need advice ! - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[david98]

I went on a crash diet for 3 days about 2 months ago to lose some weight but i found out later that it was the wrong thing to do because when you starve yourself your body holds on to the fat,get loose skin and you lose muscle.I want to know how do i get my muscle back as i have lost muscle from all over my body?

[ptjustinbowers]

Just a few tips:

Don't crash diet, ever. Your body will go into starvation mode and store everything you take in, especially if you're depriving yourself with a huge calorie deficit.

Just start lifting again while maintaining a healthy eating habit. Know how many calories you're supposed to take in for your age, body type, and gender.

Protein is your friend. Muscle needs protein to replenish torn muscle fibers.

"Starting Strength" is a good beginner's guide to weight lifting.

I wish I had more time to go into detail, but this should be enough to get you started-- hopefully other trainers will weigh in on the issue!

[Jaybird]

Give yourself a good say 2 weeks, eating a regular healthy diet. It the weights hard. and concentrate on your strength rep range (approx. 8-12 each set) and really get those fibers working. then start rationing your carbs; take in a good portion during breakfast, (but try and concentrate on complex carbs n whole grains), then a mild amount @ lunch and try to limit yourself to that for the rest of the day. maybe a lil @ dinner. What this is going to do is teach your body to use what it already has stored as energy. Because you're working your muscles your body will try and rebuild those and look for energy elsewhere, ie; abdominal and inner thigh fat stores. to name a couple. adding some cardio or doing anaerobic excercise won't hurt either, try lateral dumbbell raises while squatting, or throw in a couple sets of power cleans. no particular need to go too heavy, but get a good workout n get your heart rate up. hopefully this will aid you in cutting alil fat and keeping the muscles growing so you don't feel the need to crash diet again. fyi, that's a horrible idea. hard work and perseverance is always the way to go.
Best of Luck.