Last week I wrapped up my 60 days of Insanity and be honest I was a bit underwhelmed. Even though it kicked my behind, and I had major problems keeping up with the month two max interval DVD’s, I just didn’t think I was getting any benefit from Insanity. My mistake was that I kept looking at the scale every morning. I had it in my head that my goal was to drop to a new weight low and completely lose my lower stomach fat. So because I didn’t have the Shawn T abs, I concluded I made no gain. How wrong I was!
Dr. Patrick Baker with Baker Family Chiropractor has been helping me track my body composition since reaching my all time low back in May. He was stressing that what I need to do is build muscle while losing fat. So if I did continue to lose weight that was fine as long as I continued to build muscle. But I was actually gaining weight in July to my frustration. Again Dr. Pat had to remind me of the true goal which I was still not getting in my head. I guess this was due to battling a spare tire and being fat for most of my adult life.
But I learned all was good as my Body fat was lower and I had more muscle mass. I still didn’t “get it” as I started Insanity. I still had it in my head that I need to lose weight. So I was just shocked at the latest numbers!! I mean 14.2 Body Fat percentage? That is sooo cool.
So the lesson here kids is that there does come a time to stop looking at the scale and even counting calories. If you have a significant amount of fat to lose, then yes the scale is a handy tool, and running a calorie deficit makes perfect sense. But be aware that goals do change. I now understand that I will be gaining weight to build muscle. And for every pound of muscle I add, that is 60 more calories a day I will burn in rest mode. Now it makes complete sense how both P90x and Insanity instruct us to consume more calories in the later phases. Sometimes we just have to make the mistakes to understand them. Hopefully you can learn from mine.
