Will I gain weight after I stop exercising and how to prevent it?

If you stop exercising, you will gain weight, what should I do? The "fat back" mentioned here is nothing more than a rebound in body weight or body fat rate, or even beyond the normal range.

In fact, even for people who have been exercising for a long time, the body fat rate cannot always be maintained in a constant ideal state. The ups and downs of body fat percentage are normal, as long as he is within a reasonably acceptable range.

This back-and-forth fluctuation of body fat rate is sometimes referred to as the "yo-yo phenomenon" in some nutrition or fitness works, that is, the body fat rate is like playing a yo-yo, when we play it hard , it will bounce back, and so on. While playing a yo-yo, we can make it less undulating, but it's impossible to keep it constant forever.

Stopping the movement suddenly is like throwing a yo-yo hard, leaving it alone and having no control over its rebound, then a large rebound in weight or body fat percentage is a high-probability event. Why is this so?

Why do we get fat? Because of eating more and moving less, the excess calories are continuously converted into the result of fat accumulation. During weight loss, diet control can reduce calorie intake, while exercise can increase calorie consumption, so the energy deficit gap forces the body to consume excess fat and lose weight.

If you stop exercising suddenly, and your diet is restored to the past without any restrictions, then you will just return to the previous state of life, and it will become inevitable to gain weight again.

Out of the need for survival, our body has a self-protection mechanism to "prevent excessive calorie consumption", which is inherited from our ancestors. When rapid weight loss is achieved in a short period of time (this is most evident in beginners), a lot of excess fat is consumed, and the body activates this self-protection mechanism to avoid burning out calories. This leads to the characteristics of "fast before and slow" in the weight loss effect, that is, the effect of exercise to lose weight is very good at the beginning, but it will gradually slow down until it becomes stagnant.

If a person who loses weight suddenly stops exercising, once he resumes a normal diet, the body will more efficiently convert the calorie intake into fat, so a sharp rebound occurs.

Method 1: Establish the correct psychological cognition that weight rebound is normal.

There's no need to make a fuss about weight rebound, it's impossible to completely avoid it, what we're trying to do is keep it under control. For example, during the period of muscle gain, due to the need for calorie surplus, the body fat rate of strength trainers will also increase greatly. Through the subsequent exercise during the fat reduction period, the body fat rate will still decrease.

After ordinary people stop exercising, if the weight or body fat rate rebounds, as long as the weight or body fat rate remains within the normal range, the point is not to let them get out of control.

Data: Normal body fat percentage ranges from 15% to 20% for men and 20 to 25% for women.

Method 2: Maintain the most basic dietary control measures.

As the saying goes, "disease comes in through the mouth", and "fat comes in through the mouth". Even if you stop exercising, if you don’t want to see your weight rebound or lose control again, you must maintain some basic dietary control measures, such as:

Reduce or eliminate the intake of junk food, reduce greasy fried food, control the consumption of snacks (including drinks), 70% full for lunch and dinner, do not eat after 9 pm, and prohibit late-night snacks, etc.

The reason is very simple, because the exercise is stopped, the calorie consumption is reduced. In order to maintain a balance of caloric intake and output, caloric intake must be controlled at the same time. Taking into account the body's self-protection mechanism, for a period of time after stopping exercise, the dietary control measures should be basically the same as during exercise. Suddenly letting go of diet control means losing weight again.

Method 3: Maintain at least the minimum required frequency and amount of exercise.

An officer said, "I said I stopped exercising, but what are you doing to keep me in the habit of exercising?" Because relative to diet control, maintaining the minimum required frequency and amount of exercise is easier to prevent rebound. Because the temptation of food is always present and most people can't resist it.

Unless dieters implement stricter control over their diets, basic dietary control measures are difficult to effectively prevent rebound, because these measures themselves give everyone too much room for "discretion". For example, reducing the amount of greasy fried food can only be determined by each person's own mood.

Tell a "true joke" that Yuxing-kun has encountered. A dieter was advised by a trainer to reduce the intake of staple foods in the evening. The next day, the coach asked him what he had eaten last night. He said that in addition to dinner, he ate another meat bun before going to bed at 10 o'clock. The coach said, how to eat so much. He said, I have already lost weight. I had to eat two or three meat buns before going to bed!

In contrast, doing aerobic exercise 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes each time, combined with a proper basic diet control, can greatly reduce the risk of weight regain.

And the longer the person who insists on regular exercise, the higher the body's fat-burning efficiency. That is, also in the case of stopping exercising, people who persist in exercising for a long time are less likely to gain weight and lose weight faster when they resume exercise.

If a dieter wants to prevent weight regain, at least one of items 2 and 3 should be implemented. Of course, all three of the above are better.

The body of the preparation is always related to "what you eat and how much you exercise". If you want to effectively prevent rebound, you still need to go back to the basic strategy of "shut your mouth and open your legs", nothing else!

Further reading:

Want to prevent weight gain by skipping one meal in three? impossible! so what should I do now?

After skipping dinner and jogging to lose 5kg, 2 practices and 4 suggestions for wanting to eat dinner without rebounding

Royal Fitness