Muscle fitness – expect to see small changes in the first few weeks. Within three to six months, an individual can see a 25 to 100% improvement in their muscular fitness – provided a regular resistance program is followed.
What would happen if you took an even longer break from exercise – say, 2 months? One study found that 2 months of detraining in elite athletes resulted in unfavorable changes in body composition, impaired metabolic function, and development of cardiovascular risk factors.
You've Gained Muscle Mass
If you're exercising regularly and doing a mix of cardio and strength training, it's very likely your body composition (ratio of muscle to fat) is changing for the better. If you're gaining muscle while losing fat, the scale may not show any weight change.
Most beginners will see noticeable muscle growth within eight weeks, while more experienced lifters will see changes in three to four weeks. Most individuals gain one to two pounds of lean muscle per month with the right strength training and nutrition plan.
Research investigating lean muscle gain over the course of a month is limited,2 but experts suggest that most healthy individuals can gain 1 to 2 pounds of lean muscle mass per month. However, this rate varies based on age, sex, physical condition, genetics, diet quality, and of course, training program.
Simply take four or five compound exercises – eg, squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, rows, bench and military presses – and perform them in a circuit. Aim for 8-10 reps with no to little rest between each exercise (30 seconds tops), and only a minute or two between circuits.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
When you aren't working out regularly, your body composition starts to change. With little physical activity, muscle cells will shrink. With less calorie burn, fat cells will start to expand, making the body look softer.
Some athletes see a loss of about 6% muscle density after three weeks. Some power lifters see losses of as much as 35% after seven months. Young women who trained for seven weeks and gained two pounds of muscle mass, lost nearly all of it after detraining for seven weeks.
Your body needs protein to build and repair tissues, so if you aren't eating enough, your muscles won't have the material they need to grow. You could feel “punch drunk” after working out, your arms and other muscles might ache more than usual, and your body may even feel generally weaker.
Between two and four weeks of regular exercise you will start to see measurable improvements in your strength and fitness. If weight loss is a goal and your exercise program is being complemented by healthy eating then you may start to see desirable changes in your weight.
Although making healthy changes is a long-term journey, two months is an achievable timeline to see body fat reductions and weight loss results.
Although everyone's body is different, in general people can expect to lose one to two pounds a week if they are doing so in a sustainable manner. "Over the course of two months or eight weeks, a healthy weight-loss goal is eight to 16 pounds," White said.
"Muscle soreness occurs because muscle and the connective tissue around it get damaged during exercise," explains Dr. Hedt. "This is completely normal and nothing to worry about, though. In fact, it's needed for muscle growth, since muscle is built back stronger during this repair process."
Not getting sore after training is not a bad thing. Soreness shouldn't be used as a measure of how effective your workout is. Instead, you should focus on other factors such as whether you can lift heavier weights, push through your workout more comfortably or add extra sets or reps to your session.
Current research indicates that three primary mechanisms are involved in exercise-related muscle growth: muscle tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress (Schoenfeld 2010). Muscle tension. Tension exerted on muscles during resistance exercise is generally considered the most important factor in muscle development.
Coming to the point, you will first lose “hard fat” (visceral fat) that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and later, you will burn soft fat (belly fat, thigh fat, back fat, etc.). Women accumulate fat cells around their belly area, hips, thighs and these areas are usually the last from.
Everyone's body, say experts, follows a fat-storing order. The order is not the same for each individual. Usually, when you lose the fat, it comes off in the opposite order that it was stored. If your body tends to store fat in your face or belly first, these will be the last places where it would shed from.
As against areas such as legs, face and arms, our stomach and abdominal regions possess beta cells that makes it difficult to reduce the fats easily and lose weight in these areas. However, as per research, belly fat is the most difficult to lose as the fat there is so much harder to break down.
Two months in, you'll start to realize that you're less out of breath performing the same activities due to improved cardiovascular performance. The muscles in your arms and legs will start to feel tighter and stronger which is due to the increase in muscle mass and decrease in fat you are starting to experience.
Can you get in shape in 8 weeks? You can lose weight in 8 weeks, but if you want to tone up, build muscle or change your body composition, this takes longer. Remember that weight loss isn't the same as fat loss, and if you go hard, you may lose muscle too.
“Generally speaking, it's safe to lose 0.5% total body fat per week, or 2% body fat per month.” An easier way to measure it at home is approximately 1 to 2 pounds a week, depending on your starting weight.