How fast can you regain lost muscle

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Turn on MyFitnessPal desktop notifications and stay up to date on the latest health and fitness advice. No Comments. Share it:. Tags expert advice Fitness Tips running strength training. About the Author. Lauren Bedosky Lauren is a freelance fitness writer who specializes in covering running and strength training topics.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Never Miss a Post! You can ultimately lose any type of body weight including fluid, fatty tissue, and muscle - especially when cutting calories.

However, your body tends to prefer burning fat over muscle when it needs the fuel. Lean tissue is a precious mass that our bodies use to store nutrients, provide strength to our frame, and power our metabolism. For these reasons, your body tends to want to hang on to it as much as possible.

Unlike fat that requires a calorie deficit to lose, muscle loss can be achieved with inactivity alone through muscle atrophy. Muscle atrophy can also occur naturally as you age, and as a result of malnutrition - primarily low protein intake 1 , 2.

Muscle atrophy is the physical wasting or loss of muscle tissue resulting in decreased size and muscular strength. How quickly muscle atrophy takes place depends on your current fitness level and the amount of time you were inactive.

The more muscle mass you have, the harder it is to maintain with inactivity and the more you'll potentially lose. In other words, fit individuals are likely to lose muscle mass more quickly than unfit individuals. Some research suggests that you can start to lose muscle in as quickly as one week of inactivity - as much as 2 pounds if you are fully immobilized 3.

Having your leg immobilized for two weeks or more is different from taking a couple weeks off from weight lifting. Muscle and fat are two entirely different cell types and often require different nutrition and methods to increase or decrease. Once you get into a fitness routine, you might worry about losing your progress if you take time off.

However, taking a few days off from exercising is actually good for you and can help you reach your fitness goals in the long run. How quickly this loss happens depends on several factors, including your pre-break fitness level.

In some cases, people who exercise just a few times a week but have been doing so for years are also considered athletes. Athletes typically lose less overall muscle strength during a break than nonathletes. In general, you can take up to three or four weeks off without seeing a noticeable drop in your strength performance.

A recent study looked at 21 runners who participated in the Boston Marathon and then cut back on their exercise. They each went from running about 32 miles a week, to 3 or 4 miles a week. The researchers noted that the runners would have seen larger declines had they stopped exercising completely. Running three or four miles a week helped them maintain some level of cardio fitness. Like athletes, you can take about three weeks off without seeing a noticeable drop in your muscle strength, according to a study.

Nonathletes are more likely than athletes to lose their progress during periods of inactivity. The good news? A study found that both athletes and nonathletes can reach their peak fitness levels more quickly after a break, than when they first began training. Our bodies are good at maintaining overall strength. We know that skeletal muscular strength stays about the same during a month of not exercising. However, as mentioned above, athletes can start losing muscles after three weeks of inactivity.

You lose cardio, or aerobic, fitness more quickly than muscle strength, and this can start to happen in just a few days. According to a study in athletes, endurance decreases between 4 and 25 percent after a 3 to 4 week break in cardio. Beginners may find their aerobic fitness is back to zero after a four-week break.

As we age, it becomes increasingly harder to maintain muscle mass and strength. During a break, older people experience a bigger drop in fitness.