Does Muscle Turn into Fat?

If you are curious as to whether muscle turns to fat then please keep reading.

When you exercise and exert your muscle tissue enough the muscle tissue actually tears or breaks down and your body is then forced to repair the muscle and when the body repairs muscle it actually makes the muscle larger and therefore stronger in the hopes that the next time your body comes across such stressful exercise that you will be strong enough to endure the work out.

If the next time you exercise the same muscle group and you once again tear or break down the muscle your body will yet once again repair itself by making your muscles bigger and stronger.

This is how bodybuilders get bigger and bigger by tearing down and rebuilding bigger and stronger.

How is fat created? Fat is the by product of over eating. When you consume more calories than your body needs in a day to maintain itself and heal and repair itself the rest is stored as fat. Fat cells on men are typically stored on their belly and waist area where women will store more fat cells on their legs and buttocks. Fat cells live in your body between muscle and your skin. Fat is primarily made up of glycerol a substance in fatty acids.

When people who exercise quit exercising it might sometimes appear that their muscle might be turning into fat because the muscle tissue is actually starting to shrink in size (atrophy). The muscle will also start to soften which might be mistaken for fat as well.

The person might not have adjusted their eating habits after they stop exercising and they are starting to store extra fat.

The extra fat is not the muscle turning to fat. The extra fat is actually from the extra calories you are consuming and not burning in an exercise program.

Muscle cells shrink and if you started working out again your muscles would quickly start to grow again. They are always there once developed, this is commonly known as muscle memory.

So, the answer to the question is no, muscle does not and will not turn into fat. Never has and it never will. It just isn't possible. Some people think that when bodybuilders stop working out that all of their muscle will turn to fat. How can one physical substance in the body turn into another?

It can’t. Muscle is muscle and will always be muscle. Same with fat, fat is fat and will always be fat.

Think of muscle as the precious metal gold and fat as well let's call it fat. Gold will not turn into fat someday if it loses value or for any other reason. it just isn't possible.

If someone was muscular at one time and is getter fatter it is because they are eating too much not because their muscle is converting to fat.

I hope that helps you understand the difference between muscle and fat.