skipping workouts

lbpw

im a bit anxious about the thought of skipping my workouts. ive been very faithful with it for about a year probably not skipping more than a day or two but today will be my third day. im very worn out. ive been living on about 500 calories a day (stupid, i know) and just upped it to 1200 over the last few days. i have a horrible sinus infection and every muscle in my body is killing me right now. im just trying to maintain my weight, so will skipping a few days cause any harm? i would like to be able to just stay where im at. thanks!

lbpw

i also have another question if somebody could help haha. i plan on doing about 3 times a week now for exercise and was wondering does it matter what three days? like if i decided to do wednesday thursday and friday, would that make a difference considering saturday sunday monday and tuesday would all be without?

Cassaaaaandra

It won't cause any more harm than living on 500 calories a day.

Zara11

500 a day? holy ****. Take off as much as possible while your body adjusts to receiving adequate nutrition. Sounds like you're recovering from anorexia. You're 20 years old. You don't need to starve to lose the weight you did.

lbpw

500 a day? holy ****. Take off as much as possible while your body adjusts to receiving adequate nutrition. Sounds like you're recovering from anorexia. You're 20 years old. You don't need to starve to lose the weight you did.

i do have an eating disorder. well technically doctors would say it isnt because im not "dangerously thin". im 5"3 and weigh 121 so im alright for my height, however i do have an issue. i lost all of my weight in a very healthy way except for the last 10 lbs or so then i started to go downhill.

33KIKI

Wow - 500 is low...don't do that again. Healthy workout 3Xwk would be 45-60 minutes and I do mine M/T/TH/S so that I am not completely pooped out or overly sore. SO just listen to your body and right now give it a chance to rest.

Feel better - :flowerforyou:

Lisa0711

Don't worry about doing your workouts until you're well. Your body needs that strength to get better. But, if you feel you need to do something and feel up to it just do a light cardio workout. If you don't feel good enough to do that, then just rest til you get better!! Just make sure to take care of yourself!!

Mangoaddict

Honey - I hate to tell you this but 500 calories is basically causing you to not live your fullest. You need to increase your nutrition and eat well and the health will come with it. Kindly focus on eating well and exercising (few times) a week. Thats it.

The eating disorder might be taking the best part of you. Please try not to suffer, short term results seem fine but in the long term your body will start giving up on you. My advice is to re-evaluate your current health plan and focus on one that doesn't take a great toll on your overall health.

Changes4Life

Yes....please don't eat only 500 calories a day. First of all, that in itself can make you not be able to lose weight...or even to gain. Your body will react like you are starving it and hold onto every ounce just to keep it;s energy up. Second...they say when working out you should try to spread it out. Give your muscles time to rest in between, therefor creating a more affective burn with them when you do work out. So if you can space them out do so...if not then it is better to exercise then to not exercise at all. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday....are better if you can. Or whenever, just spaced out.
Goodluck with your journey and just remember to treat yourself good....You only have one body...don't abuse it or you will lose it.

:O) Have a good day!:happy:

samseed101

If you have been working out on a regular basis AND living off 500 calories a day, then I'm not surprised to hear that you are feeling work down, sick, and sore. You are doing some serious damage to your body by doing all of that. Sure, you may be seeing lower numbers on the scale, but by now I'm sure a LOT of the weight you are dropping is coming from muscle. After awhile, you body becomes catabolic and it will try to do whatever it takes to survive. Now as far as your body is concerned, fat is a good solid source of energy that serves a purpose. Muscle, on the other hand, if heavy and a poor source of energy. Not only that, but it takes precious calories to move all of that muscle.

So as a result, your body will try to hold onto the fat to survive. It will then try to burn off what it considers "excess" muscle to lighten you up a bit so you conserve more energy. On top of all of that, your body will adjust and slow your metabolism so that you don't use up your energy too fat.

in other words, you will probably be happy to see the numbers on the scale drop for a bit. But after awhile it will level off. Then it will start to go up again once you start eating more (which you will NEED to do sooner rather than later.) And as I said before, even though you are losing "weight" it's probably lean muscle mass and NOT fat that you are losing. I'm guessing that's not what you are trying to do.

2kidzlater

You should be eating at least 1200 caloreis just to maintain your weight and still you would lose. I workout 3 to 4 days a week. I do thursday, friday saturday and monday for 60 minutes. I am 5'2 and alot heavier (I had babies) but I still manage to lose weight. . Your causing your body to metabolism to shut down. When your in your 20's you need to eat healthy so that when your in your 30's and 40's your can maintain a healthy weight. You are at a good weight right now and you don't want to make it any harder for you to loose weight so eat something please! Soup is always good, go get some hot and sour from the chinese place it's great for your sinus's and it will keep some calories in you.

lbpw

If you have been working out on a regular basis AND living off 500 calories a day, then I'm not surprised to hear that you are feeling work down, sick, and sore. You are doing some serious damage to your body by doing all of that. Sure, you may be seeing lower numbers on the scale, but by now I'm sure a LOT of the weight you are dropping is coming from muscle. After awhile, you body becomes catabolic and it will try to do whatever it takes to survive. Now as far as your body is concerned, fat is a good solid source of energy that serves a purpose. Muscle, on the other hand, if heavy and a poor source of energy. Not only that, but it takes precious calories to move all of that muscle.

So as a result, your body will try to hold onto the fat to survive. It will then try to burn off what it considers "excess" muscle to lighten you up a bit so you conserve more energy. On top of all of that, your body will adjust and slow your metabolism so that you don't use up your energy too fat.

in other words, you will probably be happy to see the numbers on the scale drop for a bit. But after awhile it will level off. Then it will start to go up again once you start eating more (which you will NEED to do sooner rather than later.) And as I said before, even though you are losing "weight" it's probably lean muscle mass and NOT fat that you are losing. I'm guessing that's not what you are trying to do.

thanks for the info. some of it i wasnt exactly sure on. ive heard that you can lose muscle, but because i am not considered underweight would my body still be eating away at the muscle or whatever fat i have left? the scale did start to level off, but why would it go up if im only on maintenance calories?

DebraGreen

Eating 500 calories does not allow you body to be able to fight infection! I am quite sure you can think of something nutrious that includes lemon or some kind of food that has Vit.C. Get your sleep, pick one day out of the week to sleep late then go and do your workout. Of course the water helps get rid of the infection. Your body needs nutrients and rest to fight the infection.

Yes, I think it matters if you do your workouts three days in a row! Your metabolism slows down after the second day of no exercise (my opinion). I found that 30 mins. on the treadmill some where in those days of no exercise helps if you can do it. 10,000 steps is what I do on the days I am not able to exercise.

samseed101

thanks for the info. some of it i wasnt exactly sure on. ive heard that you can lose muscle, but because i am not considered underweight would my body still be eating away at the muscle or whatever fat i have left? the scale did start to level off, but why would it go up if im only on maintenance calories?

You may not be "underweight" but that doesn't mean that your body won't burn of lean muscle mass. The two are completely independent of each other. Someone could be the "ideal weight" and have 20% bodyfat and little to no real muscle mass. on the other hand, someone could be considered 10lbs overweight but they are only 8% bodyfat. Personally, I feel that body composition is far more important. Also, even though you're not "underweight" yet, it doesn't mean that it's not an eating disorder. it just means that you're not light enough to be underweight, but are on your way. Luckily, you seem to be in a stage where you can catch and stop it before it gets too far out of control.

As far as your other question...why would the scale go up... Like I mentioned before, your body will start to adjust to the lower calories and will try to hold onto any energy you take in. Now at some point you are GOING to have to start eating more. When you do, your body isn't going to immediately readjust and go back to normal. it will take a little but of time before it realizes that you are no longer in danger of starving to death. So it will still be trying to hold onto calories while you are taking in more.

This may result in a slight rise in weight before it levels off. Once you get it to a healthy level and are eating normally, you can then try to SLIGHTLY reduce the calories is you really need to lose the fat.

You may not like the idea of having to gain weight back, but it may be necessary if you don't want to hurt yourself. The weight gain doesn't have to be permanent or even extreme...but don't be alarmed when it does happen.

not trying to be mean or anything. Just want to make sure you understand what your body is going through and what it may try to do in the future as a result.

Zara11

I'm glad you recognize you have an eating disorder. Seriously. Apologies if I sounded rude before, but it brought back memories of arguing with someone who was eating 300 a day and in total denial of what she was doing.

Take a loooong break, and consult with your doctor about what kind of exercise to do. If not working out makes you anxious, do something that won't burn as much - some kind of yoga? - and EAT THOSE EXERCISE CALORIES.

Best of luck.

lbpw

thanks for the info. some of it i wasnt exactly sure on. ive heard that you can lose muscle, but because i am not considered underweight would my body still be eating away at the muscle or whatever fat i have left? the scale did start to level off, but why would it go up if im only on maintenance calories?

You may not be "underweight" but that doesn't mean that your body won't burn of lean muscle mass. The two are completely independent of each other. Someone could be the "ideal weight" and have 20% bodyfat and little to no real muscle mass. on the other hand, someone could be considered 10lbs overweight but they are only 8% bodyfat. Personally, I feel that body composition is far more important. Also, even though you're not "underweight" yet, it doesn't mean that it's not an eating disorder. it just means that you're not light enough to be underweight, but are on your way. Luckily, you seem to be in a stage where you can catch and stop it before it gets too far out of control.

As far as your other question...why would the scale go up... Like I mentioned before, your body will start to adjust to the lower calories and will try to hold onto any energy you take in. Now at some point you are GOING to have to start eating more. When you do, your body isn't going to immediately readjust and go back to normal. it will take a little but of time before it realizes that you are no longer in danger of starving to death. So it will still be trying to hold onto calories while you are taking in more.

This may result in a slight rise in weight before it levels off. Once you get it to a healthy level and are eating normally, you can then try to SLIGHTLY reduce the calories is you really need to lose the fat.

You may not like the idea of having to gain weight back, but it may be necessary if you don't want to hurt yourself. The weight gain doesn't have to be permanent or even extreme...but don't be alarmed when it does happen.

not trying to be mean or anything. Just want to make sure you understand what your body is going through and what it may try to do in the future as a result.

ok, that makes sense. thanks, i am definitely going to start eating more its just really hard to break such a bad habit. but i dont want any serious damage down the road.

lbpw

I'm glad you recognize you have an eating disorder. Seriously. Apologies if I sounded rude before, but it brought back memories of arguing with someone who was eating 300 a day and in total denial of what she was doing.

Take a loooong break, and consult with your doctor about what kind of exercise to do. If not working out makes you anxious, do something that won't burn as much - some kind of yoga? - and EAT THOSE EXERCISE CALORIES.

Best of luck.

no problem, i didnt take it as rude at all. i probably should have mentioned i knew i had a problem. im gonna do some aerobic classes or something late this week. thanks

smae1980

please heed everything "samseed" said. From a physiological standpoint he is 100 % correct. The more muscle your body uses for energy the more likely you are to hurt yourself when you exercise as well.

samseed101

ok, that makes sense. thanks, i am definitely going to start eating more its just really hard to break such a bad habit. but i dont want any serious damage down the road.

It's probably not going to be easy, but it also sounds like you became aware of the problem early enough. That means you can make some minor changes and come out healthier in the end Luckily, you're not extremely underweight or anything like that, so that will help a bit.

It sounds like you have the right mindset. Just stick with it...it's worth it