How long does it take for muscle to shrink?

karin_02

I am un-able to do any exercise due to health reasons and I was wondering how long it will take until to lose muscle?
I obviously don;t want to lose any, but it would be helpful to know the rate at which it shrinks so I know whether I'm losing fat or muscle.
Also does anyone know any food that help sustain muscle?

adalosesweight

depends on how active you are and on your body. like, in my case: i havplayed basket ball for years and then stopped 2 years ago but my muscles are still there.

dragonbug300

I remember hearing from my health class (years ago) that it takes 2 weeks of inactivity to start losing significant muscle strength. After that point, every week of inactivity negates 1 month of effort to put on muscle.
I know from experience that I feel weaker after just 5 days of no strength training.
I went 1 month without even being able to stand up, and 1 week in the hospital. I still did some pilates, some light yoga, and some arm exercises, but still lost a lot of muscle. I have yet to get it all back. I went from being able to do squats, lunges, dumbbell curls, etc. with 30 pounds per hand, to 10 or 15 pounds per hand. I also lost the ability to do a full pushup.

So in short, it doesn't take long to lose muscle strength without exercise or heavy activity.

fiberartist219

In my personal experience, it doesn't take long to shrink or to grow back. I know there are lots of people on here that say it takes awhile to grow muscle, but if you don't have any, it's not so hard.

When I had surgery on my foot, I was unable to walk for two months. I used crutches. My right foot had the surgery. My left leg got huge, and my right leg whittled down to nothing. It looked ridiculous if I stretched them out side by side while wearing shorts so you could see the difference.

The third month, I was allowed to wear a surgical boot and put some weight on it. Within a day or two, both my legs were the same size again. The larger leg shrunk back down, and the smaller leg built back up and it was only 24-48 hours that I got rid of the limp.

So, that's my personal experience with it. I wasn't doing any regular exercise at the time. This was just what happened with normal walking around doing shopping, etc.

LavenderBouquet

I used to work out a lot more and played soccer a few years back and when I started university I de-prioritized exercise altogether. I held onto that muscle for quite a while (maybe a year or more, most of the muscle anyways), but it really depends on the person I would think, as well as diet, and your activity level. I was still walking around quite a bit and ate decent, depending on your health problem the rate of muscle loss could change (i.e. stuck in bed all the time or you just can't work out but still walk around and whatnot).

tigersword

A lot of it depends on your diet. Adequate food intake can negate muscle loss, since if you are eating an appropriate amount of calories, your body won't need to break down muscle to fuel itself.