The image in the mirror ( aka When will it be enough part 2)

Friday evening, tired and fatigued ( it was a looong day) Got dragged to the gym, for cardio and weights.Post two root canals, multiple scalings and fillings and an implant case, it felt good to use the new wave machine...my ass hurt big time and get back on the rower for some upper body work. We also decided to hit the weights. It was at the free weights, in front of the mirror that I caught my reflection and started thinking. The person in the mirror still had some shoulder muscles, some obvious upper body definition. Perhaps it was the weights, making the muscles appear pumped up or perhaps it was just my myopic imagination. But I wonder, do the muscles that we'd trained so hard to build disappear once we stop?

Muscle fibers are built based on demand, i.e, if we lift weights beyond what our existing muscles are comfortable with, the muscle "grows". Muscle is built either through hypertrophy, increase in muscle size or hyperplasia, increase in the number of fibers. But how fast it's built I guess depends on the person's metabolism, nutrient intake and I guess workout intensity. Similarly, I wonder about muscle atrophy, ie muscle degeneration. How fast that occurs and what happens then?

I figure that atrophy doesn't occur that quickly, the muscle built remains for a while. This might explain the image in the mirror. However, fat accumulates around said muscle, so you lose definition and gain a bulky appearance. Once you start working out again, the fibers become more apparent, as fat is lost. Well, this is what I'm hoping is the case for me la, must console myself a bit, since I put in a good few years of my life building said muscle.

Anyway, its time to put this theory to test. It took me about 4 and a half months to gain about 2 kilos of weight, thanks to Better half's extensive knowledge of good food and of course his TLC lah! Lets see how long it takes for me to lose said kilos and go back to what was before. This is of course provided Better half ( I still love you) does not sabotage efforts. Note: he came by to lunch with me at work yesterday, ice-cream in hand, walking into my clinic...my nurses were suckered, all had ice-cream after, hehehe.
Oh, BH, they really like you, plying them with food always works. Its not that I'm gonna go on some crazy diet of no carbs, no food etc, I'm not that stupid, just have to be more selective of foods and go back to doing my weights.

Feel really good about this now, there's something empowering about doing weight training and working out, it feels like taking control over one's own body, to make it stronger, better, fitter. BH is right, I have a life now, outside of the gym, and I haven't been this ecstatic ever! All in part thanks to him. But I realise, there's still a part of me that doesn't want to end up a couch potato, sluggish and fat. I guess he realised it too, cos he's the one who dragged me to the gym friday. Either because he's sick of hearing me saying "I feel fat" or he just decided it was time we both started working out again. What ever the reason, I'm glad I now have gained a training partner too and I can't wait to hit the gym today...FCI's class, then weights! So, lets see what happens to SC now...BH thinks a month of this will do, lets see if he's right, I sure hope he is.