'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

How to prevent unwanted weightloss, and/or even gain muscles
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Squash
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'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by Squash »

Ever since starting the Wai diet, I've always consumed exactly my energy needs (I did NOT gain or lose weight). Also, I've stopped my vigorous training regimen for muscle growth (3 times a week full body for 0,5-1,5 hours).

Remember, my weight's remained THE SAME. 72kg. However, my body composition has changed significantly. My waist fat first measured (using a fat caliper) 4-5mm. It now measures 11-13mm. I've lost my 'six-pack'.


So, imagine a situation where someone was quite muscular to begin with (induced by regular weight training) and stopped this weight training regimen all together. The muscles from then on lack further stimulus and MUST begin to atrophy (muscles are energy-costly, humans are energy-efficient, the muscle isn't needed any more for weight training). So, eating EXACTLY the right amount of calories to maintain weight, filling up blood sugar every 15 mins to exactly the needs (hypothetically), muscles are being broken down (due to insufficient stimuli) to amino acids, which then travel in your blood stream (can they cause acne??). These amino acids are a form of energy, and in the liver they will be converted to fat/glucose (gluconeogenesis). This converted energy then will be stored as body fat, because it is more than the body needs (remember, eating EXACTLY the right amount of calories the body needs).

This means that muscle is indeed being turned into fat after ending resistance training. AND COULD ALSO BE A POTENTIAL TRIGGER FOR ACNE! Right?
waipete
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Re: 'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by waipete »

Muscles can not turn into fat, they are two different things.

I'm no expert but I think this is what happened in a nutshell. You got fatter while your muscle mass decreased without much fluctuation of weight.

I too lost all my muscles on this diet.
Squash
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Re: 'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by Squash »

waipete wrote:Muscles can not turn into fat, they are two different things.

I'm no expert but I think this is what happened in a nutshell. You got fatter while your muscle mass decreased without much fluctuation of weight.

I too lost all my muscles on this diet.
Amino Acids are a (potential) form of energy (or fuel, if you like), correct? When muscles are broken down, these are released. Where do these Amino Acids then go? They just get pissed out? The human body is more efficient than that. They will be used for energy. So, when I eat 2900 and my needs for that day are also 2900 kcals, the muscle broken down provides an extra 50 kcal or so, so that I'm in a +50 energy balance for that day. Where do these 50 kcal go? They're not needed, they go to the fat cells.

So, INDIRECTLY 'muscle gets turned into fat'.
abicahsoul
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Re: 'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by abicahsoul »

Perhaps you did eat more than your needs then? I mean perhaps you overestimated your energy expenditure? :p
Squash
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Re: 'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by Squash »

abicahsoul wrote:Perhaps you did eat more than your needs then? I mean perhaps you overestimated your energy expenditure? :p
Could very well be, but why is my weight the same then? Don't tell me water retention, I was all past that stage at that time.

Also, this still doesn't explain where these energyful Amino Acids from my muscles go. I mean, I've lost the muscle, they're gone. If muscle only gets broken down when energy sources are low one could hypothetically maintain a 220lbs 8% BF physique after you stopped training all together if you just kept your energy levels up, no matter what it'd take; let food run through your nose while you're sleeping. That's not possible. The body feels a need to break the muscle down to energy, as there is no longer a need to keep holding on to the muscle mass (there is no regular weight training).
abicahsoul
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Re: 'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by abicahsoul »

because fat weigh less than muscle... but will take up more waist space.. that's what I learned anyway..
where the lost muscle go.. I don't know.. I never pretended to know.. not my area of expertise.. but I bet RRM can explain.
Squash
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Re: 'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by Squash »

abicahsoul wrote:because fat weigh less than muscle... but will take up more waist space.. that's what I learned anyway..
where the lost muscle go.. I don't know.. I never pretended to know.. not my area of expertise.. but I bet RRM can explain.
Well, yes. Muscle holds a lot of water (or so I thought). This water would've been shed out when the muscle's being broken down... Hmm. Indeed waiting for RRM's response.
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RRM
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Re: 'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by RRM »

You are both right.
Squash wrote:Ever since starting the Wai diet, I've always consumed exactly my energy needs (I did NOT gain or lose weight). Also, I've stopped my vigorous training regimen for muscle growth (3 times a week full body for 0,5-1,5 hours).
If you stopped your training regimen for more than say 2 weeks, you normally lose muscle weight.
If you did not lose any weight, it must mean that you gained as much bodyfat as you lost muscles.
Muscles also contain water whereas bodyfat does not,
so that there likely is more energy stored in that bodyfat than the energy that was present in the lost muscle protein.
So that we must conclude that your energy intake recently has exceeded your energy requirements.
...eating EXACTLY the right amount of calories to maintain weight, filling up blood sugar every 15 mins to exactly the needs (hypothetically)
You dont know that. What you do know, is that it was not too little to maintain blood energy levels.
Likely, your energy intake has exceeded your energy requirements.
...muscles are being broken down (due to insufficient stimuli) to amino acids, which then travel in your blood stream (can they cause acne??)
Potentially, yes.
Squash wrote:...If muscle only gets broken down when energy sources are low
No, muscles also get broken down when not used as much as before.
(muscle volume is adjusted to 'required level')
dime
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Re: 'muscles turn into fat' myth true after all?

Post by dime »

Yes, I don't know why is this so surprising, it's called muscle atrophy. If you don't use the muscle (e.g. when you break a bone for example) it will atrophy. Same thing will happen if you do some bodybuilding where you put some additional muscle mass (which you don't really need), and then stop exercising.
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