Exercise break & weight loss?

F

friuli

0
New to this forum, so I hope this question hasn't been asked too many times!

If you totally stop working out and lose 3 pounds in a week, is it mostly fat or mostly muscle that's been lost? ... or maybe water? Does anyone know how quickly you lose muscle mass if you stop exercising?

My background... I have been exercising regularly since last fall (5x/week since January) and have actively been trying to lose weight. I averaged .5 pounds per week until a month ago, at which time I hit a plateau (no weight loss & body measurements remained the same). A week ago I stopped working out (busy schedule), but continued to eat what I usually do. When I weighed myself today I had lost 3 pounds! What's up with that?! Any info would be appreciated :)

female
age: 35
height: 5' 00''
weight: 114
goal: 110
usual exercise: aerobics, cycling, free weights
 
Your metabolism is still up. Its probably mostly fat and water weight. The same thing happened to me when I took a break.
 
well, this is what i heard... you DO NOT lose the much fat while exercising compared to the amount of fat lost due to your elevated metabolism, which results through a combination of correct diet, cardio, and weight training.

So whether or not you take a few days off from exercising, if your metablism is high, you will continue to lose weight.

But of course, if you stop it all together, then your metabolism will go down, and you're screwed. ;)
 
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Hi,



This is the first time surfing this site, but have been on a program of eating clean along with 4-5 days of cardio, and 3 day split training. I saw this thread and wanted to comment. For awhile, back in August I was running 60 minutes HIIT 7 days a week eating 4 times a day. It was too much exercise for my body. Calorie deficit was too large, even though I thought I was eating enough, and perhaps wasn't timing my meal plans well. Since the cardio was too much on my body, it was shutting down and my immune system was weak. My weight wasn't going anywhere for 1 month. Very frusterating. So, I decided to take a short break from cardio. It was a good thing, had I not gotten sick I probably would not have taken the time off, 4 days off from cardio is weird for me.

I refed my body, starting incs the intake of whole grain carbs/fiber which I was very low before, and probably contributed to my lack of energy, also upped my meal/snack times to 6 X a day, and in doing all this, along with the break from exercise, I dropped 2 lbs during my hiatus from the gym. At that time I was averaging a loss of just .5-1.0 lb a week, so when I saw the 2 lb drop that was significant. I think timing, the workout (now 5 days a week and varying the cardio), are just as important as quantity, content and frequency of eating.Since then I've been steadily seeing fat loss so far.
 
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