major lost size because of bad diet

[mcssassin]

Long story short. I went thru a bad break up and fell into a sort of depression stopped lifting, started drinking heavily every day. On top of that I started smoking and hardly ever ate any real food I would eat like once a day. This became a habit for longer than i would like to admit. I lost about 2 inches off my arms and 17 lbs. but now im fat.... My question is will my muscle memory snap back fast with proper lifting and a good diet or will i have to earn it all over again. To be more clear did my muscle shrink or did it get eatin by my body because of my poor diet. I have quit drinking im working on quiting smoking and am gonna start lifting soon just want to know where i stand. If anyone has went thru this type of thing or knows the answer to my question please leave a post

 

[mcssassin]

bump

 

[Rosie Chee]

Long story short. I went thru a bad break up and fell into a sort of depression stopped lifting, started drinking heavily every day. On top of that I started smoking and hardly ever ate any real food I would eat like once a day. This became a habit for longer than i would like to admit. I lost about 2 inches off my arms and 17 lbs. but now im fat.... My question is will my muscle memory snap back fast with proper lifting and a good diet or will i have to earn it all over again. To be more clear did my muscle shrink or did it get eatin by my body because of my poor diet. I have quit drinking im working on quiting smoking and am gonna start lifting soon just want to know where i stand. If anyone has went thru this type of thing or knows the answer to my question please leave a post

Your body has an amazing ability to return to previous levels of fitness better than you realize, so yes, once you start training again, you'll definitely see a surprise in your body. If you get your nutrition on track, then that will make a huge difference as well.

You're more likely to have lost muscle mass, because if you gained bodyfat then it means that you were eating more than Maintenance calories, and your body is not going to become catabolic unless you are eating quite a lot LESS than Maintenance calories. Poor nutrition does not cause catabolism - muscle-wasting diseases and condition aside, inadequate calories over an extended period of time causes catabolism.

Start out with a baseline - no matter how uncomfortable you may feel about it. Set SMART goals and start working towards it. Once you get back on track, stay consistent, and you'll see the changes happen.

~Rosie~

 

[thegodfather]

Great advice Rosie. Also something to consider as a contributing factor is the increase in cortisol due to the stress and emotion of breaking up. This compounded by alcohol (limits if not ceases protein synthesis), reduced activity and resistance training, and poor diet will do unfotunate wonders to your body. Sounds like you're getting back on the right track and will be back to your old self in no time flat. Good luck bro!

 

[mcssassin]

thanks for the info.

 

[Rosie Chee]

thanks for the info.

No worries

 

[WifeSlapTed]

Great advice Rosie. Also something to consider as a contributing factor is the increase in cortisol due to the stress and emotion of breaking up. This compounded by alcohol (limits if not ceases protein synthesis), reduced activity and resistance training, and poor diet will do unfotunate wonders to your body. Sounds like you're getting back on the right track and will be back to your old self in no time flat. Good luck bro!

This is an interesting point that I have worried about before. I drink on the weekends, largely due to my occupation (I can't post it here for fear of repercussions), and sometimes during the week. Aside from the calories involved in alcohol, does it reduce testosterone levels and severely hamper the building of new muscle that dramatically?

 

[Rosie Chee]

This is an interesting point that I have worried about before. I drink on the weekends, largely due to my occupation (I can't post it here for fear of repercussions), and sometimes during the week. Aside from the calories involved in alcohol, does it reduce testosterone levels and severely hamper the building of new muscle that dramatically?

Drinking pretty much wastes any efforts you made during training in the week preceding your drinking. If you're serious about getting results and making gains, then drinking should be avoided, or at the very least, minimized to only a drink every now and then.

~Rosie~

 

[WifeSlapTed]

Thank you very much, Rosie. I am going to definitely try to keep that to a minimum now since I am on cycle and don't want to waste all that money and risk.

By the way, your knowledge makes me want you to have my child. : )

 

[OnTheRoadTo]

Drinking pretty much wastes any efforts you made during training in the week preceding your drinking. If you're serious about getting results and making gains, then drinking should be avoided, or at the very least, minimized to only a drink every now and then.

~Rosie~

This is not correct. There's plenty of guys who put on size in college while drinking all the time. Hell, Arnold used to drink a pitcher of beer after workouts. Granted, he was washing down dbol when he was doing it, but still.

Alcohol has a MINOR effect on testosterone levels. Look up the research.

Your sedentary lifestyle and nonexistent diet were much bigger problems. Luckily, you'll be able to bounce back pretty quick. Now get to work.

 

[jgassen15]

This is not correct. There's plenty of guys who put on size in college while drinking all the time. Hell, Arnold used to drink a pitcher of beer after workouts. Granted, he was washing down dbol when he was doing it, but still.

Alcohol has a MINOR effect on testosterone levels. Look up the research.

Your sedentary lifestyle and nonexistent diet were much bigger problems. Luckily, you'll be able to bounce back pretty quick. Now get to work.

This is true, alcohol's effects on testosterone may be minimal, but that statement undermines all of the other potential muscle-inhibiting properties it holds. Slowing down metabolism, dehydration, acetaldehyde, exacerbation of any residual depression you're feeling, poorer sleep/inability to get to REM sleep----all of these things effect recovery. That being said, merely monitoring and lowering your intake to tipsy instead of Mel Gibson when you drink could benefit you leaps and bounds if you really don't want to stop drinking.

The first two weeks are going to be hell, but after that you'll start getting a pump again and feel like you're back to normal before you even are back to normal, it's just waiting to see the effects that is so disheartening. I'd get your diet in check first before you start. I had the same thing happen to me when I was 18. Plus rehabbing 6 knee surgeries where I lost a lot of muscle. You can preach diet to people all day long, but it still won't be enough. People truly don't appreciate the effect diet has on your training and body composition.

 

[mcssassin]

I agree with you JG. I have been eating 3 meals a day and drinking a ton of water for the last few days an can already feel a huge diff in muscle size and strength. I have also been taking vitamins. I will start using protein shakes next week but I want to give my kidneys a little break first. I have been taking milk thistle to help my liver recover too. I want to give my body what it needs before hitting the weight

 

[Rosie Chee]

Thank you very much, Rosie. I am going to definitely try to keep that to a minimum now since I am on cycle and don't want to waste all that money and risk.

By the way, your knowledge makes me want you to have my child. : )

No worries Remember that it's not about what you're doing now, but what you're doing now that is going to affect what you can do and have done. If you're on cycle even more reason NOT to - just because someone else does it and appears ok is no example to follow.

My knowledge is nothing compared to some of the individuals' expertise on this board, but thank you. And no children for me, mister - EVER (you wouldn't want me to have to castrate someone would you?) :toofunny:

~Rosie~

 

[SkItZoId]

Good thread.

I've always trained since I was a young teen. My staple has always been cardio though(I come from a boxing family). I do enjoy to have a drink(I'm Welsh at the end of the day) and I still make gains weight lifting. However when I need to seriously commit to rapidly putting on a few pounds I stop drinking all together. Soon as I do that my muscles get fuller, more hydrated and genrally come on quicker. I'm forever messing around with my weight(deliberately). When I fight I like to have a bit more mass, I also love off road mountain biking. When I really get into my biking and running(genral cardio) I like to be lighter. I've been on a bulk over christmas(seams the obvious thing to do) but I'm training for selection in the army now in march so I want to shead 8 pounds or so to get a stormer time in my running. Then after that back to bulk All of this is easiser without booze and I know it. Even when trying to loose fat drinking inhibit the progress because of the sheer calories in there, plus I believe it to have estrogenic affects to some degree causing stuburn estro related fat deposits in the stomach and arse. Anyway my 2 cents.

Don't stress either dude, lots of seas and lots of fishys.

 

[R1balla]

you may even experience newb gains since u havent lifted in a while. DIET is key. i suggest start on a 3 day split and work on ur diet and get it where u want it to be then move to a 4 day split or whatever u were used to doing before u quit. u dont wana be training a whole lot and not have diet in place. as for smoking, i know for a fact, at least for me, when i was 16/17 and smoked i could not gain a single pound. u gotta quit it bro. i know its freaking hard. as for drinking, a brewskie now and then is not going to hurt you. but if u plan on taking cycles, i would avoid ANY alcohol whatsoever. i would avoid it all right now but its not my place to judge

 

[mcssassin]

So im thinking compound movements like bench press is the best thing to focus on right away to get my size back. What do you guys think?

 

[mcssassin]

as for cycles i think Ill wait quite a while till i get at least a good 8 months of lifting time under my belt

 

[Rosie Chee]

So im thinking compound movements like bench press is the best thing to focus on right away to get my size back. What do you guys think?

Compounds should be what you focus on anyway, period! Read The Essential 8: Exercises That Will Get You Ripped! - I know what the title says, but those same exercises are also the BEST exercises for MASS and strength!

as for cycles i think Ill wait quite a while till i get at least a good 8 months of lifting time under my belt

Definitely! If you've only recently started training and haven't built a solid base, then hormonals are the LAST thing you should be thinking about. Maximize yourself naturally first through nutrition and training!

~Rosie~

 

[mcssassin]

i agree Rosie. Im gonna wait for quite a while. maybe never if i keep having to trust research pct. wink

 

[MakaveliThaDon]

I'd say to add cals to your daily intake SLOWLY. Don't try and jump right back in the 3k or 4k plus cals day one. You'll have stomach problems, digestive problems. And because it will be such a shock to your body from what it is used to, and your metabolism has obviously slowed from what it was previously when you were in better shape and working out, it will not be able to properly utilize all those extra cals, and then you know what's gonna happen with them, lol.

Speaking from experience, add cals back in a little bit at a time slowly day by day to let your body adjust to the new calorie intake it is receiving and let your metabolism come back slowly so it utilizes those extra cals properly and doesn't deposit all the extra as fat.

 

[Rosie Chee]

i agree Rosie. Im gonna wait for quite a while. maybe never if i keep having to trust research pct. wink

Good stuff In the meantime, keep researching and learning all you can - even if you never do a hormonal cycle, knowing all about them can be useful (I know it is for me at any rate, LOL, since I have helped many individuals set up cycles and PCTs, etc.). You can never know enough - knowledge is power indeed!

~Rosie~

 

[calidood]

I tried typing this earlier but looks like it didn't take. I was reading somewhere that Bill Pearl used to workout harder when he was depressed. He said he won a title every time he got a divorce. Haha. I've had the same issue on a few occasions. I did the drinking thing as well as the working out thing. The latter felt better in the morning. Although I DID help put the child of a Goody's pain powder employee through college. Haha. But times like this are likely to happen again...try and put your efforts towards the gym if you can! It was hard for me but after the third day in there I was really getting some good workouts.

 

[mcssassin]

Rosie ( or anyone else educated) I would love it if you could pm me were you do your pct research. My Research was proven to be fake last time i was um studying

 

[Rosie Chee]

Rosie ( or anyone else educated) I would love it if you could pm me were you do your pct research. My Research was proven to be fake last time i was um studying

They're called books, journals, medical notes, articles, other knowledgable individuals. Read. Ask. Listen. Learn.

~Rosie~

 

[mcssassin]

LOL Rosie u didnt read between the lines on what I was asking. I do read all the mentioned things.I have spent countless hours on this site.Im looking for a trusted research pct site... so when im ready to run a cycle in about 8 months i can do so safe from estro rebound... the place I got it from last time sent me garbage and caused a slow recovery and a waste of a cycle. I was forced to resort to otc and that may work for some but not for me

 

[mcssassin]

no help?

 

[Rosie Chee]

LOL Rosie u didnt read between the lines on what I was asking. I do read all the mentioned things.I have spent countless hours on this site.Im looking for a trusted research pct site... so when im ready to run a cycle in about 8 months i can do so safe from estro rebound... the place I got it from last time sent me garbage and caused a slow recovery and a waste of a cycle. I was forced to resort to otc and that may work for some but not for me

no help?

Look into reading through forums like Chemical Soldier and Steroidology. Otherwise, keep looking - there are many forums out there, some that have quite knowledgeable members on these topics.

~Rosie~