I never would have guessed that I would have to eat more and take on more calories to get passed the current weight loss plateau. If you’ve been reading this blog you might be wondering why the number up in the right hand corner hasn’t moved in over a month? It’s simple… because my weight hasn’t moved much because I THOUGHT I knew better than the experts.

When I started Insanity I weighed 274 pounds. As of a week and a half ago, I still weighed 274 pounds. It didn’t matter how hard I exercised, no more weight was coming off.Here’s why…

It turns out that my daily calorie intake of 2000 wasn’t supporting all of the exercise. In talking with a friend of mine (Tom Lavigne, a certified trainer), he explained to me that my body was actually holding on to the fat because it wasn’t getting enough to feed the muscle I was building.

Turns out, he was right. After going back through the Insanity nutrition guide and using the Harris Benedict Equation to figure my daily calorie needs, it turned out that I should actually be eating 3600 calories per day to lose weight. Crazy right? Well…

When he told me I need to increase calories to between 2500 and 3000 I thought he had lost his freakin’ mind.

When told me I need to increase calories to between 2500 and 3000 I thought he had lost his freakin’ mind Based on those figures and following Toms advice (you can meet Tom by clicking here) I increased my calories and guess what? I GAINED FOUR POUNDS in two days! I was horrified! Nonetheless, I put my faith in Toms’ wisdom and the Insanity nutrition guide and did as I was shown to do.

Sure enough, after three more days I had dropped two pounds! Today, I’m losing an average of 1.6 pounds per day consuming 3000 calories per day plus my gym workout and Insanity. Looks like we’ve finally got this dialed in. I woke up today to find myself getting ready to FINALLY get out of the 270’s and into the 260’s with a weight of 271 pounds this morning on the bathroom scale and 269.5 on the gym scale!

What’s the moral of the story? Listen to those who know what they are talking about and don’t second guess. I’ve heard from many others using Insanity and P90X who have experienced the same thing. If you are exercising with that kind of intensity, your body needs the calories so follow the nutrition to the letter and you’ll get amazing results!  Trust me, when your body starts building this kind of muscle you will need the calories.

For the guys (sorry ladies)… I picked up a book published by Mens Health, the other day, called “The Mens Health Hard Body Plan – The ULTIMATE 12 Week Program for Burning Fat and Building Muscle.” This is an awesome book! If you are getting into the use of weights this is perfect. Everything you need nutrition and fitness wise is contained within the pages of this workout bible. I’ve had a hard time putting it down… there’s a ton of great information.

I’ve posted some updated pics (above) for those who have been wondering how the Insanity conversion is going. I’m getting ready to wrap up week number four and I can’t believe the difference between todays pic and the pick on day 1.

I’m starting to see some muscle showing through (there was a lot of fat to burn!) but what I’m noticing more than anything is the huge increase in conditioning and endurance.  What I’m able to do on the treadmill, at the gym, is leagues above what I was doing before I started Shaun T’s Insanity workout.

For those of you considering Insanity, my advice is DO IT, but DO IT BY THE BOOK!  Follow the nutrition to the letter using the Harris & Bartman equation outlined in the nutrition guide.  If it tells you that you should be eating 3500 calories per day to lose weight, then EAT the calories!  Eat healthy, but eat!  I wasn’t eating nearly enough and I paid the price with my weight loss… nearly a whole month without losing any.  The plan works so stick to it!

Have a great weekend!

Rex – Yesterdays Fat Guy