Loving Insanity but gaining weight???

ridelikeagirl616

Hi,

I'm an active person generally and workout very regularly but decided to try out Insanity to tone up for an upcoming trip. Starting week 3 of Insanity today, and while I wouldn't expect to lose a bunch, but I've actually GAINED 5 lbs!!! Not cool... what am I doing wrong? My diet is pretty clean and up till now has helped me lose the 25lbs I was looking to shred...

Sigh...

FemininGuns

Maybe you should start measuring yourself instead of just relying on the numbers... I feel your pain though... That darn scale is the devil!

ukq727

I too have the Insanity challenge but keep in mind you have put on muscle which weighs more than fat. Also keep in mind that you need to consume your calorie difference because the burn on Insanity is up to 1000 calories per interval.

hpsnickers1

how many pounds per week do you have set up to lose. Judging by your goal you expectations might not be realistic. If you're looking to lose 20 pounds maybe set up to lose .5 per week. Cardio burns a lot of calories and you could be consuming too few calories. And if you set up to lose 1-2lbs per week it's probably time to re-calculate your goals. The smaller you get the less calories you will burn during exercise. If you are set to lose 2lb per week, change to 1. And so on.


Say MFP has you on a 1200 daily calories goal and you burn 500. That leaves you with a NET of only 700 calories for the day which is too low.

Please go into the link in my Signature "Links in MFP you want to read..." There is a link call 700 calories a day and not losing.

I don't know if this is why but when someone is "relatively" light and want to lose some weight and instead they aren't losing and are maybe gaining a big reason is usually not enough calories. I know this sounds really odd but going too low in calories can have a bad effect on weight loss. Your body needs so many calories just to breathe and function.

And dieting and cardio exercise cause lean muscle mass loss along with fat loss. The less fat your body is holding onto the more chance it will dig into lean muscle mass and burn off that for fuel. Rather than burn off more fat your body will slow the metabolism (burning muscle mass) and your weight loss will stall. You can even gain.

And you can't 'tone' muscle. You can either get it bigger and/or stronger OR smaller and/or weaker. So when you do tons of cardio and you're losing inches yes you are burning fat but your muscles are getting smaller because you are burning that too.

Heavy weight lifiting will build some muscle, (you won't bulk up begin female) increase your metabolism and you will burn more fat during rest, normal activity and even sleeping. And it's very, very, very hard to gain enough muscle to cause a rise on the scale - and you have to be doing some serious heavy weight lifting. It's next to impossible for women to gain muscle so it's not because of muscle.

If you are a male (my guess is no) then you shouldn't drop below 1500 NET calories.

You might already know all of this. I type ramble as bad as I talk ramble.

AnnaPixie

If its any consolation, I started P90X last week and gained 2lbs. It could be I wasnt eating enough. It could be muscle pump or it could be my body has gone into shock, as the intensity is a lot more than what I've been doing. But I do know you have to allow time of the body to get used to new routines for it to settle.

Give it a couple more weeks and see what happens. And yes, maybe eat more?

Good luck :flowerforyou:

blankcanvas

I enjoyed your 'ramble' I think that may be why I'm at a weight loss stall.. I'm going to go and reset my goals now, hopefully that's the answer. Thanks!

hpsnickers1

If its any consolation, I started P90X last week and gained 2lbs. It could be I wasnt eating enough. It could be muscle pump or it could be my body has gone into shock, as the intensity is a lot more than what I've been doing. But I do know you have to allow time of the body to get used to new routines for it to settle.

Give it a couple more weeks and see what happens. And yes, maybe eat more?

Good luck :flowerforyou:

Interesting. I started P90X last Monday and my weight is up 3lbs this week. I had a bad eating weekend before and messed up my GI tract. I had two days of weight lifting this past week. It finally dropped a 1/2 pound but maybe I have something to blame it on!! I'm definitely eating enough.

hpsnickers1

I enjoyed your 'ramble' I think that may be why I'm at a weight loss stall.. I'm going to go and reset my goals now, hopefully that's the answer. Thanks!

Thanks. I hope it works. I've seen it a lot here. I had to set up .5 per week from the start and that has been my average. I've been losing in .2-.4 increments weekly. It's slow but it's still coming off. My weight to lose was those "last 10 pounds". Those are the hardest and I've gotten 7 1/2 off so far. But I'm shifting my focus to heavy weight lifting so I have to push the scale aside - that's the hard part.

Lowering your goal will give you more to eat. When I went from a calorie deficiency to maintenance I dropped 2 more pounds in 2 weeks

togden

I would think you would be putting on muscle which ofcourse weighs more than fat

I agree you should maybe start measuring

runnergirljaime

I just started Insanity yesterday, but have a friend who has been doing it almost the 60 days. While she hasn't lost that many lbs, the inches she has lost is AMAZING!!

Also, a lot of people think that muscle weights more than fat, which is incorrect. Actually fat and muscle weight the same but muscles are denser so that is why you may stay the same weight but lose inches, thus becoming smaller. I thought the same for years, but there are plenty of articles that can be viewed on the internet to support that my facts are indeed correct :-) Just always like to help people out with this "bad myth"! So all in all, measurements tell the real truth, even though we all go by the evil scale ;-)

Best of luck in your fitness journey!!

Keep us posted how things go :-)

ridelikeagirl616

Thank you all for your support and suggestions! This is why I love MFP

so... here's an update.

My goal is set for a weight loss target of .5 lbs per week in the food tracker and I stay within the recommendations 95% of the time. Some days when I do Insanity in the morning before work and run my tail off at hockey after work I need a bit more food to avoid passing out! I'm a rather clean eater, who eats breakfast every day and drinks water religiously. I burned over 2500 calories during exercise last week, but the scale is STILL up almost 5 lbs since I started Insanity. I'm confused....

This being said, I LOVE INSANITY!!! The workouts are incredible, I sweat like a pig, and look forward to the next one every day. It's also made a big difference in my endurance while playing sports. Just don't understand why I seem to be getting the opposite of the results I was hoping for.

Ever hopeful... maybe I just need to be patient...

Kate

lovetowrite73

Before I started Insanity, my weight loss goal was 1 pound per week, which gave me 1280 calories per day. I knew that I would need to up my intake so I change my goal to .5 pound per week, which has me at 1500 calories now. I lost 0 pounds after my first week but have lost 3 pounds after the 2nd week (I'm on my 3rd week now). I make sure that I get in enough protein and faithfully drink either a glass of chocolate milk or a scoop of protein powder (contains 20g of protein) no more than 15 minutes after I've completed my workout. I think that's making the difference. I actually expected a gain after the first week because my body isn't used to working out like that, so I was pleased that I was able to stay even. Maybe look at your food and what you're eating.

jchapa83

I'm on my last week of Insanity and I didn't lose any weight if anything gained a 1lb or 2! I let that get to me at first since what I wanted was to lose weight too but seeing the results and the inches lost and before and after pics keeps me motivated! It actually toned the areas that are the hardest to tone up! I have no more love handles/muffin tops I actually am starting the formation of a 6-pack! My arms and legs are super toned...can't believe it happened within 2 months! Good luck with Insanity...it is well worth it!!!

nomanizer

I originally used the Slim in 6 videos to lose weight, they worked great! I ended up losing almost 50 lbs. Then the workouts got boring and I needed more of a challenge. I first did the insanity workout last summer. Got discouraged because I gained weight during it. Gained even more after stopping working out at all! I know, big surprise lol!
Decided three weeks ago to start the Insanity workout again and once again, I have gained weight! I know I have read here that measurements count, not so much the weight, but NOTHING fits me anymore either! Everything is too tight, I feel tired all the time, and only halfway through week 3 I have to take a break from the workouts. I have thought of going back to the slim in 6, but after insanity everything else is so mundane. Any suggestions?

bennifer96

For the record: Muscle does not weigh more than fat. One pound of muscle and one pound of fat both weigh one pound. It's a density issue. One pound of muscle takes up less space than one pound of fat. Therefore, you should rely on inches lost and not the numbers on the scale.

Meggles63

When I started Insanity, I put on 5 lbs.! Held onto it for about 2 weeks, and then it dropped off. Maybe my body was in shock from it, lol! Don't worry too much. Good luck!

jlnk

For the record: Muscle does not weigh more than fat. One pound of muscle and one pound of fat both weigh one pound. It's a density issue. One pound of muscle takes up less space than one pound of fat. Therefore, you should rely on inches lost and not the numbers on the scale.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I love this misconception...people say hit so often and don't realize how illogical it is! How could one pound of anything be heavier than...well...a pound!!! (pound of feathers vs a pound of bricks...that may help people visualize the difference...the both weigh a pound, but a pound of bricks would take up MUCH less space.)

ohjosh

I've started Insanity, expecting to lose weight fast, but I actually went from 150 to 158 in less than a week. I didn't even know that was possible? I'll admit my diet wasn't the best, but it's no different than before I started insanity, and I always maintained a constant 150 lbs. anyone have an explanation? Thanks

ohjosh

I have been gaining weight with insanity since I started. huge help. Thanks

wish21

This article might help you.

http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=why_the_scale_goes_up_when_you_start_a_new_workout_plan

thefuzz1290

You're probably drinking and retaining more water. Like a previous poster said, rely on the measuring tape and mirror, not the scale.