Hey guys. My name is Casey, I'm brand new to the forum and I had a few questions about the program.
Since April of this year, I've lost about 60 pounds. I weighed 335 and I've made it down to 275 now. I told myself that when I got down to 275 I would start working out fairly hardcore, then P90X came along.
This is my second week on Classic and I'm convinced it's pretty killer. The only problem is that I've started to gain some weight back. I was down to about 272 middle of the week last week and now I'm back up to 282. I've seen a few things on here saying this is normal and it'll level out. I guess I just need that personal affirmation.
Plyo killed my knees, so I think that doubling up on Kenpo or Yoga might be better for me. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks so much for your responses, can't wait to chat it up with yall here!

I will let others speak to the weight gain (I lost a little right away.)

As for the Plyo, I would suggest that you don't exchange for a different workout, just modify the moves. Don't jump as high. Do the step move that Pam (the Blam!) does instead of jumping. Put your hands on your knees instead of the floor. Stuff like that. As you get stronger, you will be able to do more jumping and less stepping. Just a thought.

Good luck! Great results so far!

hey casey, congrats on the weight you've already lost, and hope you keep up this healthy lifestyle.

as for the weight gain, people's bodies are different. since this is such an intense program, what usually happens is that your muscle gains in the beginning will exceed your fat loss, hence, gaining weight. once your body adapts to the new muslce and becomes more efficient, you'll start burning more fat than you are gaining muscle, which should lead to net weight loss. but as many recommend on P90X, throw away the scale altogether. it is the worst measure for a program like this. go by body fat %, measurements, and how your clothes fit.

THEN, there is the flip side to all this which is just as IMPORTANT as working out, is the nutrition. how are you doing on that? you dont mention it in your post. my first round through P90X, i completely ignored the nutrition, and let me tell you, it was a huge mistake. i'm still not great with it at all, but at least i'm trying now =) so make sure your diet is in check as well.

and lastly, if plyo is too much on your knees, as Tony mentions in the video, you can always switch over to cardio x. i personally dont think cardio x pushes hard enough, but thats just me.

sorry, this is so long, but hope it helps. good luck!

I wouldn't worry about the weight gain unless you have a poor diet. If your diet is spot-on with what P90X suggests, throw out the scale and move on. Your best way to judge progress are improvements to your exercises, clothes fitting, soft-tape measurements, and body fat percentage as measured by calipers.

That said, some of those are tough to measure depending on current bodyfat percentage. I've found, at least with myself, that it was tough to get accurate readings when I was above 27% or so.

As for reasons for the weight gain OUTSIDE of a poor diet, or high sodium:

Your body is not used to working out like this, your muscles are likely straining hardcore and that leads to two things: swelling and muscle building. As a 'beginner' at these exercises you will enjoy the best of both worlds: fat loss AND muscle gain at the same time. Pretty cool eh? I would not be surprised to see your weight gain and drop as much as 10 pounds week to week until week 3 or so when it should hold steadier and/or slowly move in one direction.

If you lived a sedentary lifestyle, as most of us did pretty much, prior to P90X, then gaining weight is probably pretty normal. I know I gained and now after 6 weeks done I went from 218 to 215 but look incredibly different. So ignore the scale. If you BRING IT every day for 90 days and are honest with yourself about the diet and stick to it, your body will follow. Just dont get frustrated if you dont see results right away, it's a 90 day program for a reason. MANY of the changes happening to your body are internal as your muscles catch up, your cardiovascular system catches up, and you are able to push yourself harder and harder.

Good luck, dont stray from the diet, go all out, and results will follow.

Rick

First off, congrats on the weight loss thus far. 60lbs off in 4 months!? That is a lot. 1/2 lb a day for 4 months straight. Wow! How did you do it? You say once you got to 275 you would work out fairly hardcore. Were you working out moderately before or not woring out at all? The former, I hope. If not I wouldn't jump right in to P90X.
Not sure about your recent gain but Week 1 is a full frontal assault on your body. It doesn't know what hit it and may react in wierd ways and differently for different people. For me I didn't gain but I didn't lose an ounce for the first 30 days either. You have to give it time. It's funny you feel changes (PAIN!) almost instantly but there's a bit of a lag before the body actually starts to transform itself. The diet plan is a huge part of this thing if weight loss is your main goal. For me it wasn't so I didn't follow the diet plan.
As for Plyo I myself have not done it for a few months now. I miss it but part way through my 90 days I started developing soreness in one knee. It's become progressively worse and Plyo makes it worse. Try what matt suggested by modifying if you can. If that still hurts give Cardo-X a try. Many people think it's pretty weak but I really like the variety in it. It does have some plyo too so may hurt your knees as well. Kenpo would be my last choice but that's largely a personal thing. I never found it to be all that effective in terms of getting my heart rate up there.

Coco - I'd say I'm doing pretty good on the diet considering what I was eating before I lost tons of weight. There's still room for improvement of course, but I'm pushing myself to less calories, more lean meat, on and on and on..

Stick - I lost the 60 just by diet alone.. No exercise, just diet. Probably three weeks ago I started playing basketball and running a good deal to get ready (if that's possible) for P90X. I've always been in "good shape" - meaning I'm healthy and I was an all-state football player in high school. I just let my body go to crap after I graduated. I'm sure some of us know how this is.

So what I'm hearing is just stick with it and let my body do the thinking for me? I definitely feel a lot better after a week on P90X, just a little discouraged after losing 5 pounds a week almost for 4 months and then gaining 10 in a week. Thanks for the encouragement all!