Today we are discussing the subject matter:
Turning Fats to Muscles? Possible or Not
We have established in previous classes what Fat is and it’s use in the body.
A liitle reminder:
Fat is the body’s way of storing energy. They help to provide heat/insulation and also act as a bank of energy, which is why we always get leaner when we don’t eat for a while or do a very strenous duty without feeding: the body uses up the stored energy when there no new intake of energy giving food.
Now, moving on.
What are muscles?
There are soft tissues in the body that are responsible for body movement and reflex.
They can get bigger or smaller depending on nutrition and the body’s chemistry and physical activity.
We should understand that fats and muscles are completely two different things. Even though they both define the body structure.
Both are very important to the body.
How?
Fats gives the body internal organs a good cushion (incase you fall). This is why it is recommended in pregnant women to act as a shield for the baby.
It also gives the body its heat.
But then as good as fats are, excess of it is what is wrong. Too much and it can lead to death.
HOW?
Your skeleton is only designed to carry only so much useless weight.
Fats are bulkier than muscles and both contribute massively to the general body weight, although while muscle weight is good as it enables fluid movement, fat weight is basically only good for stamina. This is why when a person is robust, it becomes work for the person to lift parts of their body.
Too much fat and it becomes Obesity, a case where one’s weight becomes too much for a person’s skeleton. And then the person’s overweight (accrued from fats) starts crushing the person’s bone.
Do you ever get unnecessary pains in your back, waist, knees and ankles?
It mostly due to weight issues (from wrong posture to obesity).
Let’s talk some more about muscles.
I have explained muscles many times.
Also on the fact that a male’s muscle is designed differently from a female’s.
For females running away from building muscles, I’m sorry dear, You already have muscles and if you fail to build on it, you might as well be overweight.
Muscles are what makes us work as human beings. If not, we might be thinking statues.
How strong or built your muscles are determines, your strength, agility, speed, reflex and even memory.
Now that we have differentiated between fats and muscles, we should now understand that fats and muscles are not the same. So they can not change into the other.
Both can increase.
Both can reduce.
It has never been a matter of ‘I will first get so much fats so that I can now turn it to muscles’.
You are only giving yourself more work to do.
While you can eat more protein to build body muscles. Your body needs only a little dose of food (daily intake) to function, the rest will be excreted from the body or stored in the body in form of fats for what your body hopes to be a rainy day.
But we eat everyday, so more fats are stored for rainy days that never really come.
So how does body building really work?
Fats to Muscle ratio.
You decide how much fats you want by dieting and doing exercises that helps to burn that stored up energy (bad fats).
You decide how much muscles you want by eating the right amount of proteins and carbs, and engaging in repetitive/resistance training or body building exercises.
You can have both working in your favor!
Alright.
Finally. I will be answering Some questions asked by students of mine.
Q1
Dear Coach,
Last year, I went into the gym real hard, and actually lost a lot of weight. But afterwards, I realized that all my progress began to decline really fast as I gained weight and fats again, even more than the first time because my cravings increased. Why can’t I just maintain the progress?
People lose themselves for various reasons,
- Stress from work or home. Stress reduces muscles and increases fats by causing you to stress-eat.
- Perhaps, you were too concerned about losing fats, you forgot to gain muscles. Remember that fat cells don’t really disappear, they just shrink in size waiting for the next feed. This is why, ‘if you have been fat once, you can always be fat again.’
You want to invest in muscles to help control your fat level. More muscles equals more agility equals to more physical activity equals to less/controlled fats.
- Diet discipline: There is a strength that comes from dieting and fasting and it is the power to say no to cravings.
Q2
Can a thin person reduce belly fat without the body size itself reducing?
You can’t eat your cake and have it.
If you read through my articles, you will realize that fat is everywhere. It might just be accumulated more in the belly region.
So when you start exercise/diet to burn the belly fat, it will affect the fats in all part of your body.
What you can do is replace those fats you will lose with muscles.
That way your whole body looks better, firmer and curvier than before (not just the belly).
So, tell me (in the comments), what is your body goal?
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