losing recently-gained weight

[srrs]

So I was wondering if there is any difference between losing recently-gained weight and weight you've had for a long time? I was in the best shape of my life in early March, low bodyfat and really strong, after a couple of years of careful diet and exercise. Through a combination of final papers at school, stress, and poor self-discipline, since then my exercise regime and diet have completely collapsed and I've gained a fair bit of padding pretty fast. school's ending soon and i'm leaving on a tour, so i'll be exercising plenty in the next couple months. my question: will this recent, rapid gain come off more quickly than if i'd been carrying it around for years and years? does fat "settle in" to the body and get harder to work off? or have I managed to get myself back to square one in only 1.5 months of really bad habits? oh - if it helps, i am also female and 25 - i'd guess that age and gender have something to do with it also?

[SandySwimmer]

I don't know the physiology of it, but I can speak from experience and observation.

Most likely, the weight you've gained is sodium . . . or it may be from cortisol the stress hormone. Get back to a healthy eating and exercise program and you will either notice that it goes away quickly, or it doesn't seem to move at all for about 6 weeks while your body is deciding if it's safe to get out of exam mode (or survival mode) . . .and then it will drop 3 pounds all of a sudden and you will continue until you get within a few pounds of your recent weight.

Either way, you will feel soooo much better when you get the good fuel back into your body and when you get back to a regular exercise routine. The muscle memory doesn't go away . . . it just hybernates now and then.

Sandy

[umd]

My experience is that any time I put on sudden weight due to a change of eating/exercise habbits, I return to my previous weight very quickly once I go back to my old habbits. It seems to take me about the same amount of time to get it back off as it took to get it on.