What's going to happen once I stop working out?

[cheesecake]

Hi everyone,

I know this is kind of wordy, but could use some advice!

For the last 2 and a half weeks, I've been working out nearly every day (except for maybe 3 or 4 days). By working out, I mean the 30-minute circuit training offered at Curves (you work out different muscle groups). I also walk and/or bike ride as much as I can (maybe 4 times a week). I've also been watching what I eat. Since I started, I've lost about 5 lbs.

In less than three weeks, I will be leaving for a 2-month trip during which I will not have access to a gym. I will probably eat a bit more, but will offset the calories consumed by all the walking done as a tourist. My concern is what will happen to my body as I will have stopped the daily circuit training exercise my muscles would have become accustomed to. Will I gain weight? How can I prevent this? During this time, I know it will be hard to lose weight, but I would like to at least maintain any weight loss achieved prior to this trip.

Please let me know. Thanks in advance!

 

[chubbygirl]

There are all kinds of things you could do without access to a gym. Squats, lunges, jumping jacks, skipping rope (don't even need one just do the motion), push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, etc. You could also get a resistance band which is small and light and good for travel and google resistance band exercises and I bet a whole bunch will come up. Or you could wake up each morning and go for a power walk or jog before you begin your day.
I would imagine you don't burn more than 300 calories in 30 min at curves so if you cut back your eating by 300 calories you shouldn't gain anything. Maybe invest in a pedometer so you know just how much walking you are really doing during your trip - make a goal to get to so many steps a day.
I would think it would be really hard to be on a trip for 2 months and not gain weight - I went away for one week all inclusive and gained like 9 pounds!
I see you have lots of motivation so as long as you keep your will power up and watch what your eating you'll be ok. Enjoy the trip!!

 

[MAR1984]

"I went away for one week all inclusive and gained like 9 pounds!"

same here haha.

If this were a short trip though, I'd say not to worry about it, because you can reverse the weight gain after you come back pretty quickly. For a long trip though, you could potentially go backwards and end up worse than your starting point if you're not careful, and then you may not want to start back up once you come back to reality. Maintenance has always been troubling for me. I can lose weight easily, but once I decided I don't want to lose weight anymore, I just switch back to gaining weight. Best advice I can give you is maybe take a scale so you can weigh yourself, and eat less if you see you're gaining. Don't just assume you can eat more because you're walking more (you seen my opinion on walking in your other thread ) You should try to switch to a maintenance mode, that is, do what you would do if you were at your goal weight and all you wanted to do was stay there the rest of your life.