Stopped Workout and LOST Weight?!?!

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Replies

  • letjog
    letjog Posts: 260 Member
    Maybe on workout days you're overestimating your calorie burn and eating back too many calories, thus losing your deficit?
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Hate to pop ur bubble, but the 1st few lbs lost would definitely be muscle. I usually gain a couple after a good weight lifting session.

    Erm, no. Probably 2 weeks to see a decline in strength after stopping lifting. For cardio- a good rule of thumb is that you can take 1 day off for each mile after a long run without much loss in endurance...if 5 miles is your long run, you need to lace up in the next 5 days. That's ENDURANCE, not muscle. It takes a long time with a significant deficit to lose several lbs of muscle. Otherwise, sedentary people would be piles of mush. Losing strength =/= losing muscle (necessarily).

    It's loss of muscle entrained water.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    I would chalk it to reduction in water retention due to less stress - muscles not storing as much water and cortisol levels dropping to normal parameters.
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
    I did some online research about cortisol. It is very important in weight loss and gain, especially for women.

    http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111609p38.shtml

    Fascinating new information, at least for me.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    Pretty sure it's water weight :)
  • Sincere24
    Sincere24 Posts: 126 Member
    i think the jest of the 5lbs was water weight, as your muscles tend to hold on to water when exercising. The body can fluctuate greatly from day to day as a result of water retention. One way of controlling this...( although it maybe one variable among many) is to increase your water intake from here on end. Good luck!
  • Darkskinned88
    Darkskinned88 Posts: 1,177 Member
    probably water weight...but sometimes i will take time off workouts let my body think its safe and BAM kill it again, helps with plateaus and slow losses
  • _SABOTEUR_
    _SABOTEUR_ Posts: 6,833 Member
    SLEEP is definitely a factor to weight loss!! Your body works slower if it doesn't have the energy to do what it needs to do.

    This. :drinker:
  • 5000thAngel
    5000thAngel Posts: 60 Member
    Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of the positive and very helpful feedback!!

    I drink about 80 - 100 oz of water a day (22oz water bottle that I drink throughout the day, 4 - 5 refills) and no other liquids except my 1 morning cup of coffee. I doubt I need to increase my water intake, because at 80 ounces I'm using the bathroom about every 90 minutes. As a teacher, I don't have the ability to leave my classroom except between class periods.


    There is no way my muscles actually started to ATROPHY in the 5 days. I spend all day on my feet anyway, it wasn't as if I was immobilized.


    I appreciate the reminders about weight loss not being linear, and it is probably the water weight my muscles have been storing. Or just my body saying "hey, thanks for finally NOT killing me. . . " :)


    A few people mentioned increasing my calories. My actual daily intake is 1380, is that really that low? That is what MFP told me to use with a setting of 1 lb / week
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of the positive and very helpful feedback!!

    I drink about 80 - 100 oz of water a day (22oz water bottle that I drink throughout the day, 4 - 5 refills) and no other liquids except my 1 morning cup of coffee. I doubt I need to increase my water intake, because at 80 ounces I'm using the bathroom about every 90 minutes. As a teacher, I don't have the ability to leave my classroom except between class periods.


    There is no way my muscles actually started to ATROPHY in the 5 days. I spend all day on my feet anyway, it wasn't as if I was immobilized.


    I appreciate the reminders about weight loss not being linear, and it is probably the water weight my muscles have been storing. Or just my body saying "hey, thanks for finally NOT killing me. . . " :)


    A few people mentioned increasing my calories. My actual daily intake is 1380, is that really that low? That is what MFP told me to use with a setting of 1 lb / week

    You do not have much to lose so I would suggest dropping that to 1/2lb a week now.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Hate to pop ur bubble, but the 1st few lbs lost would definitely be muscle.

    No need for that! Certainly not in 5 days!

    According to my spine surgeon, it only takes 2-3 days for muscle atrophy to begin..

    Ha, and it goes VERY slowly.

    According to tests done on lifters that are out of action for 3 to 6 months, a vast majority after just a few sessions are with 10% of their previous lifting weights. They didn't gain muscle that fast, they just never lost it.

    You lose aerobic capacity in about 2 weeks, I believe I've seen referenced 50% in that time.
    Compared to 9 months for lifting to lose 50% of your strength.

    Now, that's not in a bed in a coma for either of those, but normal daily activity with no exercise at previous level. Coma or non-moving will be much worse.
    But it still starts out very slowly.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    A few people mentioned increasing my calories. My actual daily intake is 1380, is that really that low? That is what MFP told me to use with a setting of 1 lb / week

    Do you have anything to actually compare 1380 to except the 1200 minimum for safety reasons you see?

    Oh, and with less stress that week, I'll bet your body was finally willing to burn some fat, probably not that whole 1 lb, but some.

    So when you start exercising again, it should go up.

    That means pick a valid weigh-in day, morning after a rest day where you ate normal sodium meals, and you aren't still sore retaining water.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
    well if you really stopped working out altogether then its pretty certain that at least some of it was muscule
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    well if you really stopped working out altogether then its pretty certain that at least some of it was muscule

    After 5 days???
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
    OH, did realize that part.

    5 days is probably pretty quick to actually see it show up on the scale.

    but muscle is supposed to start losing the compacity to do work after 3 days of inactivity, so perhaps a little but not enough to be showing up as pounds off on the scale lol
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of the positive and very helpful feedback!!

    I drink about 80 - 100 oz of water a day (22oz water bottle that I drink throughout the day, 4 - 5 refills) and no other liquids except my 1 morning cup of coffee. I doubt I need to increase my water intake, because at 80 ounces I'm using the bathroom about every 90 minutes. As a teacher, I don't have the ability to leave my classroom except between class periods.


    There is no way my muscles actually started to ATROPHY in the 5 days. I spend all day on my feet anyway, it wasn't as if I was immobilized.


    I appreciate the reminders about weight loss not being linear, and it is probably the water weight my muscles have been storing. Or just my body saying "hey, thanks for finally NOT killing me. . . " :)


    A few people mentioned increasing my calories. My actual daily intake is 1380, is that really that low? That is what MFP told me to use with a setting of 1 lb / week

    You do not have much to lose so I would suggest dropping that to 1/2lb a week now.

    And to expand on this, not only should the account be set to 1/2 lb per week, it should also be set to lightly active since the OP is a teacher.
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