Asylum Nutrition Plan

Insanity Asylum Nutrition and Diet

My 30 day Insanity Asylum Results:

Insanity Asylum Results - David Ingram

Click for larger view

This is my version of the Insanity Asylum Nutrition Plan

Read below for the guidelines I did follow as well as the modifications I made to reduce my body fat from 10.3% to 7.5% in 30 days while actually gaining some muscle!

The foundation of my nutrition plan is based on the P90X nutrition and Master Your Metabolism but there were a few things that I learned from the Insanity Asylum nutrition guide that I’ve incorporated into my diet.

10 Steps in the Insanity Asylum “Get Shredded” Guide

  1. Eat Frequently – I eat 6 meals a day (one being my post workout recovery drink & protein), basically every 3 hours
  2. Go Light at Night – this was one of the changes I incorporated into my diet, basically I made my dinners smaller and shifted more calories to the first half of the day. I also removed carbs (except veggies) from my last 2 meals of the day.
  3. Limit your portions – With eating 6 meals a day, this goes hand-in-hand but on average I ate about 400 calories per meal, 6x a day
  4. Eat Lean - this includes lean meats, fruits, veggies, healthy fats. I was already doing this pretty well but I added more healthy fats through out the day to more meals. Things such as almonds, avocados, peanut butter, etc.
  5. Carbs are cool – Chose whole gain carbs instead of white carbs – this is something I follow very strictly and but as I mentioned above, I removed carbs from my last 2 meals (with the exception of veggies and recovery drink).
  6. Avoid Dairy – The plan says to avoid dairy and I was very strict about reducing my dairy to 1 serving a day (which was a Greek Yogurt).
  7. Hydrate – The plan recommends a minimum of 8 cups of 8 ounces of water and avoiding all juices and sodas! I drink about 14 cups of water and avoid all juices/sodas.
  8. No Alcohol – no problem!
  9. Don’t fear Fat - it says to avoid butter and cheese (which I did) but it says to eat more healthy fats. I was already eating about 2 servings of healthy fats so I increased this to about 4, while staying within the ratio of 40/40/20. I eat almonds, peanut butter, whole eggs and avocados daily.
  10. Supplements – it recommends recovery drink for post workout recovery and Shakeology, which  I take religiously.

So of the 10 steps, I followed them pretty closely and was doing so previous to Asylum, which set up my body to start shredding fat. The big changes I incorporated Asylum were #2 and #9.

How many calories should I eat during Insanity Asylum?

This is where I really disagreed with the Asylum nutrition guide for my body and goals: How many calories to eat. First, I like how the Asylum nutrition guide makes it very simple to calculate calories:

  • 150 pounds or less – for those trying to lose weight, eat 1,500 calories a day
  • 150-200 pounds – for those trying to lose weight, eat 1800 calories a day
  • 200 pounds or more – for those trying to lose weight, eat ~2100 calories a day

If someone wanted a simple way and was planning to stick with this nutrition plan for only 30 days then they could use these recommendations.

How I modified the Asylum Nutrition plan

I ate 2400 calories on days with a workout and about 1800 on the rest day, which is well above what the Insanity nutrition guide recommends. Why? Because at 182 lbs, I knew that 1800 calories would create too large of a deficit to eat every day. My #1 goal was to lose body fat while maintaining muscle. At 1800 calories, my concern was that I would enter a catabolic state and start burning muscle. It also wouldn’t give me enough energy for intense workouts.

Based on my weight and using the Insanity diet calorie formula, I determined that I would need to eat 2,400 calories while doing Asylum to lose roughly 1 lb of body fat per week. Sure enough, at the end of 30 days, I lost 5 lbs of body fat and based on my body fat calculations, I maintained all the muscle:

182.5 lbs x 10.3% = 18.8 lbs of fat

177.5 lbs x 7.5% = 13.3 lbs of fat

A total loss of 5.5 lbs of fat. I actually gained +.5 lbs of muscle while losing 5.5 lbs of body fat while my overall weight dropped 5 lbs.

 

What ratio of protein / carbs / fat should I eat for my Insanity Asylum Diet?

The “Get Shredded” nutrition guide does NOT recommend a ratio of p/c/f.  So I targeted a goal of 45/35/20 but came in around 40/40/20 on some days. I picked this up during my P90X days and found it to be the best.

How can I easily track my calories and calculate my ratios on a daily basis?

I use loseit.com (free) and the iphone app (free). There are many other alternatives but this one is very simple and easy to use. It’s also the easiest for seeing the % of protein, carbs and fat you’ve eaten that day.

It has a pretty good database of foods already and you can just add other foods by reading the label on the food and plugging in the calories, protein, fat, carbs. It will then total it up for you each day and let you know how you did.  Make sure when you first start using Loseit and that you go into the Options and set it up to track Protein, carbs and fat!!

 

Example of the foods I ate during Insanity Asylum

Check out my Insanity Asylum 2400 Calorie low dairy diet

 

Also check out our approved foods list with a lot of different foods to choose from.

We’ve also recorded a youtube video that shows healthy foods to buy from CostCo that are both Insanity Asylum and P90X approved.

Watch Kate’s Insanity Asylum Nutrition from CostCo video.

 

Supplements I took during Insanity Asylum to lose the body fat

Shakeology - The fastest and healthiest way to transform your body is with Shakeology. This is the foundation of my nutrition plan and has really improved my overall health. I was skeptical of the price at first so I decided to try it out using the 30 day-money back guarantee. I’ve been on it every day since.  In fact, it’s now one of only 2 Beachbody supplements that I recommend. To me, it’s WORTH IT but you’ll have to decide that for you. It’s basically a high quality meal replacement unlike anything else. It will help you lose that body fat and give you energy. Why? Because it contains 70 of the healthiest nutrients in the world. It improves your digestive system, removes toxins, lowers cholesterol, helps you to lose fat and improve energy levels, hair, nails and skin. I have this every day for breakfast. It comes out to $4/day but if you order Shakeology from this site, I’ll coach you for free.

Shakeology

Morning:

  • Shakeology meal replacement
  • Krill Oil from Mercola
  • Calcium
  • OxyElite Pro

Lunch:

  • Oxy Elite Pro

Pre-workout:

  • MHP No Bomb
  • Cellucor C4

Post Workout:

  • P90X Recovery Drink
  • Optimum Nutrition creatine
  • Whey Protein

 

Still have questions or just want help with your nutrition plan?

Thanks for visiting! Make sure to sign up for a FREE Team Beachbody Account to get support with your nutrition plan. I’ll send you an email after you sign-up.

 

Already have a Team Beachbody Account?

You can initiate a coach switch by sending an email to coachrelations@teambeachbody.com and asking them to switch you to David Ingram, Coach ID 153372. Make sure to CC: me on the email so I am aware of the switch. You can CC: me at david@symbioticfitness.com
 
This is the Whey Protein I use:

This is vital for reaching the daily goal of 40%-50% protein. There are many other great alternatives. This is one of the brands I use the most. CostCo also has Cytosport in a 6lb bag.

Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard, Double Rich Chocolate, 5 Pound

Price: $53.99

4.5 out of 5 stars (1 customer reviews)

64 used & new available from $41.00

Need some protein on the go? These are the Protein bars I eat:

Pure Protein High Protein Bar, Chocolate Peanut Butter, 2.75-Ounce Bars (Pack of 12)

Price: $32.88

3.9 out of 5 stars (142 customer reviews)

11 used & new available from $18.00

I use Shaker cups quite a bit to mix-up my protein drinks and Shakeology.

BlenderBottle® Classic 28-ounce Blue

Price: $5.75

4.6 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

54 used & new available from $3.25

This is the food scale we use to measure our meats to more accurately track our protein and calorie intake.

EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale, Silver

Price: $34.95

4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

19 used & new available from $21.78

UPDATED: Avoid starvation mode to lose weight

Most diets recommend calorie or carb restriction

In fact, prevailing wisdom is “eat-less to lose weight”.

I’m going to turn this on its head and tell you that in many cases, you may have to EAT more to lose more weight. Huh? What? Yes, stick with me and I’ll explain.

Both Kate and I have used these principles to shatter old weight-loss plateaus and reach our lightest weight in over 10 years!

When we eat too-few of calories, our bodies enter starvation mode, the thyroid hormones needed to fuel your metabolism can’t be produced and our metabolism starts slowing down.  Our bodies start clinging to fat stores as a source of energy and we become sluggish.

I started P90X at around 1900 calories a day and kept increasing them throughout the 90 day program to avoid plateauing. I ended up around 2500 a day and was still losing weight. I burned 800-1000 calories in each workout, which helped create a calorie deficit.

Why do so many diets recommend low calories?

Most diets are based on the calorie deficit concept but they take it to the extreme.

When starting a new diet, we are often rewarded with some quick weight loss (which reinforces our idea that this diet is working) but then our metabolism slows and we reach a plateau and our body stops dropping weight. We become discouraged and eventually stop following the diet or become complacent with little to no results.

You’ve probably noticed this at the start of Adkins or Southbeach diets. These diets cause a lot of stress on our bodies and can be difficult to maintain long-term, which is why most people gain the weight back they initially lost.

 

Why does our Metabolism slow down when we don’t eat enough?

It has to do with your thyroid hormones. The thyroid hormones control the rate at which your body burns calories, digestion, body temperature and many others. Your pituitary gland creates TSH to kick-start your thyroid. Your thyroid then takes iodine from your blood and starts producing T4. The metabolic magic occurs when T4 is converted into T3. Stress, medication and environmental toxins can mess up this process.  But guess what else can mess up this process? Poor Diet! When you’re not taking in enough calories, your body stops producing enough TSH, and then the thyroid can’t produce enough T4. Less T4 means less T3, resulting in slower metabolism, or hypothyroidism!

 

How to lose weight


It is true that running a negative calorie balance is necessary to lose weight. To do it most efficiently and in a healthy way, proper nutrition and intense exercise is necessary. The key is to eat enough to keep your body out of starvation mode + enough to fuel your workouts. When your body receives enough nutrition to fuel all the normal daily metabolic processes and to support the production of TSH and T4,  it will more freely give up fat to burn as energy during your workouts.

However, if you’re not eating enough to sustain your normal metabolic processes then you may run out of energy during your workouts and become sluggish, thus not maximizing your efforts to burn
calories.

You may be wondering how much YOU should be eating. A healthy target is a calorie deficit of about 500 – 1000 calories a day to lose 1-2 lbs a week. The challenge is achieving this much of a deficit while still eating enough to fuel your normal daily needs and supporting your body’s ability to produce TSH & T4. This is why intense exercise is needed – to create the deficit!

Beachbody’s fitness programs (p90x, TurboFire, etc.) have nutrition programs that explain and emphasize eating enough calories to fuel our bodies for the workouts.

These workouts are INTENSE and your body needs good, clean fuel to burn while you’re working out.

Kate was stuck at a weight-loss plateau for 18 months, eating around 1000-1200 calories a day. She started TurboFire, which recommended 1600/day for her. Kate increased her calories and within 4 weeks, she shattered her old plateau and now is at her lowest weight in 10 years!

How much should I eat?

It depends on where you’re starting from and what your goals are.

Are you trying to:

  • lose weight
  • build muscle
  • tone up
  • build a six pack
  • or all of the above

Let us know what your goals are and we can help recommend a fitness program and nutrition plan for you.

Send us an email and Tell us about yourself!

These programs are NOT DIETS, they are about a LIFESTYLE that you can maintain for years to come. It’s a complete health and fitness plan that really works.

Slimdown Challenge 2011!

Lose weight, get fit and have fun doing it.

Join us for the first SlimDown Challenge sponsored by Symbiotic Fitness.

This is not your mom’s SlimDown Challenge! This is about results and we’ll help you get them.

Begins January 17th, the deadline for signing up is Thursday the 13th, 2011

This challenge is for both our online friends as well as those local to Southern California. It’s open to anyone looking to change their lifestyle so invite your friends and make a team to hold each other accountable. This is about teamwork and supporting each other.  We’ve got great information on our website and great tools on teambeachbody.com to help you. If you don’t have a team, we’ll assign you to one.


How to win:

It’s all about progress and results! That’s what we all want, right? It’s about weightloss and Inches! The team with the largest percentage of weight and inches lost after 90 days is declared the winner.

BONUS: On top of the 90 day prize, There will ALSO be a 30 day quick loss prize for the person with most weight lost in the first 30 days.

How to play the game:

Daily:

Each day you’ll log your workouts into Team Beachbody’s online system (WOWY gym/Symbiotic Fitness Slim-Down). There are recommended meal plans for Club Members where you can track your progress. You’ll be able to log your food and water intake, supplements and workout all in one place on the teambeachbody.com website.

You can use the Team Beachbody online system to stay connected. This will allow you to view others in the group and help each other achieve their goals. You will have access to those who are working out at the same time and be able encourage each other on the message boards.

Weekly:

Progress assessments:

  • Weigh yourself
  • Measure body fat with fat caliper
  • Measure body parts body tape measurer
  • Report your progress to David or Kate

We will have weekly achievements featured on our website.

How to enter:

1)      We’re collecting prize money for the winner. You may enter as a couple ($20) or individual ($10):

To enter as a couple, use this Paypal Button ($20):

To enter as a individual, use this Paypal Button ($10):

2)      Send an email to Kate (kate@symbioticfitness.com) or David (david@symbioticfitness.com) letting us know “I’M IN!”.  Provide a short bio & background (i.e. Mother of 3, haven’t worked out in 2 years) along with your goal (weight loss, toning, core, etc.). Also provide a photo you’d like to use so we can feature you on the website. It can be a facebook profile picture or whatever you prefer.

3)       Join our Teambeachbody group by signing-up with ”DavidRSM” click HERE or “KateRSM”  click HERE.

You can choose to sign up for a club membership ($2.99/week) which provides you with a 10% discount on all Beachbody workout programs, supplements, & equipment, access to meal plans personalized for your goals and videos, nutrition tips, and delicious recipes.

You can also choose the free membership and access our Workout group in the WOWY Gym.

4)      Pick your workout. It can be a Beachbody program (P90X, TurboFire, TurboJam, Chalean Extreme) or another workout program you already have at home. If you want us to recommend a program for you let us know what your goals are and what your fitness level currently is.

5)      Form your team (of 2-4 people), Pick a team name or we will help form one for you!

If you’re local, we want to invite you to a “kick-off party”. There will be food, door prizes and lots of fun to be had by all. Join us at 7pm on Saturday, January 15th. PLEASE RSVP to Kate@SymbioticFitness.com


To get started right, Kate will be hosting a fit camp Saturday morning, January 22nd at 8:00 AM.


To top it off we’ll have a results party at the end and view everyone’s progress.