1st month of Insanity: Gaining weight AND inches?!

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miablueiii
miablueiii Posts: 2
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone! This is my first post. :)

I am in the middle of the 3rd week of insanity and I'm feeling really discouraged. I tried reading as many posts as I could on this topic but most of what I found was just about weight gain. I know that it's normal and why it happens etc. and everyone says pay more attention to the mirror and the tape measure.

I have gained 4 pounds and all the measurements I took beforehand are either the same or up half an inch to an inch. Especially in my hips - which is the MOST discouraging. I was doing Jillian Michales DVDs before and dropped a lot of weight (maybe too much). I am eating okay - I have been gluten and dairy free for some time now - and plan on going paleo before month 2. I don't count calories per se I just make sure I'm eating the "right" stuff and eating when I feel hungry.

Could the gains in inches be from inflammation/water retention too? Did anyone else (especially women) experience this? I look and feel more toned but I'm worried about fitting into my jeans. :(

Replies

  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I think it's just from making your muscles bigger. I am not familiar with this specific workout. It must be more than just cardio though if you are gaining inches and maintaining a calorie deficit.
  • _beautiful_disaster_
    _beautiful_disaster_ Posts: 182
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    it just means your body was suppsosed to look like that, i would rather be fit and toned and buy bigger pants, then having saggy, lumpy skin and buying smaller clothes. ya know? like i'm starting insanity the end of this month, I already did like 2 days of it, and lost 2 pounds. but, i know i'll be more toned, but its just muscle and everything. you don't need to sweat it. :):blushing:
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
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    A couple thoughts:

    You mentioned maybe losing too much weight. I don't know what you weigh currently but maybe the weight gain isn't a terrible thing and it's just muscles growing?

    I know that oftentimes with vigorous training regiments, people often assume they burn more than they actually do and overcompensate with eating.

    It could also be a number of other things. Your muscles might be retaining water from the workouts, your hormones and TOM can have an effect, as well as what you ate the day before weighing yourself. (You weighing regularly?)

    I'd recommend doing a bit of calorie tracking for a couple weeks just to see where your numbers are at. Sometimes, it can surprise you.
  • lwoods34
    lwoods34 Posts: 302 Member
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    I am doing Insanity as well as Insanity: The Asylum and I have not noticed any weight gain or gaining of inches. But then again I also run about 3-4 times per week and do other workouts! But if you arent really counting your calories as you said and are more focused on eating the healthy stuff, you could be underestimating how much you are eating. Also if you arent weighing your food, you could also be underestimating there too which can lead to eating more calories than what you think you are eating! I could be wrong, but I could bet that this is what is happening!

    Ive read that alot of people are gaining weight and inches on Insanity but I really dont understand why, especially when you are using on your own body weight for all of the workouts except for the Upper Body Weight Training workout! As for gaining muscle, it actually takes your body a long time to really gain muscle so I dont believe that would be why you are gaining weight. Maybe some of the foods that you are eating are high in sodium so that could contribute to water weight gain. But without really seeing a food diary, I really can only give you my opinion of what could be happening!
  • xxnellie146xx
    xxnellie146xx Posts: 996 Member
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    Bumping so you hopefully get more answers.
  • miablueiii
    miablueiii Posts: 2
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    When I was doing Jillian Michaels, I got down to about 123 lbs I think (I'm 5'8") and starting Insanity I was at 132. I definitely had some muscle doing that and wasn't just THIN. I fell out of my routine after starting a new job and moving to a new state. I know this workout is just different and my body has to adapt before I see the improvements I'm looking for. I hope it's worth it!

    As far as my meals, I eat a lot of eggs, salads, nuts, chicken, quinoa etc. etc. I've never been good at keeping track of what I eat because I've never really had to. But I'll probably start. Once I go paleo I'm going to be a lot more food-concious in general.

    Thanks for the advice so far, guys. I'll definitely post again with my progress!
  • becky3277
    becky3277 Posts: 64 Member
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    The same thing happened to me. It was water weight and I wasn't eating enough.
  • jmfraggis
    jmfraggis Posts: 14
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    From what I understand from my food and nutrition specialist, if you are just starting out with exercising you have to remember that your body isn't used to burning the calories so it will hoard the food to compensate for the caloric burn...kind of a "WTH" response from your body. Once it realizes that you will keep replacing the food (properly and regularly), it will let the fat stores go. This takes 3-4 weeks which is why people get so discouraged when they don't see a whole lot of movement down or even an increase by week 2.

    On the flip side - how do you look? If you look and feel better, that's what matters - not a tape measure or a scale.

    If you are truly watching what you take in and excercise safely, then I would give it a couple more weeks.

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