Will I Lose Muscle If I Stop Working Out When Sick?

Nikkiey: Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

If you're out for a week, and you get back to it, and you're consistent with it over an elongated period of time, you're going to get the results that you want. But if you're somebody who's sick, and then doesn't go back for two months, and then goes back for two weeks, and then bounces back off for another month, you're not going to get where you want to be.

What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott, and welcome to today's episode, episode 129, where I want to dive into a personal experience of what I'm going through right now that I feel like resonates with a lot of you who may have gone through this or are going through this.

And that is being sick while you are trying to develop momentum for yourself, get into a routine, get after your goals, stick to your nutrition plan, stick to your workout structure, and then all of a sudden, bam, life throws sickness at you, whether it be COVID, RSV, or the flu, which is what I have been diagnosed with.

So here's a little backstory, you guys. It's going on two weeks now. In two days, it'll be the two-week marker that I have had the symptoms. And this is honestly the longest time that I have been sick. There are a lot of emotions I'm experiencing. There are a lot of challenges that I'm experiencing. And that's why I want to bring this to you, because it's real, raw and honest. I go through this too.

If you follow me on social media, if you've been following me for years, you know I get into the gym, I do the thing, I do the work. And then this happens too. I get sick. I haven't worked out in two weeks. I want to not only share this personal story with you, but also help you understand that there are myths around this, and that you won't lose all of your progress during this time. Because some people think, oh my god, I haven't worked out in two weeks. Or, Nikkiey hasn't worked out in two weeks, is she worried about losing progress?

There are myths to that. And I want to share with you, in the time that I've been sick, how I've been approaching not working out, how I've been approaching my nutrition, and how I have been approaching the mental side of things. I just want to connect here on a human-to-human level on this podcast to let you know that I go through it too. And I hope some things come out of this podcast that help you if you are going through this or have gone through this, and that will support you the next time you get sick.

So, two weeks ago, I went to Miami for a conference. And I came back with this cough that then progressed into a low-grade fever that then progressed into congestion. Sinus congestion. The worst thing was the cough. I let that go on for seven days. And I felt like I was out of this world during those seven days. Sleeping was rough. My appetite finally caught up, and I lost it probably five days into the first week. I was just sick. These are the symptoms that I was experiencing. And then came day seven. It was Sunday.

It's irrelevant when I say last Sunday, because this podcast could air in a couple of weeks, but it was a Sunday and I was like, all right, I'm pulling the trigger. I need to go to urgent care. There's only so much I can do. The things I was trying were obviously not working. I took DayQuil and NyQuil for a day. Usually I don't do that kind of stuff, but I caved and I had to try it. It didn't work. I know you're supposed to take it a little bit longer, but I wasn't getting relief from it. It wasn't even touching my system.

And then I was taking throat lozenges and honey. Oh my god, I was downing honey. I felt like I was going to turn into honey. I was trying that and it wasn't working. So I was like, okay, I need to go get the drugs. I need to get the pharmaceuticals. And that's always the end of the rope for me. I will always try my best to just rest and recover, with little tiny things like DayQuil, NyQuil, Advil if I need it, Tylenol, X, Y, and Z. But it wasn't working. So I was like, okay, I'm going to go to urgent care, and urgent care closed in like 10 minutes. I felt so bad.

But I was like, I need to go get it. I need to go see what's up. So I went in, and they did a chest X-ray. She's talking about pneumonia and bronchitis, and I'm like, oh, here we go. And then she asked, do you want to do a COVID, RSV and flu test? And they're all in one test. Anyway, that's a thought process for another podcast. So I was like, sure, let's just do it all. Let's just get some answers. I'm just here for some answers. And she asked if I had been around people who were sick. And I said, I was in Miami traveling. I was with some friends at a conference, and one of my friends was sick. They gave her prednisone, and I think that was it, maybe something else.

Oh, a Z-Pak. Now I'm going into this whole story on this. But she said, okay, well, it sounds like your sinuses are congested and your chest is also congested, so a Z-Pak is only going to work one way. We want to try and treat both. So she gave me doxycycline. Hold that thought. Because I'm not an antibiotic person. I hate antibiotics. It's just my personal opinion. I know they serve a purpose, and if I ever have to take them in a dire situation, I will. But I did not end up taking that. She said we've got to treat both, and I'm like, oh my gosh, okay. The chest X-ray was good. But the one test that took three days to get results was the COVID, RSV and flu test. She also gave me an inhaler, she gave me prednisone, and she gave me these little cough pills.

And she gave me the doxy, the antibiotic. And she said, save the antibiotic for last resort, take the inhaler, take the prednisone, take these little cough things. I was like, goddamn, that's a lot of medicine. But all right. So I took about three doses of the inhaler. I did not like it. I took the prednisone all the way through. And I still have this cough. So all in all, this is what I ended up with. I found out three days later what I had, which the doxycycline wouldn't even have treated. So thank God I didn't end up taking that.

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But I have the flu. I had flu B, the flu B strain. So really, it's just rest, recovery, and let it pass. And this nagging cough that I hope goes away soon, because it's highly, highly annoying.

So anyway, during this time, the first week, like I was saying a little earlier, I had an appetite. I was good on my macros for the first five days of coming back from Miami. Then all of a sudden, my appetite just tanked. I was not hungry. I was not working out. I haven't worked out in two weeks. So at that point I stopped focusing on hitting macros and just made sure that I was getting good quality food. That is so important, you guys.

Actually, let's dive right into the nutritional aspect of it, the importance of proper nutrition. I cannot stress enough the importance of having at least somewhat of a proper nutrition routine. Even if you're not following macros, you still want to give your body what it needs to support the immune system and aid in the recovery process.

So I may not have been eating enough on the days I didn't have an appetite, but I still prioritized healthy foods and tried to at least get my protein in. Hands down, if you're ever sick moving forward, it's okay to not be hungry. It's also okay to not force-feed yourself to try and get your macros in because you're on a plan. I need you to know that life happens. And when this life situation happens, you don't need to abide by the things you said you started on January 1st. And I'm going to talk about this in a second.

But this is a period in which it's actually really important to recognize that the goals you're going after are long-term goals. And in the short interim that you are sick, it's okay to take a step back from that focus, because the focus is so long term. So do your best to eat what you can. What I'm trying to say is eat quality food. Don't go and have burgers and ice cream and chips.

All of that trash is probably just going to kill your immune system even more, or your body's going to have to work harder to digest that kind of food, the calorie-dense things. It doesn't make any sense. So try and give yourself proper nutrition during that time. That's exactly what I've been doing. I haven't been as hungry. I have also lost five pounds, because I haven't been working out. And I've been getting my 10,000 steps in on a daily basis. That's one way I've been keeping a little bit of movement in, because it's important for the body to not just lie flat on the couch all day long, especially for two weeks.

So yeah, I lost five pounds, because I'm not eating as much and I'm not going in and working out. And that's okay. I want you to know that's okay. I'm not burning as many calories throughout the day anymore. Right now it's probably a 400-calorie difference from what I normally burn, or maybe even more, 500 or 600, compared to when I work out and I'm doing all the things I normally do. So not having a ramped-up appetite is okay, and not force-feeding yourself is okay. Just give your body what it needs during that time, which is quality food.

And then, most important, hydration. Please stay hydrated, especially when your body is trying to fight off some type of illness.

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All right, let's get back to the show. Pulling it back here a little bit. Like I was saying at the beginning, within this time frame I've experienced tons of emotional challenges. I'm so used to going in, working out, doing the work, and feeling really good after a workout. And a lot of people would try to push through during this time and go work out and try to do all the things while they're sick.

And I want you to understand, on top of what I've already said, to understand your body during this time. Your body needs rest and recovery. It needs to slow down and it needs to heal. When you do rest, it's not just passive. It's an active part of the healing process, where your body begins to repair and strengthen itself. And if you don't do that, if you ignore the fact that your body needs rest, needs to slow down, needs to heal and needs to go through this whole process, you could end up worsening your condition.

You could end up prolonging the recovery time, or you could even cause long-term damage. So let that sink in. Listen to your body. Tune in to when you're sick and you're not feeling good and you have this cough, you're not sleeping well and you can't breathe because of your sinus congestion, and you're experiencing all this congestion. Slow down. That is your signal to stop. That is your signal to not work out. That is your signal to take time. That is your signal to allow the healing process to really do its work.

Because think about it. If I had tried to push through when I came back from Miami and gone and worked out that week, when I started to experience all of these things, because I was like, I have to get back into the gym because I was at this conference and I didn't work out, I could have prolonged this into a three-week or four-week thing. I just had to accept it, and it's hard, guys. Trust me. I'm not saying this is easy. It's hard to say, I can't work out today. It sucks. I want to go move my body. It gives me a heightened sense of joy. It gives me a sense of accomplishment, and to not be able to do that sucks.

So I hear you. I know it's frustrating. However, I know how important it is to slow down, because I don't want to prolong being away from something I love doing. If it's only two weeks and I can get back in, and my plan is to get back in tomorrow, then that's two weeks rather than four weeks.

So what I really want to dive into right now is the myth around this, because I get this a lot. I've seen it in the Q&As on my Instagram stories. I've gotten it in DMs. I've gotten it inside our WarriorBabe community. People come to me and they're like, Nikkiey, will I lose progress? I've been sick for two weeks. I've been sick for a week. I've been sick for X amount of time. Can I lose progress during this time? I'm afraid of losing progress. Maybe you've been at it for the first two or three weeks of the new year, and then bam, you get sick.

And then you're like, oh my gosh, now I'm moving backwards. Am I going to lose all that progress? So I want to dive into a little bit of science here with you guys. Within sports medicine, there's research that indicates that fitness loss does not occur at a uniform rate. The rate can vary based on different factors, like you as the individual and your initial fitness level, the duration of the break, and the type of fitness you are doing, whether it's cardiovascular work or muscle strength.

But for the sake of this podcast, because a lot of you work out and lift weights, I want to talk more about muscle strength and mass. And I want you to hear me loud and clear, because maybe you're sick in a couple of weeks. I hope not, but maybe that happens, because life happens, and you're worried about the progress you've made. I want you to know that your muscle strength and the muscle mass on your body are way more resilient to breaks than cardiovascular fitness.

There's a ton of research that shows significant muscle wasting doesn't generally start until about three weeks of inactivity. But even then, you guys, the rate of loss is so freaking low. And then there's muscle memory. You've probably heard that tossed around the industry; people talk about it on Instagram. Muscle memory plays a significant role in helping you regain strength and mass once you resume training.

Have you ever noticed that when you get back into the gym after two or three weeks, you may be a little weak the first couple of days, but within a week of being back, you feel strong? Why? Because I have insane muscle memory and an insane ability to regain strength because of the years I have been doing this. So the main thing I want you to know is that the rate at which you lose any of the muscle mass you've put on, or the progress you've made, is relatively slow.

It can start at around three weeks, maybe a little more or less, but the rate of loss is so slow. And why is it so slow? One of the reasons muscle strength is maintained over those short breaks is neuromuscular adaptations. Those are the connections between your brain and your muscles that are developed through training and working out. I have developed these over the last nine years of my journey working out and doing strength training.

These connections between your brain and your muscles that are developed through training remain largely intact during short periods of inactivity. And that's even more of the reason why you're able to regain strength quicker once you return to weight training. I just wanted to throw that in there, because once you understand that this is actually a myth, we can break down why it's a myth and what's actually true on the flip side.

And I hope that reassures you, even though you're taking X amount of time away. If you're taking two months, it's a different story. But if you are somebody like me who allows the sickness to run its course and then, when you feel good, gets back into the gym, you have muscle memory and you will regain strength. And from a long-term perspective, like I talked about a little bit ago, these short breaks have minimal impact on your overall fitness journey.

Your body's ability to bounce back is insanely remarkable. Most people can return to their previous fitness levels with consistent, constant effort after getting over a sickness. It's like I've said in podcasts before: if you're out for a week and you get back to it and you're consistent with it over a long period of time, you're going to get the results that you want. But if you're somebody who's sick and then doesn't go back for two months, and then goes back for two weeks, and then bounces back off for another month, you're not going to get where you want to be.

So think about it: this is a short break. I have a long-term perspective on my whole entire health and fitness journey. This short break is not going to kill me. It's not going to derail me.

One last thing I want to say on the break side of things is about the psychological impact we experience versus the physical impact. Often the psychological impact of taking a break, feeling like you've lost the progress, is more significant than the actual physical impact. It's crucial, guys, to address this psychological aspect and to know that it's more in your head. The fear of losing the fitness progress you've made is often greater than the reality of actually seeing the physical change happen in your body. Does that make sense?

I stood in the mirror this morning and I'm like, okay, I'm a little soft. There's not as much definition as I would normally see on my body. I look a little skinnier, but that's okay. There's still muscle. It's there. It's just a little soft overlay because I haven't been doing my normal routine for the last two weeks. So I think it's really important to recognize that it's more what goes on in your head during this time than the actual physical impact on your body. You think you're losing progress when you're really not. It's more in your head than anything else.

So with all that being said, I hope that resonated with you. It's what I'm experiencing right now, and I wanted to come and share it with you on this podcast, because it's a great way for me to release how I feel and talk it out loud, and also because I know it's going to help you guys. I hope the ride I took you on today resonated and was empowering. You have some tips, and you now have a new understanding: don't worry about the physical when you're sick. Just let it run its course, really slow down and let the healing happen.

And then, with the narrative that goes on in your brain when you're sick, talk nicely to it. Everything is good. Self-compassion. I'm being kind to myself during this time. Easier said than done, but I know you've got it, because if I can do it, you can do it too. So I hope you enjoyed this podcast, guys, and I will see you in the next one. Peace out.

Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.