Can muscle turn into fat?
17 Apr 2014

Can muscle turn into fat?

1 mins to read
Have you heard that if you gain a little muscle from exercise, and then stop training, that the muscle turns into fat? Let me make this perfectly clear - what you've heard is just plain wrong.


Have you heard that if you gain a little muscle from exercise, and then stop training, that the muscle turns into fat?

Let me make this perfectly clear - what you've heard is just plain wrong.

It's time to debunk this crazy fitness myth once and for all.

Muscle cannot turn into fat, just as paper towels can't turn into dollar bills.

Muscle and fat are two completely different tissues, and it is physiologically impossible for one to convert into the other, or vice versa. 

So what are the origins of this myth?

When you exercise more, especially with resistance training such as lifting weights, muscle cells can change. They may become bigger in men, or at least become firmer and denser, which is what's more likely to happen with women. Fat cells also change, and may shrink in size as you exercise more. 

Now, the reverse of this is also true. When you stop exercising, your muscle cells may shrink or become less toned, a bit like a limb that’s been immobilised in a plaster cast. Your fat cells may also become bigger. This could give the appearance that muscle has turned into fat, and thus, creating a classic health and fitness myth.

So muscle cells and fat cells can shrink and expand, but they can't turn into each other. Myth busted.

The lesson to take from this is that inactivity can cause muscle cells to shrink, and fat cells to expand. To prevent this from happening, stay active and work on strategies that keep you motivated so you don't suddenly stop being active.
 
Had you heard this myth? Are there any other health and fitness myths you'd like explained?



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