INSANITY..Gaining weight??

kim_mc
kim_mc Posts: 321 Member
edited September 25 in Fitness and Exercise
:noway: Hey everyone-
I am in my second week of INSANITY and I weighed my self after completing the first week and was shocked to see the scale going the wrong way! Is this happeneing to anyone else. I ate really well and worked out sooo hard all week long. The 2 weeks before that I was eating well and doing Turbo Fire so I'm at a loss for the reason I have started to gain weight! Input anyone??:noway:

Replies

  • spackham
    spackham Posts: 252 Member
    Do you think you may have been under eating before counting calories? And are you eating what MFP says when it adds calories for you to eat if you exercise?
  • JennyRosa
    JennyRosa Posts: 4
    Gaining lots of muscle maybe?? did you take measurments? sometimes that a better indication!!
  • justay13
    justay13 Posts: 1
    Sometimes you'll gain more weight in muscle than you lose in fat (muscles weigh more than fat)

    I used to go to a nutritionist that had a really cool scale that showed fat percentage and water percentage etc so you were able to see if you were losing weight in the right places
  • roni79
    roni79 Posts: 12 Member
    One of two things are going on - You may be gaining muscle! Try measuring yourself once a month or every two weeks. If you are gaining muscle you will be losing inches instead!!!! The only other reasone is if you are not eating enough calories for your reved up workout routines. If that is the case, your body may be holding on to any cals you give it because it thinks it's starving.

    Good luck!!!!
  • astainbrook
    astainbrook Posts: 2
    a common occurrence with intense strength training is fluid retention. The body gets a little stressed. Give it another week.
  • kim_mc
    kim_mc Posts: 321 Member
    I am eating what I have set up on MFP. However I also have a BodyMedia Fit armband and that is saying that I am burning more than I thought I was just doing day to day activities so there has been a calorie deficit of larger than 500 calories on most days. Do you think I should try yo eat more (won't be hard)! I am just thinking that if I eat more, I will gain more but I have heard people say that they have increased calories and lost more weight??
  • ppiinnkkmmoonn
    ppiinnkkmmoonn Posts: 418
    ok once and let me make this clear MUSCLE AND FAT WEIGHT THE SAME THE THING IS MUSCLE LOOKS BETTER THEN FAT FAT SPREADS AND MUSCLE IS TIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry a pet peeve of mines when people say muscle weigh more. one logically thing i can say is when i first started weight lifting i gained weight trust me it was not muscle it just your muscle swelling with water it happens do research. it will go away i think it took about three weeks for me. and as a woman you dont gain weight that fast we are not build like that,
  • Coyla
    Coyla Posts: 444 Member
    It is probably temporary water retention due to the intense training, as stated above. You may try eating more if you're uncomfortable, but under-eating won't cause weight gain. It just causes the body to plateau and feels horrible to boot!

    Just wait it out and see what happens.

    Definitely measure yourself as well.
  • bellawomenswellness
    bellawomenswellness Posts: 99 Member
    As a Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition specialist, my guess might be one of a few things... you might be retaining water weight due to either sodium content in your foods or due to your bodies natural cycle, so drink plenty of water. The body will also increase the production of cortisol when stressed, this triggers the body to store bodyfat, make sure you are sleeping enough and the workout intensity is appropriate for you. Insanity is HITT training High intensity cardio training, so it is more than likely not weight due to gained muscle mass. Keep your diet clean and keep up the workouts. Give the body a chance to adapt.
  • kim_mc
    kim_mc Posts: 321 Member
    Thanks everyone! :bigsmile:
  • carl1738
    carl1738 Posts: 444 Member
    a common occurrence with intense strength training is fluid retention. The body gets a little stressed. Give it another week.
    Exactly. When you put more stress on your muscles than they are used to (like a new or more challenging workout routine), your muscles retain extra water to help them recover. This usually lasts a couple of weeks until your muscles become used to the more vigourous activity. Don't worry, your weight will start dropping again soon.
  • lmanzi219
    lmanzi219 Posts: 32 Member
    I just started insanity last week and I'm having the EXACT same problem, I've put ON three pounds. I was discouraged and stopped for a few days only to read online that this is very common. I had a friend who did P90x and he said he put on weight during the first two weeks and then from then on dropped weight like crazy. In the article I read it says since the workouts are so intense and your muscles become very sore, your body builds muscle but also retains water to protect the healing soreness which is damaged tissue. I am going to start back up tomorrow! Now of course I'm behind and mad at myself for quitting but I just wanted to share because this is currently happening to me too! Good luck!
  • alyssa83202
    alyssa83202 Posts: 334
    I'm glad I read this because I ordered Insanity today and now I won't get discouraged if it happens to me too!
  • danielleeeee
    danielleeeee Posts: 59
    ok once and let me make this clear MUSCLE AND FAT WEIGHT THE SAME THE THING IS MUSCLE LOOKS BETTER THEN FAT FAT SPREADS AND MUSCLE IS TIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry a pet peeve of mines when people say muscle weigh more. one logically thing i can say is when i first started weight lifting i gained weight trust me it was not muscle it just your muscle swelling with water it happens do research. it will go away i think it took about three weeks for me. and as a woman you dont gain weight that fast we are not build like that,

    While it's true that a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat... the SAME VOLUME of muscle weighs more than the SAME VOLUME of fat.
  • kimmrdodge
    kimmrdodge Posts: 190 Member
    :noway: Hey everyone-
    I am in my second week of INSANITY and I weighed my self after completing the first week and was shocked to see the scale going the wrong way! Is this happeneing to anyone else. I ate really well and worked out sooo hard all week long. The 2 weeks before that I was eating well and doing Turbo Fire so I'm at a loss for the reason I have started to gain weight! Input anyone??:noway:

    Here is a post I found yesterday. I think it explains it well.
    I "lifted" this from a P90X thread on Beachbody - but thought that MFPers would be interested in the information. It makes sense to me!


    Probably the most common question I get when I release a new exercise program is, “Help! I’m gaining weight! Am I doing something wrong?” This is a common phenomena with any new exercise program, Turbo Kick, Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Hustle, you name it! It’s especially common (and temporary) with intense strength training programs like ChaLEAN Extreme or Tony Horton’s P90X.

    The motivation to start a new exercise program is almost always to lose weight loss. However, what most personal trainers know and most at-home exercisers do not, is that a new exercise program often can cause an immediate (and temporary) increase on the scale. (Notice I didn’t say weight gain! I’ll explain.) This common increase in the scale is also the reason why perhaps millions of people start and then quickly quit their resolution to get fit.

    The temporary weight gain explained:

    When someone starts a new exercise program, they often experience muscle soreness. The more intense and “unfamiliar” the program, the more intense the muscle soreness. This soreness is most prevalent 24 to 48 hours after each workout. In the first few weeks of a new program, soreness is the body trying to “protect and defend” the effected or targeted tissue. Exercise physiologists refer to this as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.

    This type of soreness is thought to be caused by tissue breakdown or microscopic tears in muscle tissue. When this happens the body protects the tissue. The muscle becomes inflamed and slightly swollen with fluid retention. This temporary retention of fluid can result in a 3- to 4-pound weight gain within a few weeks of a new program. Keep in mind that muscle soreness is not necessarily a reflection of how hard you worked. In fact, some people feel no signs of muscle soreness, yet will experience the muscle protection mechanisms of water retention and slight swelling.

    Most people are motivated enough to put up with this temporary muscle soreness. Yet, many, especially those who really need immediate weight loss to keep them motivated in those first couple of weeks become discouraged and quit!

    When I worked with a group of 70 test participants during the development stages of ChaLEAN Extreme, this happened. Who was the most upset and discouraged? You guessed it… the women! I’m happy to report with absolutely every single woman (and man) in our group, the weight increase was temporary and never lasted more than 2 weeks before they started to see a major drop in the scale. However, these people had the advantage of working with someone who was able to explain to them why this was happening and assure them the weight would come off if they stuck to the nutrition plan and stayed true to the program.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    ok once and let me make this clear MUSCLE AND FAT WEIGHT THE SAME THE THING IS MUSCLE LOOKS BETTER THEN FAT FAT SPREADS AND MUSCLE IS TIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry a pet peeve of mines when people say muscle weigh more. one logically thing i can say is when i first started weight lifting i gained weight trust me it was not muscle it just your muscle swelling with water it happens do research. it will go away i think it took about three weeks for me. and as a woman you dont gain weight that fast we are not build like that,

    It might be a pet peeve, but coming from someone who has spent 4 years in college studying biology with a concentration in the medical sciences, the truth is that the same mass of muscle weighs 9.3 times MORE than fat. A mass of muscle that weighs the same as a mass of fat is in fact much smaller in comparison. If you look it up, you will see visual comparisons of how small 1 pound of muscle is compared to 1 pound of fat, and if you look even more you can even find pictures of fat and muscle that appear the same size, but the muscle weighs more than the fat.. :flowerforyou:

    But back to the original question, when starting a new workout program, the water retention in the muscle caused by the body rapidly rushing the water in to repair torn muscles causes the muscles to appear bigger and causes the scale to go up. It's part of DOMS which is commonly known by the soreness most people feel.

    By eating a balanced diet, continuing to workout, and drinking plenty of water, the water retention subsides. This normally happens within 2-6 weeks of starting a new program, and the time frame is different for everyone.

    And while you may be gaining a small amount of lean mass and gaining strength, the likelihood that you are gaining enough muscle mass to see the bulk is next to none. Women usually will not gain lots of muscle mass without taking supplements of testosterone, eating a surplus of calories, and lifting hard and heavy daily.
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