how to freeze and unfreeze the game loop? - c++

Question

i have a game loop, i want to be able to make it temporary stop and then make it run again.
I TRIED to freeze and unfreeze the game by passing a boolean variable by reference to void functions, which their job is to set the variables value to true and false.
there are 3 functions in the game loop here is a pseudo code:
while(!quit)
if(!freeze):
[handle events()] -> [move()] ->[render()] (REPEAT)
void game_over(int *flag);
void restart_game(int *flag);
void game_over(int *flag)`
{
*flag = 0;
}
void restart_game(int *flag)
{
*flag = 1;
}
int main()
{
//freeze boolean flag initially false
int freeze = 0;
SDL_event e;
//game loop
int quit = 0;
while(!quit)
{
if(!freeze)
{
while(SDLPollEvent(&e) != 0)
{
switch(e.key.keysym.sym)
{
case SDLK_t:
game_over(&freeze);//passing freeze address
break;
case SDLK_r:
restart_game(&freeze);
break;
}
}
move();
render();
}
}
close();
return();
}
PROBLEM IS when i press r ( when the restart-game() is called) the program becomes so heavy that i can hardly close it (infinity loop) .
can anyone think of what needs to be fixed or what is perhaps a better approach?