Losing weight after I stopped exercising

tomwalsh77
tomwalsh77 Posts: 5 Member
edited February 23 in Fitness and Exercise
At my last appointment with my fitness instructor on 20th March 2014 my weight was 69.8Kg and at that point I was going to the gym 6 days a week. About a week after this I got ill with a stomach bug and I stopped going to the gym as I wasn't feeling up to it. The next time I went to the gym was on 15 April 2014 but my weight had gone down to 66Kg. I'm now down to 64.9Kg without doing any exercise. Any ideas as to what caused me to lose weight after stopping exercise, it's baffled me as I didn't seemed to be losing weight while exercising and my weight seemed to always be between 67-69Kg. :huh:

Replies

  • perseverance14
    perseverance14 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Sometimes taking a rest causes you to lose some weight, it has happened to me.
  • CleanUpWhatIMessedUp
    CleanUpWhatIMessedUp Posts: 206 Member
    I think it could be caused by the stomach bug itself and then there is the fact that sometimes when people get sick, they don't really eat much.
  • MFPMol
    MFPMol Posts: 151 Member
    Well, what do you mean by "exercising"? Were you lifting weights? You could be losing a bit of muscle as well.
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
    You had a stomach bug, so I'm assuming you were eating less - definitely a cause of weight loss. Plus, muscle is fairly quickly lost when exercise ceases. Plus, working muscle retains water to assist with the removal of lactic acid post-workout - so this water weight would also have been shed when exercise ceased.
  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 906 Member
    Likely it's all water weight. When you exercise, your muscles retain more water to help repair themselves. If you're still in a calorie deficit, you will continue to lose weight. however, the proportion of fat to muscle loss will get skewed. IMHO, better to exercise and gian back the few pounds of water weight temporarily in order to promote a higher proportion of fat loss.
  • oneoddsock
    oneoddsock Posts: 321 Member
    Are you eating at a deficit? Exercise isn't strictly required to lose weight - it just makes you fitter and creates a bigger deficit than you get just through diet alone. Also, going to the gym so much may have caused some water retention through muscle repair.
  • laurenawolf
    laurenawolf Posts: 262 Member
    A calorie deficit is what causes you to lose weight.
  • HerbertNenenger
    HerbertNenenger Posts: 453 Member
    this happens to me if I stop exercising for a few days. I drop weight. Could be residual effects of the exercising too. While it's going on, it just doesn't show as much due to water retention from growing muscles, etc.. Just enjoy it for what it is !
  • tomwalsh77
    tomwalsh77 Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks for all your replies guys; to be honest I'm probably not getting enough calories per day from my diet but it just baffled me that I wasn't losing weight while I was exercising 6 times a week (3 days strength training/3 days cardio) but then as soon as I stopped bam it flies off.
  • dt3312
    dt3312 Posts: 212 Member
    You might be losing muscle. That's what happened to me. I was in good shape. Then I got pneumonia and was bedridden for 6 weeks. I lost 7 pounds. My measurements stayed the same, but I had lost muscle and gotten flabby. I'd rather weigh more and have muscle. My friend is the same height as I am. She's a size 2. I'm a size 10-12. I weigh about 30 pounds more than she does. She has no muscle and can barely 5 pounds with 2 arms. I can lift 30 pounds in one arm (for example in one arm row.)
  • tomwalsh77
    tomwalsh77 Posts: 5 Member
    So will I gain a little weight when I start hitting the gym again?
  • mochapygmy
    mochapygmy Posts: 2,123 Member
    You had a stomach bug, so I'm assuming you were eating less - definitely a cause of weight loss. Plus, muscle is fairly quickly lost when exercise ceases. Plus, working muscle retains water to assist with the removal of lactic acid post-workout - so this water weight would also have been shed when exercise ceased.

    Agree. I had a 2 week vacation complete with larger meals and a stomach bug. The week prior to vacation I had hurt my leg so no exercise. The week after I had a horrible cold so no working out. I was worried about a big gain with a month off but turns out I not only lost weight I lost 1 pound more than my goals.
    So will I gain a little weight when I start hitting the gym again?

    I've been back at the gym now for almost 3 weeks and have not lost any weight but didn't expect to. Likely because my muscles are retaining water. You are at a much lower weight than I am so I'm guessing you may gain a bit back in water weight.
  • tomwalsh77
    tomwalsh77 Posts: 5 Member
    Ok thanks again. :-)
  • MissAnjy
    MissAnjy Posts: 2,480 Member
    This happens to me, all the time. This is actually how it works for me, lol

    I can work out for 3 months straight, 7 days a week & the scale won't show a loss......

    then I'll take a week off and drop 11lbs.

    I retain a lot of water (i've had medical issues with this as well) and when I'm exercising, I seem to hold all that for repair.

    When I stop, I lose.

    It's a strange phenomenon, but it happens lol just focus on how clothes fit and how you feel/look as opposed to the number because you could be retaining water.
  • tomwalsh77
    tomwalsh77 Posts: 5 Member
    Well I still have a bit of fat to lose but my clothes are getting a bit looser so I guess I should be glad of that. Being a guy I don't really want to be skinny and losing all that weight after stopping exercising weirded me out a little and I thought if I went back to the gym the same might end up happening again and I was a little anxious about getting underweight. I'm 5'6 and 64.9kg currently.
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