Once diagnosed with HIV, the fear of wasting away becomes very real. Wasting means losing a lot of muscle, which makes you weaker and sicker. If you know how to avoid it, you can stop it. This article will let you know what to do. By avoiding losing muscle and weight, you will give yourself the best chance to respond to all the new treatments fighting the HIV virus.

There are two steps you can do today to avoid muscle wasting: Eating and exercising. Eating enough food will maintain your muscles and weight, while exercise builds more muscle. It is that simple.

If you start working on it now, by the time it is shorts weather you should be looking buff again. There are two parts to bulking up: 1) eat the right amount of calories and protein to help build muscle and 2) do the right type of exercises to increase those all important muscle groups.

If you have been a die-hard couch potato, start slowly, or your muscles will ache from overexertion. If any kind of exercise routine is new to you, start by doing some simple stretches while on the couch or before you get out of bed. Start with a whole body stretch by extending your arms over your head, s-t-r-e-t-c-h as you exhale. Next, bring your knees toward the chest with the hands grasping your legs just below the knees. Lengthen your neck and look straight up, breathe deep in and out a few times holding that position. You can alternate the legs, hugging one a time to your chest. With any stretching routine that you do, exhale as you stretch and inhale as you move into a new position. Stretch until you feel tension, then hold the position for 10 to 30 seconds. Don't jerk or bounce through any movements.

To work the abs, do some crunches. Start with 10 or 15; remember to just raise your shoulders off the ground. Work up to doing several repetitions of 40 - 50 each.

To work the thighs, place your back against a wall with your feet about 15 inches out from the wall. Move down until you are in a sitting position. Keep your back pressed against the wall. Hold that for 30 seconds and work up until you can do several minutes.

This series of 3 exercises initially will take you about 10 to 15 minutes a day. Being creative with this will make it fun. Exercise with a friend, do it to your favorite music, do it while you watch TV, but just get off that couch and do it! There are several good books at the library or bookstore on how to exercise to build muscles or lose weight. Full Circle Fitness by Rebecca Eastman is very basic with simple illustrations and guidelines for exercise routines to follow. There are multitudes of videos you can buy or check out. Make sure that you find one on strength training, not aerobic exercise which is meant to help you lose weight, not add muscle.