot of women get water retention around the time of their period too due to hormonal changes... Their weight can be shooting down nicely because they are working hard and then they suddenly see it jump maybe 6 pounds when they havent eaten, drank or exercised any differently at all...
It can be quite demoralising for people if they do not understand what is happening and expect it.
I once had an emergency operation and didnt eat or drink anything for days (rushed into hospital and they knew that they were going to operate so got a "nil by mouth" sign, they even took any food that was en route back using a tube up my nose and a syringe, then after the operation was only allowed "small sips of water" for about a day. When they did allow me some food it was only mushy stuff. Hospital portions are not large and there was no opportunity to have other than I was given. I was ravenous!!
It was in 2008 and I was in the middle of my big project at the time which ran from 2007 to 2009. I was posting on this forum...
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/15690-Omega-s-journey/page128
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/19906-The-Amazing-Race-Challenge-Omega-3-Team/page14
I knew all about how my weight reacted to things... I begged them not to connect a saline drip to me because I knew what to expect. They insisted! I got home and found that between my weighing on the Wednesday and the Saturday I had gained something like 8 pounds... 8 pounds with minimal food...
To be fair I had not done too much exercise in that time - I had been in pain on the Wednesday so had only done my morning walk of over 6 miles...
You can have a major deficit in calories - exercise like a demon and gain weight if you go high sodium.
It is like having a bucket on the scales next to you... You are not going to get a similar weighing if the bucket is full of water - even if you have eaten carefully and exercised so that you have burnt a pound of fat.
Be glad that you are a man... A lot of women get water retention around the time of their period too due to hormonal changes... Their weight can be shooting down nicely because they are working hard and then they suddenly see it jump maybe 6 pounds when they havent eaten, drank or exercised any differently at all...
It can be quite demoralising for people if they do not understand what is happening and expect it.
I once had an emergency operation and didnt eat or drink anything for days (rushed into hospital and they knew that they were going to operate so got a "nil by mouth" sign, they even took any food that was en route back using a tube up my nose and a syringe, then after the operation was only allowed "small sips of water" for about a day. When they did allow me some food it was only mushy stuff. Hospital portions are not large and there was no opportunity to have other than I was given. I was ravenous!!
It was in 2008 and I was in the middle of my big project at the time which ran from 2007 to 2009. I was posting on this forum...
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/15690-Omega-s-journey/page128
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/19906-The-Amazing-Race-Challenge-Omega-3-Team/page14
I knew all about how my weight reacted to things... I begged them not to connect a saline drip to me because I knew what to expect. They insisted! I got home and found that between my weighing on the Wednesday and the Saturday I had gained something like 8 pounds... 8 pounds with minimal food...
To be fair I had not done too much exercise in that time - I had been in pain on the Wednesday so had only done my morning walk of over 6 miles...
Last edited:
Callum88
New member
See my food diary above(4th post) is that ok?
Omega
Moderator
I think that some people have difficulty in disconnecting "weight" and "body shape" and "fatness"...
People are wise to use a tape measure in addition to the scales because sometimes there is a difference in body shape and not in weight.
We can get improvements in fatness and body shape while we see no difference in weight.
Especially if you are going to go high sodium - you need to anticipate that you might not see a reduction at the scales...
Going high sodium will not undo hard work - but it may impact the weight that you see when you get on the scales.
The hard work that you do will mean that you have a calorie deficit (by burning more calories - because of increased activity than you eat since you are being careful with your food) so you will reduce the fat that you carry. The exercise will mean that you build muscles too. There is also impact like the fact that muscle weighs heavier than fat.
All these benefits are not undone when you carry more water - but they can be masked.
People are wise to use a tape measure in addition to the scales because sometimes there is a difference in body shape and not in weight.
We can get improvements in fatness and body shape while we see no difference in weight.
Especially if you are going to go high sodium - you need to anticipate that you might not see a reduction at the scales...
Going high sodium will not undo hard work - but it may impact the weight that you see when you get on the scales.
The hard work that you do will mean that you have a calorie deficit (by burning more calories - because of increased activity than you eat since you are being careful with your food) so you will reduce the fat that you carry. The exercise will mean that you build muscles too. There is also impact like the fact that muscle weighs heavier than fat.
All these benefits are not undone when you carry more water - but they can be masked.