will i lose the muscle i built in 3 weeks?

trulyhealy

i’ve not been going to the gym for 3 weeks because of quarantining and being busy i’m just wondering if it means i’ve undo my progress? about a week and half of those weeks i was eating bad

my weight is the same before i started eating bad (i assume that i still have water weight bc i’m bloated and have only been on track for a few days now) so i don’t know if that means anything

sal10851

Not really. Even if you did, thanks to muscle memory you will regain back a lot quicker.

Dogmom1978

Not sure how long you were previously listing for, so don’t know how much muscle you had built up already.

Assuming you had been lifting for a year, you would most likely lose some muscle during those three weeks. If you had only been lifting for a month or two before the 3 week break, then you didn’t have much to begin with. Either way, once you return to the gym, you will be able to gain it back.

errollmaclean

From what I've read, muscle loss starts after 2 weeks.

But some things are just out of your control, so not really worth worrying too much about. I've had to rebuild lost muscle many many times due to work or illness. It's just one of those inevitable things that happens.

If it bothers you, there are always bodyweight exercises, push-ups, lunges, squats, etc or you can spend some time looking up propper form or reading about nutrition, macronutrients, micronutrients, all the stickied posts in these forums, etc.

Just because you can't go to the gym doesn't mean you can't add to your knowledge base, that will ultimately contribute to your goals long term.

sijomial

Lost some upper body muscle this year when the gym shut for 5 months. Note 5 months not a few weeks.
Regained it in the following 3 months when gyms reopened - no big deal really.

"Eating bad" is your guilt speaking. You are looking for a punishment / consequence of going off track during a difficult time. I ate badly so therefore I must have lost muscle is an emotional response and not a logical one.
Try to be kinder to yourself instead.

tuckerrj

Do push ups, air squats, lunges, toe touches, bench dips & situps. There are literally thousands of bodyweight workouts on Youtube. You can use a gallon bottle filled with water (8 lbs.) to do curls, shoulder presses or to add weight to most of the afore mentioned exercises. There's no reason to stop muscle building exercises. Just adapt and overcome.

domeofstars

I have been told by a trainer that while it can take a long time to build lean muscle mass, you can lose it very very quickly

HilTri

I am coming back from COVID. I didn’t work out for 33 days and while my muscles deflated a bit, they are coming back quickly.