Gained weight instead of losing it?

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IsaackGMOON
IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So, I weighed in at 170lb on the first day of insanity. I've also been sticking to 1800 calories a day, around 440 calories below maintenance.

After the first week, I down to 169.4lb's. Then the second week, 172lb's. I kept on weighing myself every morning, but I was still 172lb's.

I always weigh myself in the morning when I wake up; making sure I pass urine or faeces so no extra weight is added. I've been keeping measurements, and I've gone from a 37" waist to a 36.5" waist. Is it possible that my muscles are holding onto water weight because they've just been exposed to pretty intense exercise?

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  • _KitKat_
    _KitKat_ Posts: 1,066 Member
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    Losing a half inch is great. As for the weight it is most likely fluctuations. Personally I fluctuate about 4lbs. so if my weight doesn't leave that range, I have no clue a loss or gain occurred.

    Yes muscles can hold water, eating sodium, hormones, food digestion and a million other things play a role in weight fluctuations. 440 deficient is a little less than a lb. a week loss, so it can take over a month to see the numbers register on the scale.

    Are you sure of your intake? Meaning do you weigh all foods, measure all liquids and not over estimate exercise burn.

    *Log EVERYTHING

    *Weigh Solids

    *Measure liquids

    *Exercise for fitness
    (weight lifting is my recommendation)

    *Be Honest with Yourself

    *Measure yourself, take silly pictures and then enjoy your progress.

    And............

    *****MOST IMPORTANTLY******
    READ THIS


    ======================================================================================================
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
    ======================================================================================================

    THEN READ IT AGAIN........ :drinker:


    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
  • Julieelliott12
    Julieelliott12 Posts: 68 Member
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    Another thing about doing insanity, especially for the first time, you can be building muscle from the exercises which may make the scale go up because you are growing muscle, which takes up less space than fat.
  • hotplugged
    hotplugged Posts: 37
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    Maybe open your food diary, so we can see?

    I would think that something in your calculations is off. Yes, you are gaining muscle, but you should be losing fat at a higher rate.

    I'm in week 6 of insanity and eat around 1500-1600 calories a day total. I also notice, that my weight loss level depends on the kinds of calories I eat. I lose more when setting my macros to 45p/30c/25f, as opposed to the recommended insanity setting of 40/40/20.

    How much water are you drinking?

    I started at 137 at week 1 and have lost around .5lb/week consistently, while still losing inches
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    Maybe open your food diary, so we can see?

    I would think that something in your calculations is off. Yes, you are gaining muscle, but you should be losing fat at a higher rate.

    I'm in week 6 of insanity and eat around 1500-1600 calories a day total. I also notice, that my weight loss level depends on the kinds of calories I eat. I lose more when setting my macros to 45p/30c/25f, as opposed to the recommended insanity setting of 40/40/20.

    How much water are you drinking?

    I started at 137 at week 1 and have lost around .5lb/week consistently, while still losing inches


    I'm currently drinking around 2 litres a day. I'll give it till day 14 and if nothing has changed - I'll have to rearrange my macros
  • hotplugged
    hotplugged Posts: 37
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    Either way, dont give up! If you have made it through the first two weeks (the hardest IMO, due to adjusting to the new routine), and you are loosing inches... you are doing something right!
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    Came to weigh my self in this morning.. 165.4lb. Tried another scale, 165.3lb. Not sure what happened, but something has!
  • hotplugged
    hotplugged Posts: 37
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    Thats awesome!

    It must have been water weight that was collecting in your muscles!!
  • rjmudlax13
    rjmudlax13 Posts: 909 Member
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    Came to weigh my self in this morning.. 165.4lb. Tried another scale, 165.3lb. Not sure what happened, but something has!

    You lost water.

    Track your weight over the long term. Day to day you might go way up or way down, but if you were to chart your weight using Excel or whatever, you would see a downward trend. This is all assuming you are logging accurately and counting calories correctly.
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
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    A) Don't go by a different scale. They will weigh differently and show false changes. B) Anytime you start challenging the body in a way that uses more glycogen for fuel for the exercise (IE: Insanity) your body will adapt by storing more glycogen in the muscles to be able to fuel the next bout of exercise. This glycogen is stored in the muscles in 3 times as much water as glycogen. So for 1 gram of glycogen stored, you store 3 grams of water. So, what you've gained is glycogen and water. If you do your body composition, it will appear as lean tissue (especially if you use bioelectrical impedance), but it is not actually muscle fibers, yet. That extra storage of glycogen has to happen to stimulate the actual growth of muscle fibers down the road. C) Don't focus on the scale, but instead on body composition changes. If you can't do an actual body fat measurement, just use your circumference measurements (I have a formula in a blog post on how to convert circumference measurements into body composition measurements if you want it.) and make sure they are going down. The scale means nothing. If you have a lot of muscle mass and little body fat, you will be smaller and healthier, even at the same weight as someone who has less muscle mass and more body fat. Well, except for if you go below the essential body fat that you need for survival. ;-)

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