After all the hard work of getting in shape the last thing we want is to lose our progress. So how can we prevent muscle loss and fat gain? You can adopt several smart nutritional strategies to help preserve muscle and simultaneously keep you from gaining bodyfat.
How Much Muscle Will You Really Lose From Not Training?
The good news you don’t lose muscle as fast as you think it’s partly psychological. So long as you maintain your protein intake it’s about 14 days before you will begin so see muscle/ strength loss.
On the 14th day however, you will lose about 0.5% everyday and 1.5% of your strength everyday. (1)
The good news is you can go on vacation for a week without worrying about it.
Protein Prevents Muscle Loss:
One of the problems with muscle disuse is that it induces anabolic resistance, which blunts the protein synthesis response to protein ingestion. This means that you keep protein levels adequate, if not slightly higher than normal.
If you can’t get the protein from whole food sources here are some protein shakes I’ve enjoyed over the years:
https://alphaflexfitness.com/protein-powders-so-many-choices/
Leucine Between Meals
A branched-chain amino acid known as Leucine has been shown in multiple studies to preserve muscle mass, strength, and endurance in bed rest patients.
Leucine is known as a “nutrient signal” as it reduces muscle protein breakdown while stimulating muscle protein synthesis. It does this by signaling the mTOR pathway and other signaling pathways. Both are known to become resistant to leucine in cases of chronic inflammation or oxidative stress, conditions which are common with immobilization or disuse.
Just a couple of grams can provide an anabolic boost in-between meals where you might otherwise be shorting yourself on protein. (2)
For more about Leucine and to see Leucine rich foods check this article out from Webmd: https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-leucine
Stress
Stress produces so many hormones that will cause problems in our lives. Cortisol is a big culprit but it goes much deeper than that. Lack of sleep causes stress, daily troubles and worrying
Do anything to help relieve stress. Meditation, rest and lastly don’t worry about losing your progress. You have 14 days before you will need to worry. Hopefully this will take away one worry, a little less stress is always a good thing.
Realize even a bunch of little stressors can stack to become a big thing, so keep your stress levels in check if you want to prevent muscle loss.
Creatine Helps
We all know what creatine does for the person lifting weights, but there’s evidence that creatine also helps maintain muscle during periods of disuse or inactivity.
Johnston, et al. found that when creatine was given to lifters who’d volunteered to have one arm immobilized for two weeks, the non-essential amino acid better maintained upper-arm muscle over placebo. Creatine also attenuated the reduction in elbow flexion strength and elbow extension strength.
Again, this research involved immobilized limbs. Still, if you were taking creatine before your lay-off, you should think about using it during your lay-off. It has plenty of healthful attributes.
You May Have Noticed
You have to eat pretty the same way you did before working. Nothing changes much just because you can’t hit the gym doesn’t mean the nutrition side changes. If anything nutrition becomes more important.
What if you can’t maintain great nutrition during your hiatus? The good news is muscle memory is a real thing and you will return to your peak relatively quickly. It is much harder to progress the first time than to make back what you lose on a hiatus. Think of as riding a bike our body remembers.
Cited Articles:
- Phillips SM et al. Alterations of protein turnover underlying disuse atrophy in human skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2009 Sep;107(3):645-54. PubMed.
- https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-leucine
- Johnston APW et al. Effect of Creatine Supplementation During Cast-Induced Immobilization on the Preservation of Muscle Mass, Strength, and Endurance. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Jan;23(1):116-20. PubMed.
