Need opinions, please! Gaining weight doing Insanity

Molly182
Molly182 Posts: 406
in Motivation and Support
First I'll say that I've only been doing Insanity for a week now. I did the equation in the book to see how many calories it says I should consume per day (1600) for weight loss, and I have pretty well stuck to it. I ate a little extra 2 days, and that was because I was physically hungry. I have also been going for more walks than usual.

Frustrated with gaining two pounds this week despite my efforts I came across two things that I found interesting:

1. A post on the forums over at beachbody that said that Insanity is NOT weight loss program, it's a conditioning program. It said that if your goal is to lose weight you should do a more moderate program that will allow you to eat less calories.

2. http://www.decidetostayfit.com/blog/why-am-i-gaining-weight-while-doing-shaun-ts-insanity-work-out
summary of article: the more intense a workout is the more soreness you will have. The soreness will cause tears in the muscle and your body will want to protect it so you get inflammation and swelling from water retention.

I know that getting frustrated and giving up isn't going to be the best option, but I'd love to get some opinions on the matter!

Thank you! I would really appreciate any response.

Replies

  • Mamafitness15
    Mamafitness15 Posts: 10
    Hi! I wouldn't get too frustrated by what the scale says. I would look at more on how your body looks and feels with doing Insanity. Have you taken measurements? That to me is the real indicator of weight loss. If it is your muscles tearing and holding onto a bit of water, just remember- once they tear and rebuild themselves, they will become stronger, and your overall cardio and physical endurance will be improved too. Also, it has only been a week. I would not give up so soon, even though it seems like you are not seeing any results. I know with me when I start a new or intense workout, I tend to gain a bit on the scale at first, but then the weight does drop, because it is just my muscles- muscles weigh more than fat, and muscle burns fat. Keep up the good work, and give it a little bit of time. Try to just take measurements for a few weeks, then get back on the scale. If you haven't lost any weight or inches either, then maybe I would look at a more moderate workout for fat loss. Good luck, and I think you are doing great :)
  • simonlcube
    simonlcube Posts: 73 Member
    Statistics that would help you know better what is going on: heart rate while exercising, and body fat vs. water percentage. Good luck and stick with it! It does not matter that insanity is not all fat burning; if you complete it you will be fitter, and better conditioned for fat loss. Keep it up!
  • urglewurgle
    urglewurgle Posts: 224 Member
    I would definitely not worry. I've lost 13lbs on Insanity Hun and have just one week left. However, the greatest change has been in my measurements and muscle tone. My stomach fat is vanishing and my abs are toning up and my stomach fat was horrible. I used to weigh 224 and went to 133 in about 9 months by being, well basically borderline anorexic and simply restricting my calories and doing cardio. I had no muscle tone and then put on about 30lbs leaving my tummy looking like a big saggy apron. In these last few months all my saggy skin is tightening and whilst I'm not loosing the same on the scale as I did before I am not as flabby and my clothes look much better. Just keep digging deep and you will see some awesome changes soon!
  • jordandis
    jordandis Posts: 9 Member
    I'm three weeks into Insanity and stopped looking at the scales after the first week..I'm not following the diet plan and have been eating like crazy though
    however my stomach seems to be getting harder and tighter
    so I guess something is working..
  • Anastasia0511
    Anastasia0511 Posts: 372 Member
    @Molly182 I practically live over at the BB forum what thread is that from? Insanity is a sport video to help with your endurance for sure but you cant tell me people aren't going to lose weight with it. I didn't even think I needed to lose weight the very first time I did and and when I went to the doctors I had lost like 13 pounds or something. Give it time, week one doesn't count ;)
    Every friend I have has lost weight with Insanity. Maybe you're experiencing water weight. It cant be fat.
    I don't even look at the scale and the last time I actually weighed myself was over a year ago and only because I was at the doctors for something. Numbers mean nothing to me. If I like the way I look in my clothes and the mirror who cares what the scale reads.
    You look pretty skinny already like you don't need to lose weight. Maybe its a little bit of water and muscle starting to build. Measure yourself every Fit test and just keep pushing play. I bet you'll look amazing when you're done cause you have no fat to lose and only muscle to gain which is sexy. I love muscle and am trying to get more myself. I have done Insanity three times and just finished the Asylum for the third time and started Les Mills Pump last week. Good luck to you Insanity and Shaun T are my all time favorite workout and person ever.
  • RotterdamNL
    RotterdamNL Posts: 509 Member
    lol i never look at the scale, hell, i don't even have a scale >< starting tomorrow with the second week of insanity and believe me my week was hard.
    I quitted heavy smoking for 16 years and heavy drinking for the past 4 yrs cold turkey the day i started insanity. I don't care at all what a scale says.
  • leslturn8
    leslturn8 Posts: 505 Member
    ive been told, not to weigh until its been 30 days because your body will be gaining muscle and then ull start to see results :)
  • BrittanyLail
    BrittanyLail Posts: 40 Member
    I'm in week three of insanity and I gained the first few weeks but I could see changes in my body. Love my flat belly!
  • peachyxoxoxo
    peachyxoxoxo Posts: 1,178 Member
    It's just water retention, tends to happen to a lot of people when starting new intense workouts programs. My weight was up 5 lbs at the end of the first week! But now I've just completed week 8 and my weight is down 10 lbs. Don't worry too much about the scale right now. Keep working hard, take your measurements, and focus on how your body is changing :) good luck with Insanity, I hope you like it and stick with it :)
  • DeniseH60
    DeniseH60 Posts: 7
    Don't worry about what the scale says. I just finished my 3rd week (I'm 52 and need to lose about 30 lbs) Scale went up 1st week, down a tiny bit the 2nd week. I just weighed myself and lost 3.6 this week. Your body is adjusting, changing, healing after all those hard workouts. Just try to eat good nutritious food and keep at it!
  • Molly182
    Molly182 Posts: 406
    Thank you everybody!! I feel A LOT better.

    I know the number on the scale isn't so important. I guess I thought that since I was doing cardio and not strength that I would see it go down, but I shall be patient and keep moving on!

    Thanks again!
  • Cosmophoe
    Cosmophoe Posts: 1
    I too started Insanity and this is my 8th day. I am 57 and have always exercised and been in good shape, but in the last year I seem to have gained 10 lbs and nothing I do seems to take it off, especially the muffin top and my stomach. I was very excited to find Insanity because I have heard great things about it and everyone who uses it seems to loose weight and look great...my daughter knows a lot of people who love it. I am crying now because my clothes seem to be getting tighter and not looser on me. I am following the food suggestions and actually eating less calories than suggested because I can't eat that much food and want to lose weight. I am actually doing about 25 minutes of each workout before I can't do anymore and I have more endurance than I did last week. I do not weigh myself, but the fact that my clothes are tighter and not looser is very upsetting and I am feeling very frustrated. I have read some of your comments and am hoping that I will start to see some results before I give up.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    It's also a huge carb burning workout.

    as such you are training your body to store more carbs in the muscles.

    Carbs store with water, 1 gram glucose with 2.7 grams water means 500 calories of stored glucose weighs 1 lb.

    You can increase storage by 2lbs easy. But that will pretty much stop there.
    As would water retention from recovery.

    Just make sure you weigh yourself on morning after rest day, less chance of false weight gain/loss.
    And don't eat high sodium meal on rest day.
  • Lettyskky
    Lettyskky Posts: 18 Member
    This will be my fourth week on insanity and I see some weight gain. I can't fit into my clothes and my cheeks are getting rounder.. Is this occurring because my body is retaining water? Im really terrified . I'm not following the nutrition but I am eating 1800 cal a day. Should I give up?
  • Cachou99
    Cachou99 Posts: 5
    Scales are evil
  • RiannonC
    RiannonC Posts: 145 Member
    This will be my fourth week on insanity and I see some weight gain. I can't fit into my clothes and my cheeks are getting rounder.. Is this occurring because my body is retaining water? Im really terrified . I'm not following the nutrition but I am eating 1800 cal a day. Should I give up?

    Maybe 1800 calories a day is too much for your metabolism? I would never give up on a great workout program, intense exercise is good. If you are still seeing weight gain after four weeks you may want to gradually decrease the calories, make sure you are eating clean, etc. I don't know what size you are but I know I would gain weight eating 1800 calories a day no matter what kind of exercise I was doing. My metabolism is just slow, and I'm small.

    Whatever you do, don't quit the exercise though!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    This will be my fourth week on insanity and I see some weight gain. I can't fit into my clothes and my cheeks are getting rounder.. Is this occurring because my body is retaining water? Im really terrified . I'm not following the nutrition but I am eating 1800 cal a day. Should I give up?

    Now are you doing the 1800 daily goal which includes exercise, and NOT eating back your exercise calories?

    That is different than MFP's normal method, when they set the goal with the deficit, they include no exercise, hence the need to eat it back when it's actually done.

    Also, was the 1800 goal for doing the program 5 days a week, and you can only do it 3 days a week? Or something similar?

    Are you good at weighing food if eating natural, or doing labels and serving sizes correctly if not?

    Because the potential body improvements from the program might lead to some weight gain, easily offset by fat loss. But not in your cheeks. Unless you are talking about other cheeks?

    You'll only retain so much water associated with sore muscle recovery, it has its max point and that's about it. Same as extra glucose stores.
    If this is your first set of intense exercise ever, you could gain probably 2-3 lbs there, but that too would stop.

    So you are eating enough, and if you have enough to lose, you could actually be gaining some muscle, but 1/2 to 1 lb max.
  • Lettyskky
    Lettyskky Posts: 18 Member
    This will be my fourth week on insanity and I see some weight gain. I can't fit into my clothes and my cheeks are getting rounder.. Is this occurring because my body is retaining water? Im really terrified . I'm not following the nutrition but I am eating 1800 cal a day. Should I give up?

    Now are you doing the 1800 daily goal which includes exercise, and NOT eating back your exercise calories?

    That is different than MFP's normal method, when they set the goal with the deficit, they include no exercise, hence the need to eat it back when it's actually done.

    Also, was the 1800 goal for doing the program 5 days a week, and you can only do it 3 days a week? Or something similar?

    Are you good at weighing food if eating natural, or doing labels and serving sizes correctly if not?

    Because the potential body improvements from the program might lead to some weight gain, easily offset by fat loss. But not in your cheeks. Unless you are talking about other cheeks?

    You'll only retain so much water associated with sore muscle recovery, it has its max point and that's about it. Same as extra glucose stores.
    If this is your first set of intense exercise ever, you could gain probably 2-3 lbs there, but that too would stop.

    So you are eating enough, and if you have enough to lose, you could actually be gaining some muscle, but 1/2 to 1 lb max.







    I am 5'4 and weight 160. I was eating 1800 with exercise . I originally calculated to 2100 cals a day, but it seemed too high. Not sure if i calculated right. I am using my sister's insanity kit and unfortunately she lost her nutritional guide. I had to look up how to calculate my BMR through google.

    I'd eat 1800 cal & exercise 6 days a week. I am great at calculating my food intake , but am worried about my carb intake.

    I definitely see muscle improvements in my legs but none on the tooshy........ haha My face,belly and arms did get chubbier.

    I'm sure I've gained more than 2-3 lbs .



    How much should I eat??
    I didn't give up today and continued the program.
  • Lettyskky
    Lettyskky Posts: 18 Member
    This will be my fourth week on insanity and I see some weight gain. I can't fit into my clothes and my cheeks are getting rounder.. Is this occurring because my body is retaining water? Im really terrified . I'm not following the nutrition but I am eating 1800 cal a day. Should I give up?

    Maybe 1800 calories a day is too much for your metabolism? I would never give up on a great workout program, intense exercise is good. If you are still seeing weight gain after four weeks you may want to gradually decrease the calories, make sure you are eating clean, etc. I don't know what size you are but I know I would gain weight eating 1800 calories a day no matter what kind of exercise I was doing. My metabolism is just slow, and I'm small.







    I am 5'4 and 160 lbs.
    I'm going to pipe it down to 1300 cals just to keep it safe.
    I didn't give up I kept working hard. & if I don't see improvements this month I'll just reapeat the first month.

    Whatever you do, don't quit the exercise though!
  • RiannonC
    RiannonC Posts: 145 Member
    Just remember that those calculations are not one size fits all. Even among people of the same height and weight, there are variations among metabolisms. I would decrease the calories gradually, maybe try going 300 calories a day lower at first and see how that works out, until you find the place where you are slowly losing weight but are not excessively hungry or low on energy. Great job not giving up. That must be so frustrating to gain weight when you are working so hard.
    This will be my fourth week on insanity and I see some weight gain. I can't fit into my clothes and my cheeks are getting rounder.. Is this occurring because my body is retaining water? Im really terrified . I'm not following the nutrition but I am eating 1800 cal a day. Should I give up?

    Now are you doing the 1800 daily goal which includes exercise, and NOT eating back your exercise calories?

    That is different than MFP's normal method, when they set the goal with the deficit, they include no exercise, hence the need to eat it back when it's actually done.

    Also, was the 1800 goal for doing the program 5 days a week, and you can only do it 3 days a week? Or something similar?

    Are you good at weighing food if eating natural, or doing labels and serving sizes correctly if not?

    Because the potential body improvements from the program might lead to some weight gain, easily offset by fat loss. But not in your cheeks. Unless you are talking about other cheeks?

    You'll only retain so much water associated with sore muscle recovery, it has its max point and that's about it. Same as extra glucose stores.
    If this is your first set of intense exercise ever, you could gain probably 2-3 lbs there, but that too would stop.

    So you are eating enough, and if you have enough to lose, you could actually be gaining some muscle, but 1/2 to 1 lb max.







    I am 5'4 and weight 160. I was eating 1800 with exercise . I originally calculated to 2100 cals a day, but it seemed too high. Not sure if i calculated right. I am using my sister's insanity kit and unfortunately she lost her nutritional guide. I had to look up how to calculate my BMR through google.

    I'd eat 1800 cal & exercise 6 days a week. I am great at calculating my food intake , but am worried about my carb intake.

    I definitely see muscle improvements in my legs but none on the tooshy........ haha My face,belly and arms did get chubbier.

    I'm sure I've gained more than 2-3 lbs .



    How much should I eat??
    I didn't give up today and continued the program.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I am 5'4 and weight 160. I was eating 1800 with exercise . I originally calculated to 2100 cals a day, but it seemed too high. Not sure if i calculated right. I am using my sister's insanity kit and unfortunately she lost her nutritional guide. I had to look up how to calculate my BMR through google.

    I'd eat 1800 cal & exercise 6 days a week. I am great at calculating my food intake , but am worried about my carb intake.

    I definitely see muscle improvements in my legs but none on the tooshy........ haha My face,belly and arms did get chubbier.

    I'm sure I've gained more than 2-3 lbs .

    How much should I eat??
    I didn't give up today and continued the program.

    If that is 6 hrs a week at that intense program, you are not near eating enough for that level of program. Probably burn 500 easily if it's 60 min long.

    That should be at least 2000 daily, every day, even on rest day, to make up for that.

    BMR this close to goal weight is more accurate unless you have suppressed it by undereating - 1486

    Activity level belongs in Very Active, but I picked Moderately Active and rounded up slightly to TDEE - 2400

    Deficit this close to goal weight is 15% so final daily goal is - 2040

    And no, your metabolism by itself is not 300 cal lower than expected being 19, the chance of most accuracy on that before years of yo-yo dieting kill it. Don't drop it by such a drastic amount.
    In fact, when you increase it, only increase 100 a day for a week, and then another week.

    You need to measure many spots to see loss when doing a program that is really trying to improve your body.

    If you want to get a better handle on that TDEE estimate before figuring the deficit, then use the spreadsheet linked to in this topic.
    BMR/TDEE tab, enter stats, and use the TDEE calc at the very bottom, using actual number of minutes weekly, plus your other weekly routine.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

    You'll also notice a Beta tab you can use, but not finished yet, though the math is all correct, just missing a body fat calculator.
    But get the measurements there, that way you can keep track of what's more important, fat being lost.

    May be lower, but I'll bet not, those programs are intense.

    Oh yeah, regarding carb intake. Have your big carb meals after the workout. That workout is intended to be high intensity, which means very high carb burning. You gotta make that up before the next workout.
    If you have any estimate of how many calories you burn in the workout, you can safely assume at least 80% of those calories is carbs. You need to be eating that much back before your next workout, plus some.
  • rrrufty
    rrrufty Posts: 24
    First I'll say that I've only been doing Insanity for a week now. I did the equation in the book to see how many calories it says I should consume per day (1600) for weight loss, and I have pretty well stuck to it. I ate a little extra 2 days, and that was because I was physically hungry. I have also been going for more walks than usual.

    Frustrated with gaining two pounds this week despite my efforts

    So... you work out for a mere week, while eating more than your targeted caloric intake, and you are "frustrated" that you gained weight?
  • foodno
    foodno Posts: 2 Member
    i have the same problem here. i am on my month 2 week 3 insanity. when i started i gained 3 lbs then dropped them off then i weigh myselt this morning and ihave gained 11 lbs!! since the holiday, i am not able to control my eating. i eat 1500 cal one day and binge the next!! any idea on how to stop eating so bad? my clothes still fit but they feel tighter as well. i am 5'9 and i weigh now 154 lbs. i was 143 lbs. i need help!! and motivation please!! would i lose the weight again?
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    ive been told, not to weigh until its been 30 days because your body will be gaining muscle and then ull start to see results :)

    You did not gain weight, your muscles are retaining water to help with the repair after starting a new program...

    And if you build any muscle in 30 days of doing pure cardio, please send some my way...because it won't be happening...
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    i have the same problem here. i am on my month 2 week 3 insanity. when i started i gained 3 lbs then dropped them off then i weigh myselt this morning and ihave gained 11 lbs!! since the holiday, i am not able to control my eating. i eat 1500 cal one day and binge the next!! any idea on how to stop eating so bad? my clothes still fit but they feel tighter as well. i am 5'9 and i weigh now 154 lbs. i was 143 lbs. i need help!! and motivation please!! would i lose the weight again?

    That's not insanity's fault - you need to start controlling you eating.....But at 5'9 and 159 you are already in the healthy weight zone...Maybe do less cardio and start lifting ?
  • laurenpwalker9
    laurenpwalker9 Posts: 4 Member
    Try cutting your calorie intake down to 1600 for a week - obviously, eat more if you but feel you need to just try cutting it down slightly. Also, make sure you're drinking 3 litres of water a day - not drinking enough can make you retain CRAZY amounts of water. No pop, no alcohol, not too much caffeine... try to just stick to water wherever possible!!
    Try to eat a balanced diet, also... plenty of greens, lean meat, fish, fruits.... I honestly don't know what else it could be if you try all of this and are still putting on weight... I've been doing Insanity for 10 days now and have lost inches and lbs already. I'm following the nutrition plan as closely as I can and just sticking to the advice I gave above.
    I really hope this helps you... nothing more frustrating than gaining weight when you don't know why xx
  • Hybrice
    Hybrice Posts: 117 Member
    Don't worry about it pal, I'm exactly the same - a week into it and feeling so much better, losing belly flab, clothes fitting better. But scales say I've gained weight :/ I just put it down to water retention during muscle recovery, apparently once you've completed 60 days and your muscles fully recover/drop their retained water, you lose like half a stone overnight. Can't wait!

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