6 Things That Happen To Your Body When You Quit Working Out

1. After three days:

Your body begins to lose the muscles you’ve gained and your cardiovascular endurance slips. Your muscles begin to lose their fat-burning powers and you’ll decrease in strength. You might not be able to see it, but your muscles will begin to atrophy after just three days.

2. Your body makes you work harder to regain what you’ve lost.

When you stop working out, our body requires twice as much effort to regain anything that we’ve lost. So even just a few days off, you’re going to have to work harder to gain back what you lost and keep going.

3. You’re more prone to eating bad food.

When we exercise, we improve our mood through the release of endorphins. When you stop exercising, there’s an emotional void left behind. We’re more likely to fill that void with comfort foods like chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.

4. Your stress levels increase.

Like we just mentioned, endorphins make you happy, so if you cut yourself off of them, you’re more likely to feel stress and not be able to manage your moods quite as well. Work those muscles to relieve that stress.

5. Your sleep patterns change.

Sudden changes in your activity level and an increase in your stress will cause you to be more likely to lie awake at night, stressed out, imaging the worst possible scenarios for various problems. You can call it “extra nervous energy” if you want, because that’s what it is. Your body is simply more wound up than normal.

6. You’re just not going to feel as good.

But it’s okay. If you’re getting back into working out after some time off, take it slow. Work diligently and slowly toward getting back to where you were. Don’t immediately run as fast as you can right out the gate or expect to use the same weights as you did before. Listen to what your body is telling you and you’ll be back to where you were in no time.