Preserving muscle loss while sick

**theatrain** · February 12th, 2008, 05:00 AM

For the past few days I've been sick, tommorow I'm going in for blood work to make sure everythings normal and hopefully figure out what the hell is goin on with me. I'm starting to think I'm crazy!

My symptoms are as follows :
Stiff neck
Swollen/tender lymph node on neck
Huge loss of appetite! Usually consuming 3,000 calories and past 4 days I can't even stomach 1,200ish.. Its not as tho I get sick from eating, I just feel stuffed after a small amount.. For instances I can usually inhale a 12 inch sub and still be hungry.. I went to subway and nibbled about 3 inches of my 12inch and put it away for later.

So how can I preserve weight/muscle loss while this is going on? I haven't missed a day in the gym in so long I have really been on track and now I've had to skip the last 2 days tommorow will be my 3rd

and its already been hard to put on lean mass. I learned how to cook chicken thanks to you guys :] and have been eating about 3 breasts a day, now I can't even eat 1.

I thot about maybe taking a high calorie protein shake 2 times a day.. I have muscle milk which I drink once in a great while. Never regularly tho

**tooncesthecat** · February 12th, 2008, 05:56 AM

Maybe do some BCAAs. Once the illness passes, you'll put back anything you lost rather quickly.

**wildstang** · February 12th, 2008, 06:23 AM

supplement with a high protein calorie shake and bcca's as toons said. if you decide to work out youll notice you cant lift no were near the weight being sick but you can still get a light workout to stimulate the muscle.

manic_monkey79 · February 15th, 2008, 05:23 PM

Dont worry yourself about it. A break from lifting will do your body and CNS good. Enjoy it and get yourself well again, when your back on top, you'll be hungrier than ever for training.

**gYmgIrL** · February 15th, 2008, 07:57 PM

yeah definately, put all of your energy into recovering, you dont lose muscle as fast as you think and it comes back very fast too, just rest up and try not to think about it

**wildstang** · February 15th, 2008, 08:56 PM

a week is about the longest ive ever gone without working out and i do gotta say upon returning i feel as if i get a better rip. but that can possibly be lactic acid also from taking the break. thats why if i just have a cold i'l still lift but the flu.....thats another story. thats when the week off comes into play.

**gYmgIrL** · February 15th, 2008, 11:29 PM

Plus your muscles need a break every so often to heal

**orientalkid** · February 16th, 2008, 07:59 AM

DRink lots of fluid, it definitely help, lots of fruits too, double that of ur usual intake. Any weight loss these few days will be due to water loss, not muscle mass (as in ur muscle wont atrophy).

**wildstang** · February 16th, 2008, 12:35 PM

although remembering back to when i had gotten the flu this year, it was down right horrible! i got a double wammy at once, i had minor outpatient surgey the day before and i had a runny nose for a couple of days . ended up with minor complications from surgery the flu and bed ridden for 3 days. it totally sucked! those three days i had so much lactic acid build up i was so damn sore as if i had just fought in the ufc or something....lol but the point is the whole weeks worth of not working out didnt effect my gains i do believe. i do think i lost a little fat though, but my measurements stayed the same on my arms. got a habit of keeping track of body growth...lol

**cujo-1** · February 16th, 2008, 07:56 PM

some protein drinks have up to 50 grams of protein in them, and just 2 of them would be more then adequate for use. just use a slower matrix type of fast acting to slower digesting types. although muscle milk is the slower digesting type if its the casein one, that would be good also.

**theatrain** · February 21st, 2008, 08:35 PM

Thanks for everyone's replies. I really hate being sick, its been 9 days and I'm still feeling like garbage! I went in for another check up today and the doctor prescribed me different antiobiotics and said if the symptoms are not gone in 2-3 more days it may be Meningitis (Which I've had twice before)

They also did blood tests and the nurse told me she got the biggest needle she could find because she doesn't like smart allics haha I told her good because shes going to be piercing steel with it hahaha.... hey it made me laugh