Fitness
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What would happen if i just STOPPED exercising?


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I"m underweight..... but i'm TOTALLY FIT.... like, I can run a mile in 7 min (JUST DID :D MET MY GOAL), do 70 pushups non stop, super flexible when i went past the ruler when tested, etc......... except i'm not fast b/c i lost my muscle in the legs when i overtrained over summer which led to too much weight loss...

 

but now that i'm having trouble gaining weight, i've been suggested to drop all exercise ALTOGETHER. that means not even weight lifting and deff no aerobic. I am to be a sendentary SLUGGGG until i gain 15-20 pounds.

 

will my fitness improve or decrease during this period?
a) improve b/c i'll be @ healthier weight..... would i gain muscle doing NOTHING? would the muscles repair itself?
b) decrease adn i'll be a flabby-fat unathletic loser who would have to work=hard alllllll over again to be athletic again.?

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Oh, and how can i make my thigh muscles come back? leg muscles come back? arm muscles come back?

 

i lsot alot of muscles..... thats why i'm afraid of gaining weight without exercise b/c i've never been weighted alot without muscles..... i'm scared of flabby ;9

So I have been in your position before, but I would NEVER EVER EVER recommend that you stop exercising all together! Besides helping people lose weight, it has so many other health benefits! What YOU need to do is focus on eating MORE! That is what I did and I am now at a healthy weight that I feel good at. 

You would not gain muscle if you stopped working out, you would simply gain more fat cells! You need to continue working out no matter what people say and just EAT MORE! Honestly, eat more high quality protein - large quantities will up your calories for sure!

Example: I typically eat roughly 2 pounds of meat per day along with a whole bunch of non-starchy vegetables & healthy fat (think, olive oil & flaxseed oil)... It helped me get to where I am today and I DEFINITELY did NOT stop working out! As a matter of fact, I work out every day for 2 hours! 

make the muscles come back by Eating a surplus and hitting the weights.  you need to maintain a surplus of calories for growth.what you eat is also important.. but you'll have a million people telling you to eat clean and load the protein any second now.

 

I've heard many say quit the cardio all to together in a build phase, but I'd imagine if you could gorge yourself on enough good stuff to keep up with the calories you'd be just fine.

if you need to gain weight for health reasons, it's a very serious issue.  abstaining from exercise for a few months is NOT at all a serious issue.  your priority is getting your hormones, muscles, bones, heart, metabolism, back in gear.

most ppl recovering from eating disorders, overexercise or malnutrition are advised to stay away from any exercise.  this is because the exercise makes it complicated to figure out what/how much to eat.  the safest thing to do in your situation is to focus on getting in enough calories (it's not significant to waste time calculating vitamin/macronutrient percentages, just eat balanced and normal).  when you get to a healthy weight, your body will be in a position to pick up a strength routine or start running again.  but at this point, it would do more damage than good.

it's NOT true that when you gain weight, it'll be all fat.  if you were to lift heavy weights, you would gain more muscle than if you didn't.  but in all liklihood, you'll gain just like everyone else:  some fat and some muscle.  usually underweight ppl tend to gain a little more around the middle at the beginning; but it evens out over the course of a couple months, and then you look healthy and fab.  i wish you best of luck.

I guess it depends on how much you are willing to eat.  As you probably know by now, you need to eat 3500 calories more then you burn to gain a lbs.  The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism and the more you burn, so by building muscle, you're working against the weight gain.  You eat more, work out more, gain more muscle, and have to keep increasing your food just to keep the same surplus in calories.

I agree with caloriecountingme - not working out for a couple of months isn't going to cause any lasting damage, but not allowing yourself to get to healthy weight can.  In fact, if your doctor is recommending NO exercise at all, you're obviously in a pretty serious place.  Your doctor isn't an idiot - he/she has gone through a lot of years of school to understand how the body works.  I would follow the advice you're given.

Once you've gained the weight back, you can start to focus on turning some of that extra fat into muscle, once your body is in a better position to be focusing on that, but don't forget that you NEED fat on your body, so you're probably not going to be as bad off as you fear.

How many calories are you eating a day and are you eating a well balanced diet with the proper amount of carbs, fat, protein, fruits and veggies? That is the key. Proper nutrition. Cardio is good 3-6 days a week but not to an extreme. To gain muscle you need to eat properly and add strength/weight training 3-4 days a week with the cardio. Do not strength train 2 days in a row. It is important to allow for proper recovery time in between. If you do lift 2 days in a row do not work the same group of muscles. I personally prefer complete days off from lifting and a total day off (no exercise) is important. Not that you have to lay on the couch you can be active but just give yourself a rest/recovery day each week. Lookup clean eating/proper nutrition and get started on that. Slowly add strength training to your schedule. Also sit-ups, push-ups, pull ups, squats, lunges, dead-lifts are all good for overall tone and muscle. Squats and lunges will do more to build leg muscle than anything else.

how heavy should weights be?......

could i do weights everyday if i use 5+6lb dumbblls? (only ones i have) b/c its not that heavy......

 

would anybody recomend me some sort of plan?
how longshould my sessions be? and how tired should i end up?



i do eat more than 2000 calories every day for sure..... but i dont really count and i'm not allowed to keep track b/c my dad thinks its for crazy ppl...

Use as much weight as you can tolerate. 5-6 LB is good to start. Work your way up. It does not matter how much weight you still don't want to work the same muscle groups every day.

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i would like to reiterate that you shouldn't be weight lifting or engaging in formal cardiovascular exercise at this time.  it's bad for you.  the reason your dad doesn't want you counting calories is that he wants you happy, healthy and alive. 

please tell your doctor about any exercise regimen you decide on.  you might also consider exercise alternatives that coordinate mind and body w/o necessarily burning calories or building muscle:  yoga, volunteering at a shelter/food bank/library/senior center, playing w/little cousins.  again, good luck.

Eat more

Lift weight

 

All yo ugotta do.

I would suggest 30 min. of cardio and maybe 20 min. weight lifting. Make sure you eat too to make up for all the working out you are doing. Just keep eating throughout the day to build muscle. But, even if you did stop working out it wouldn't kill you. Getting your body to a healthy standard for your organs sake is more important right now. You could easily gain the weight by not working out and then doing what I reccomended before to tone what weight you just put on. Or to keep up for health reasons just walk 30 min. a day.

When I was in an ED clinic they had me eating 3,500 calories and I was not allowed to exercise AT ALL. If that gives you any clues. It all depends where your priorities are here. Let's just say I wasn't a fatty from not exercising those 2 months when I was in an ED clinic. :P

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