How to Get Back Into Exercising and Eating Right After a Break
Did you take a break from the gym and eating right? You’re probably wondering how to get back into exercising after a long break.
There are many reasons why people stop exercising. You might not have the time to exercise. It could be because you didn’t see results right away, the costs were too much or the commute became too much. In some instances, there’s not enough support at home or the gym wasn’t the right fit.
Relapses such as these are commonplace in the fitness world. That’s what most gyms expect. One recent report noted that 67% of gym memberships go unused.
Isn’t it time you bucked that trend and got back into exercising and eating right?
Keep reading to find out how to get back into the swing of things and how you can prevent a relapse in the future.
What Happens to Your Body After You Stop Exercising
When you’ve had an extended break from exercising, it’s important to know what happens to your body when you stop exercising. It takes a lot of work to get fit and lead a healthy life. It’s surprising how fast your body will respond and how quickly your body responds when you don’t work out.
The fitter you are, the faster you’ll see declines. In other words, if you’re training at a high level when you stopped, you’ll see pretty big declines.
The first thing that happens is that your V02Max will drop. That measures how much oxygen you consume during activity. The more active you are, the better your body becomes at consuming and processing oxygen.
When you stop working out, you’ll see that shift. In just 12 days, your V02Max can drop by 10%. After 50 days, it can decline by 15%.
On top of that, your muscle mass will drop, too. As you get older, your muscle mass will decline no matter what. Regular exercise helps reduce the amount of mass you lose as you get older.
When you stop exercising, the older you are, the faster your muscle mass drops. As your muscle mass drops, you’ll see increases in fat.
The good news is that despite these setbacks, you can get back to where you started. It will take work and consistent effort, but it’s possible. You’ll be surprised by how fast your body can adapt to exercise.
As soon as you start exercising, your body will go through physiological changes. Your metabolic rate can increase in just a few days. You might notice that your hungrier than you were because your metabolism has increased.
In just 2-4 weeks after starting again, you’ll see big differences in your cardiovascular capacity and your strength. In four weeks, you’ll see better physical and mental health.
If you make some changes to your diet too, you should notice that you’ve lost a little weight.
How to Get Back Into Exercising and Eating Right Again
When you start exercising again, it’s important to take into account the changes that your body goes through when you exercise for a while, stop, and then start up again.
When most people start exercising again, they do so not out of understanding, but they are super motivated to do everything at once.
The key to learning how to get back into exercise is to understand where your body is at right now. It’s not where you were when you were 25 or even two weeks ago.
When you go to the gym again with the mindset of picking up right where you left off, chances are you’re going to get hurt.
If you go in raring to go, you’ll burn yourself out because you can’t dedicate so much time to the gym and you can increase your chance of injury.
Both scenarios will set you up for a major setback.
Start Off Slowly
You’ll want to start slowly and let your body and your mental schedule adjust to what you’re doing.
If you’ve been on a long layoff, instead of going to the gym every day, start with three times a week. Give yourself time to adjust and get over the initial soreness period. After a few weeks, then add on another day.
You might decide that three days a week suits you well. That’s fine, too.
You just want to be sure that you don’t overdo it and burn yourself out.
Setup a System for Yourself
People stop working out for different reasons, be it due to lack of time, lack of support or you don’t know what to do when you get to the gym.
When you set up a system for yourself, you’re putting support in place to be successful in the long run.
Let’s say that you need a little extra accountability and you need to know what to do when you get to the gym. You like the personal trainers, but you don’t want to invest a lot of money in personal training. You’re motivated enough to do the work, you just need to know what to do.
That’s where an online personal trainer can be of service. You get the workouts you need, you Some personal trainers offer a full plate of services from workout plans you do on your own to full-on coaching. Check out this website for more info.
Make Small Changes in Your Eating Habits
Do you know why many diets fail? It’s because they’re temporary fixes. A 21-day cleanse is only good for 21 days and that’s it. You’re back to your old ways of eating again.
It’s best to make small changes to your diet over a period of time. One change you can make right away is to cut out soda. That’s the first thing that many nutritionists will tell you to stop right away because the impact it has on your body.
If you really need a soda, go for something like Zevia. It’s a cleaner version of soda that doesn’t do as much damage.
Once you get used to not drinking soda, focus on portion control. When you eat smaller portions, you take in fewer calories.
Make a minor change to your diet and integrate it into your daily life. Let yourself adjust and then make another change.
That’s how you’ll live a healthy lifestyle.
Preventing Future Setbacks
Setbacks happen, and they happen often. When you know that setbacks are almost inevitable, you can plan for them accordingly.
When are those times when you stop going to the gym and get off track? Do you get busy at work? Do you get bored with your exercise routine?
Look for those times when you stop working out. Think about how you can get through those times. Having people to workout with or having an added level of support or accountability could help you.
There are times when it’s smart to stop exercising for a few days. In these instances, you might be sick, injured, exhausted, or sore from your previous workout.
In each case, you need to listen to your body and determine what’s the best of action for you.
Changing Your Exercise and Eating Habits Takes Time
Becoming the best version of yourself doesn’t happen overnight.
There’s not one moment where you say to yourself “I got it!” and everything changes. Change is a process.
It’s a series of small wins that compound over time. When you make changes to your life on a consistent basis, small wins add up and become bigger wins.
That’s how changing any habit works, including exercise and eating right. When you start to exercise and eat right, you’ll feel great. Then you feel a resistance that holds you back. You’ll have mornings when you don’t feel like it or other excuses come up.
You need to push past those excuses and keep going. Once you push past that resistance, you’ve won a major battle on the road to success.
Other things that you’ll need to remember are to take it easy on yourself if you miss a workout. You don’t need to beat yourself up, just make sure you make it to the next workout.
Living a Healthy Life is Possible for You!
When people refer to their fitness journey, they do so for a reason. It is a journey. There are steps forward, setbacks, and steps forward again. When you learn how to get back into exercising again, it’s hard to keep that in mind.
That’s easy to forget in this world of quick fixes, cleanses, and diets that don’t work. Once you understand that a healthy life doesn’t happen overnight, but is something that continuously takes work, you become less frustrated when it comes to weight loss.
Instead, focus on the small wins. You might be able to do one more push up, walk a little further, or your pants are a little looser.
Those small wins add up over time.
Are you ready to start exercising again? Check out these tips on setting goals and learning from failures to build healthy habits for success.