Health Dangers Of Stopping Exercise

Body weight and fat gains

If you go from being a gym rat or a doing a strict marathon training program to a completely sedentary lifestyle, you’ll quickly notice increases in body fat. One study found that highly-trained athletes who quit working out suddenly had increases in body fat after five weeks.

To avoid weight gain, you’ll need to alter your diet to take into consideration your lack of physical activity. That means saying goodbye to dessert, the bread basket, and those extra high-calorie toppings. By controlling or reducing your calorie intake, you can prevent weight gain with or without the gym.

Your blood sugar jumps

After just five days of trading the treadmill for your couch, your blood sugar will rise. Typically your blood glucose rises after you eat and then drops down as your muscles and other tissue absorb the sugar they need for energy. If you’ve been skipping the gym, your post-meal blood sugar levels will remain elevated. Continuously increasing blood sugar readings can actually raise your risk of heart disease and diabetes, but after just a week of regular exercise your post-meal blood sugar will drop dramatically.

Your mood will shift

Every fitness addict knows the elated feeling post-workout. You feel light, healthy, clean, and strong. Exercise has the ability to improve your mood and actually suppresses chemicals in the brain that cause depression by releasing other chemicals that lessen depression. Not only will you miss that post-workout high, but you are more likely to feel grumpy and self-conscious about your physical appearance as you lose strength and the pounds start adding up.