Can muscle really turn into fat?

It is believed that by pumping up muscles and abandoning workouts, you can gain a lot of excess weight, or even earn obesity altogether. It is assumed that this is because the muscles are converted to fat. And since there was a lot of muscle, then there will be a lot of fat. This statement did not arise out of nowhere, but the reason is actually quite different.

Why is this statement a lie

Muscle and fat are two fundamentally different tissues, and each has a different function. Muscle cells receive nerve impulses and contract, allowing our body to move. Fat cells store energy stores in the form of fat.

They have a different structure, and not a single muscle cell can simply physically turn into fat.

With the same success, it can be assumed that some lymphocyte will suddenly become a neuron and instead of protecting the body from viruses, it will begin to transmit nerve impulses. At the same time, the scenario with the accumulation of fat after the termination of training is still possible, but the reason here is not at all in the fantastic conversion of tissues.

Why you can swim fat by stopping your workouts

Building muscle implies a positive calorie balance - in other words, people eat more for it. At the same time, part of the energy consumed is spent on physical activity during training, and part - on maintaining the increased muscle mass.

When a person stops exercising, but does not change the diet, the unspent energy is stored in fat cells. At the same time, the muscles left without load decrease in volume.

Our body is geared towards conserving energy, and if muscle mass is not used, the body will not waste calories to maintain it.

This process is slow - the first changes begin 3-4 weeks after you stop training. However, if you do not resume activity, the body will gradually get rid of excess muscle baggage.

But even before the muscles shrink in volume, they can hide under a layer of accumulated fat, so that an athletic physique turns into a blurry figure with unaesthetic folds.

Is it possible to prevent these changes

You can maintain a healthy weight by adjusting your diet to a new level of physical activity. In this case, the muscles will lose some in volume, but excess fat will not accumulate. In addition, if you change the type of load, for example, instead of strength training, introduce aerobic ones - jogging, triathlon, cardio sessions, you will not be able to gain excess fat even without reducing the calorie content of the diet.

So there is no point in being afraid of power loads. If you monitor your diet and adjust it in time to the level of physical activity, weight training will only benefit you.