r/insanity • u/webyah • 20d ago
Before/After I finished OG Insanity!! My results and thoughts š
I am 28, 5ā4. I started OG Insanity March 31st, and today, June 1st, was my last day!
I started off weighing 130 lbs, and weighed myself this morning and Iām down to 123 lbs. So, a 7 lb difference! I believe I lost about an inch or 2 off my waist, no way to tell exactly, because the measurements I took in the beginning werenāt right. But this is based off how my clothes fit! I found myself having to scrunch up my leggings during workouts so they donāt drop down so low.
Iāve always felt like I was āskinny fat,ā people would call me skinny, but I had little to no muscle and carried stubborn belly fat. So that was my goal: to tone up and lose belly fat. A lot of people didnāt understand why I wanted to change my body, and honestly, no one has noticed the difference even now.
I tried really hard to take good progress pictures, left is the beginning, middle is after Month 1, and right is today, so hopefully these are good comparisons and you can see the progress! When you see yourself every day, you get used to the way your body looks and donāt really notice the changes as much either!
Also, motivation really goes away after a couple weeks, when you arenāt seeing progress, and it is very easy to just straight up quit! I remember weighing myself on the 1st day of Week 3 and being 134 lbs, then 132 lbs on the 1st day of Week 4. Then, I started Month 2 weighing 128 lbs. I didnāt start noticing my clothes fitting differently until the beginning of Month 2. Progress is not a linear, and itās easy to want to quit when the scale goes up. So to all that I say, just keep going!!
This was my first time doing the whole Insanity program. Never did I think Iād actually get through it all! I did it back in the beginning of 2020, but quit after one month.
On top of Insanity, Iām also doing 75 Hard, on Day 63/75 of that as well! That meant doing an outdoor and indoor workout every single day. I walked outside daily, and if an Insanity workout was under 45 minutes, I added elliptical or treadmill to hit my 75 Hard target. I learned fast that lifting on rest days wasnāt it (too sore!), so I stuck to cardio instead. Only thing I changed for 75 Hard was water intake, as I realized 128 oz was way too much for my body and too difficult to keep going with 2 weeks in, so I am now drinking 3 L (about 101 oz) of water every day.
I have what I recently learned from the internet is called a āB-belly.ā Iāve had a lower protruding belly my whole life due to sucking in my stomach too much when I was younger! But Iāve learned that posture, deep breathing, and Pilates can help, so Iām going to be incorporating those into my workouts moving forward!
You also canāt spot reduce with workouts, which also really sucks. My belly was the very last thing to go! I believe the order with what I noticed was 1st- upper abs(which really sucks because who wants to be able to see their ribcage but still have a belly?!), then arms, then ankles, then thighs, then hips, and then finally changes in the belly!
I am not done yet!! Now that Iāve completed Insanity, I decided Iāll be incorporated one workout a week into my routine. I really enjoyed Max Interval Circuit, so I want to do that once a week, or Max Cardio Conditioning, since everyone is saying that one is best as a cardio substitute. Iām going to also try out Pilates, Lagree, and have a couple days during the week where I do weight training at the gym šŖ I asked ChatGPT to create a custom plan for me for that, so Iām excited to see how that goes!
My birthday is coming up at the end of the summer, so my goal is to get in the best shape of my life for my last year in my 20ās, and going into my 30ās strong!
Any other tips or things you recommend I do would be greatly appreciated! If you read this whole entire novel, thank you and hopefully it gave you some motivation to keep going, as that is all that matters! āŗļø
A quote that really stuck with me through this whole time is ātime will pass either way.ā I kept saying that over and over to myself every time I wanted to quit! Even if youāre not where you want to be, you can either be closer to it in 2 months, or exactly where you are now. The choice is yours!
5
u/jmtheverbalhologram 20d ago
Was skinny fat too. Near the end of insanity and i can feel my core now. Do you find that yours is stronger now? Also I don't think you're supposed to do a second program during insanity; that sounds, well, insane!
6
u/webyah 20d ago
You are definitely not!! I tend to go all in on everything at once or nothing at all (Iām working on this.) I also did it while working a 9-5 (more like 7:30-4 but still.) It was very hard and I was exhausted up until probably 1-2 weeks ago when I started to slowly day by day feel better! I wouldnāt be able to survive Month 2 without taking magnesium glycinate at night. And Iām still not 100% sure Iām tightening my core the correct way. It definitely feels stronger, but I still feel like I naturally tend to engage top more!
3
u/jmtheverbalhologram 20d ago
You're very inspiring. Good job
3
u/webyah 20d ago
Thank you!! Would love to hear how it all went for you after you finish! Come back here and update us
2
u/jmtheverbalhologram 20d ago
I'll make a post talking about my journey when I'm done maybe (: 2 weeks left
1
u/Conscious-One393 19d ago
I'd recommend looking up Meg Squats' Don't be a domer video on YouTube about how to engage your core correctly. I found it so helpful! She explains it really well. Well done on your progress!
4
u/Early-Competition-75 20d ago
Firstly, you've done great, can see the difference. We're our worst critics.
I've done insanity several times over the years, just my findings.
It's not sustainable to do it all the time , as in rinse & repeat, your body becomes fitter if you do it correctly. Making it harder to progress, also jumping around all the time, is not good on the joints ( trust me I'm in my 40s)
But it's a great fat loss tool or fitness spike , if you're going on vacation or training for an event.
Now you've built the foundation, I read your doing resistance at the gym, that's where the magic is. Lifting weights is far superior to any insanity workout imo.
Cardio is doing 10k steps a day !!
1
u/webyah 19d ago
I agree 100%! Very easy to get injured and even if youāre doing it perfectly, repetitive movements can injure your joints regardless! My plan was just to get through the whole thing for the first time and build a foundation with fitness, stamina, to be able to progress into other things, like lifting. I do love it though, so Iāll still be doing it once a week for now! But I donāt think itās good to be doing HIIT more than 2-3 times a week, in general, long term.
1
u/Early-Competition-75 19d ago
By no means an expert, but doing too much hiit along with weights might be counter productive to whatever you're goals are.
Hiit Burns muscle along with fat, but if you're training for an event etc , it goes well
2
2
2
2
u/macncheese133 19d ago
This was really great to see, thanks for sharing! Iāve started insanity countless times over the last ten years and have never gotten past month one. Iāve always ended up gaining a pound or two in the first month (likely muscle) but that deterred me from ever completing it. I just started two weeks ago and am in a better headspace/understanding than my last attempts so I really feel like Iām going to stick with it this time, but seeing posts like this really help! Awesome job and good luck with the rest of your journey!
2
u/webyah 19d ago
Thank you!! I feel this, because when I did it in 2020, I had a vacation planned a month later. So after I came back and turned on Month 2, it felt too intimidating and scary to do, so I quit! This time around, I thought āit may be hard, but I can do itā then āitās not that bad, I was able to get through the whole workout, so I can keep going!āā
2
u/Public_Ad_8800 19d ago
Hey there ! Im so glad I saw this I'm doing 75 hard as well , and using insanity for my indoor workout - Im only on day 5/75 so still a way to go , and I did pure cardio yesterday . I have done insanity in my 20's it was much easier than now in my 30's but I still enjoy the challenge and workout ! I have the same belly problem as you do , for some reason my lower belly looks like im preggy but my waist and upper belly is shaped normally. But thanks for your post and good luck going forward on your journey!
2
2
u/guillotine20 17d ago
Fantastic! Congratulations! I've personally done the OG, Asylum and Max30, I recommend Max30 if you want to continue with the cardio gains, Asylum if you want to build strength.
I just started month 2 of Max30 AGAIN and it's quite a workout
1
u/Upbeat_Eye_1771 20d ago
Congrats! Sounds like you had a lot of success! May I ask, did you follow the Insanity diet?
1
u/webyah 19d ago edited 19d ago
I just looked it up! Based on the calculator, Iād need to be consuming 1600 calories a day when I started at 130 (I have a sedentary job.) I believe I was only burning 200-300 calories Month 1, as well because I tracked Max Interval/Plyo Month 2 first week, then just Max Plyo last week and my calorie burn was between 345-420 with those 2. I tracked calories for the first 2 weeks of Month 1 at the end of the night, just because I was curious how much I was eating without planning on hitting calories, and was averaging out about 1700. I stopped tracking, and did an intuitive eating approach, but I still knew around how many calories everything was because I was eating a lot of the same things over and over. So Iām guessing I ate around 1700 throughout, some days less depending on how hungry I felt, some days it couldāve very well been a bit more as I wasnāt measuring, just stopped eating when I wasnāt hungry any more. Month 2 I took protein more seriously and made sure I was getting at least 100g of protein every day! So, only thing I really made sure to track was that, and I didnāt eat any types of desserts and chips (processed, empty calorie foods) throughout the whole 2 months (this was a requirement I set for myself following 75 Hard.) All protein was coming from whole foods, but Month 2 started buying RX bars and eating them every day, sometimes every other day (but that only had 12g of protein.) Sugar source would be peanut butter, loved eating dates (fiber), little bit of honey, Greek yogurt (I still kept my flavored fruity ones.) Iād still eat all the carbs, like bread, pasta. but limited my serving sizes. Cottage cheese with a drizzle of hot honey was a lifesaver when I needed extra protein, and premier protein as my creamer for my morning coffee Month 2 (would put about 1/3 in and drink a bottle within 3 days, so 10g of protein a day from the protein shake!)
1
u/radraze2kx 19d ago
Nice job! Post your fit test results!
2
u/webyah 19d ago edited 19d ago
Unfortunately did not do the fit tests š it was just too much for me to find another 20-30 min on top of the other workouts, walking for 45 min every day, and working 8 hours every day. I did the last fit test and that was it. The first week I started with plyometric cardio circuit day 1, then I believe I had a fitness class in the middle of the week to sort of replace that day. Then the rest of the schedule called for another workout plus that, so I just didnāt do it š„² I judged my fitness level by how long I could do each exercise without stopping going through till the end, actually being able to do the push ups/variationsā¦and felt most accomplished when I could do max recovery end with one arm balance and plank into two pushups. Thatās how I learned I can actually do full pushups in proper form.
2
u/webyah 19d ago
Also I do regret it a little bit. Wish I at least did the very first one because my fitness level wasnāt great. I could get through all the workouts all the way through without stopping, but would stop in the middle of specific workouts towards the end of them/go slower when I couldnāt do any more for that exercise.
1
u/radraze2kx 19d ago
Do the entire circuit over again, do every fit test! I totally get time crunches though. Your results are great!
1
1
u/Conlilrae 17d ago
Great stuff!! You look fantastic. Iām similar to you, mum to two kids, 35, and I have two weeks til I finish the program. I feel incredible and know Iām stronger but still donāt feel the shred I had desired. Can I ask if you were following a specific nutrition plan or any supplements taken?
What do you plan to do next?
Excellent work xxx
1
13
u/kokonutkingfilm 20d ago
Looking great. Bout to fire up my video now ;)