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Mass gainer is a large supplement – so what happens when you stop taking mass gainer?
There’s a large hole in your diet when you cease use, and this can be a significant change. If you’re not prepared, it’s easy to run into unexpected problems or changes.
Let’s look at the 3 biggest areas for change…
What Happens When You Stop Taking Mass Gainer?
When you stop taking a mass gainer, you may experience changes to appetite, low energy levels, and a drop-off in workout performance. You could also notice digestive and skin changes.
1. Appetite Changes
You’ll find that your daily appetite needs adjusting, as you may be more hungry once you cease use. As you leave a 500-1350 calorie gap in your diet, you need to replace that mass gainer supplement with food.
The calorie intake you’re used to requires more food or other sources. Your daily calorie intake is going to drop when you stop taking mass gainer, and this needs to be replaced. Unless you’re going from a bulking diet to a weight loss diet, this is a key part of maintaining weight.
Appetite may increase or decrease, depending on the product you use and how you’re using it. These are the changes that many people report, but they go in both directions: more appetite and less appetite.
2. Losing Energy Levels
You may also find you’re struggling to maintain energy levels throughout the day if you don’t replace these calories. You can start to rely on a higher calorie diet for energy levels with post-workout or “midday lull” mass gainer use.
Some people claim they feel less tired when they stop using mass gainers. This could be due to using a very high calorie product, which causes tiredness. Most people will not experience this.
Equally, you may experience more consistent energy levels if you find that mass gainer causes peaks and troughs.
The dump of huge carb content into your diet can control your energy levels (1). When you remove mass gainer from your diet, your metabolism is more stable – at lower total energy levels.
3. Digestive Change
When you stop taking mass gainer, you may experience better overall digestive health.
The reduced intake of fast-absorbing carbohydrates and so many calories can cause digestive stress. Stopping your mass gainer use will reverse this and could turn habitual bloating, diarrhea, and nausea around.
This is only likely if you’re experiencing symptoms. Obviously, this won’t affect everyone – since some people never have digestive distress. This is also less likely with “smaller”, leaner servings of mass gainer.
You’re also likely to go to the toilet less often, which is neither a direct benefit or drawback.
What Happens When You Stop Taking Mass Gainers With Creatine?
If your mass gainer uses creatine and you stop using it, you’ll experience very rapid short-term weight loss.
This happens because you’re no longer taking in creatine, which reduces the amount of water in your body (2). This isn’t necessarily a good thing: you’re losing a lot of water and carbs that are typically stored in the muscles.
NOTE:
You will see both a reduction in fat mass (which holds water) and muscle size (due to the loss of water and glycogen). You may be able to prevent these issues by simply starting creatine monohydrate supplementation.
During this transition, you may struggle with carb intake. Mass gainers contain carbohydrates, which are synergistic with creatine. This can lead to further decreases in performance and short-term energy.
Can You Lose Muscle If You Stop Taking Mass Gainer?
No – you will not lose muscle mass when you stop taking a mass gainer. You’ve already built the muscle and it’s only going to go away if you don’t use it, don’t eat enough, or both!
Mass gainer is just a food in liquid form. As long as you replace the calories in your diet with something else, you’re going to be able to keep all of the muscle that you gained with your mass gainer supplement.
Your muscles don’t depend on mass gainer, the way they would with anabolics. It’s just convenient food powder.
The foods you eat as a whole regulate your muscle mass. If you stop using a mass gainer and drop from 4,000 calories per day to 2,500, you’ll lose muscle mass. You’ll also lose short-term strength performance as your energy availability is much lower.
These are predictable and will be easy to avoid by slowly lowering calorie intake, instead of a “180” in a short space of time.
How Often Should You Consume Mass Gainer?
You should consume mass gainer daily if you’re trying to gain weight. For other purposes, you can use mass gainer only on training days, as a post-workout carb and protein shake.
This is the best use of mass gainer for most people, and it’s the perfect schedule for recovery and athletic performance.
Mass gainer’s high calorie content means it’s perfect for driving up post-workout recovery, which is great to counter the increased demands of hard exercise.
Using mass gainer 3+ times a week will significantly increase your total calorie intake. This can drive up muscle growth and mass gains easily – especially with high calorie mass gainers.
Lean mass gainers will provide fewer calories but more protein, and thus better muscle gains per calorie.
Final Thoughts: Stopping Mass Gainer Use
Most guys need to eat more when they stop using mass gainer. Food needs to take up the role that the mass gainer plays. This is why people start using mass gainer and you may struggle to adapt to the total food intake required to find balance after you stop taking mass gainer.
Make sure you’re prioritising protein when you stop using mass gainer, and try to add more slow-absorbing carbs.
Mass gainer is typically high in carbs, but not necessarily the best quality carbs. Focus on how you stop using mass gainer and the habits that take its place.
Mass gainer is a big part of a diet, and on purpose. When you remove that pillar, it’s easy to lose control. Track and plan your food intake more closely when you stop using mass gainer – it’s easy to get it wrong during times of great change.
Focus on whole grains and whole plant foods to boost your carb intake – and especially around your workouts!
Resources:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6233655/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC155510/
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- Is Mass Gainer Good For Bulking?
- Does Taking A Mass Gainer Increase Belly Fat?
- Will Mass Gainer Make You Fat?
- Does Mass Gainer Make You Constipated?
Rohan Arora is a Certified Personal Trainer and Sports Nutritionist and has been actively involved in sports and fitness for over 8 years. He now leads the team of fitness specialists and personal trainers who help people around the world with personalized workout and nutrition plans, along with providing the right information on sports supplements.
