Fit to fat and Back
Halting your gym routine suddenly can be harmful. Fitness expert Paul Britto tells Lekha Menon how to get back on track
 You go to the gym regularly for a few months. You are consistently working up a sweat each day and inching towards your dream figure.
Then one fine day it all goes boom! You miss a day of exercise, because something comes up. You miss another day because of something else.
Then you go on a holiday, or switch jobs or have unavoidable lifestyle changes. The result: busy days turn into weeks, sometimes months and before you know it, you've put on the kilos.
If you are one of the many who go through exercise plateaux, here's what you can do to get back to shape.
PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL EFFECTS
For a regular gym animal, a few weeks off the treadmill won't make much difference. Trouble begins when you miss your fitness regimes for weeks or months without proper diet control.
• The body loosens up
Whatever you eat, tends to get stored as fat. You feel sluggish, unmotivated and lazy. Energy levels go down drastically.
• Body tone changes
One of the biggest benefits of exercises is getting rid of the flab. However, a sudden change in schedule results in gaining all the bulk you desperately wanted to shed. Of course, the effects vary according to body type:
Ectomorph (skinny, light build with small joints and lean muscle): All the muscles you painfully gained through exercising, will be lost in no time. You will go back to being very thin.
Mesomorph (athletic, hard body with well-defined muscles): You muscle tone decreases and you tend to look overweight.
Endomorph (soft, round body shorter build): You will gain weight very fast, especially around the stomach.
• Mood changes
Feelings of depression and agitation can occur; stress levels increase as endorphins produced by exercise are withdrawn.
BACK TO SLIM
It isn't hard to get back to your former fitness levels. All you need is motivation and discipline.
• Watch the intensity
When you return to the gym after a hiatus, never do the same set of exercises with the earlier intensity. The body isn't prepared to absorb a heavy, rigorous routine immediately. If you did 100 pull-ups before your break, resume with 10 or less pull-ups. Increase gradually.
• Understand your body
It is easier for people with good muscle density and those who have not binged to get back into shape than those who have been completely off exercise. If the physical activity has been very minimal in the interim, then you will need to start your fitness routine from scratch.
• Slow and steady
Depending on your body type, start with exercising for about 30 minutes or less.
• Set realistic goals
Easing your body back into the routine will allow for the mind-muscle-link to be re-established and your progress will increase. Take a week to get accustomed to your routine (60 per cent intensity) and the next eight weeks to accomplish your goals (100 per cent intensity).
• Stay active
During your "off period" try and be physically active. Walk the dog, take the stairs, play with your child, take small walks, just don't be idle. This will make your return to active exercising much easier.
• Manage your diet
Once you return to your fitness routine, managing your diet becomes equally important. First and foremost, prepare a chart. List down your diet pattern in the months you were off exercise and compare it with your current diet. This way you will get an idea of the consumption and expenditure of calories.
Figure out whether your diet was carb-heavy or did it contain more protein and fats. Then regulate (not stop) that particular nutrient in your new diet plan. Also make a note of your other physical activities, apart from exercising, to estimate how much calories you burn. Then decide a workout and diet regime in consultation with your trainer.
WHAT NOT TO DO
• Go on a crash diet
The moment you realise you have piled on the kilos, you tend to starve for some quick weight loss. But your metabolic rates tend to go down, and you lose only muscle, not fat. You need energy to burn calories for which carbs are essential. So never go on a soup-and-salad routine.
• Over-exercise
Do not over-exercise to make up for lost time. If you lift heavy weights in a hurry, you only end up injuring your shoulders or pulling a hamstring.
• Stick to one workout
Don't just concentrate on one area of the body. Since you would be almost starting all over again, have a judicious mix of cardio and weights. |  JOIN NOW  For health consious ppl Please visit |
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