What Happens When You Stop Working Out

What Happens When You Stop Exercising

Have you been leading an active lifestyle for the longest of time but you still haven’t seen the fruits of your efforts? Or maybe, you have come to the point in your life when you have become too busy to hit the gym? Before you throw the towel in, it is important that you know how this decision can affect your body.

What will happen to your body when you put a stop to your weight loss efforts? Here are few of the things that you can expect.

There will be changes in your brain.

Exercise is good for the brain and can help delay the offset of memory loss related to age. When you take a break from working out, there will be a reduction in the blood flow to your hippocampus, which is the part of your brain that is associated with your memory.

There will be an increase in blood pressure.

A few weeks of no exercise can lead to stiffening veins and arteries. And within a month, your blood pressure will soar higher than it has ever been before. The effects of not working out on your blood pressure are almost instant and can be noticeable within two weeks.

There will be a spike in your blood sugar levels.

When you eat, your blood sugar level spikes. It will then drop when you exercise because your muscles and tissues will consume the sugar to get the energy they need. After five days of not working out, you can expect that your blood sugar levels will remain elevated and you will have an increased risk of diabetes and heart diseases.

There will be a decrease in your endurance.

Within just 2 weeks, you will notice that your endurance has already plummeted and that you easily get winded after doing things that you usually do before. This is because the lack of workout will lead to the drop in your VO2 max which is the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can use.

There will be a decline in your strength.

Regular workouts help build your strength but you will notice a decline in your strength after a month of not working out. Lucky for you, the rate of this decline is slower than that of your endurance.

There will be fat gain.

In about six weeks, you will notice that you have either gained weight or gotten fatter. Along with that, you can expect that your muscle mass will decrease too.

There will be changes in your mood.

When you don’t exercise, your brain will not receive an adequate amount of oxygen that it needs. Because of this, it will be unable to suppress the release of chemicals that cause depression. After a few weeks of exercise hiatus, you will feel irritable, gloomy, and tired.

Maintaining regular workouts and a balanced diet is not easy. But it is your body that will pay the price when you put a stop to your weight loss journey.