my muscles turned into fats! 😩

hey everyone!

if you haven’t read my previous post on debunking gym myths, i’m back with a commonly asked question: “will i get fat if i stop weight training?” or “i don’t want to lift weights because my muscle will turn into fats!” 😩

to answer this simply, NO, your muscles WILL NOT and CAN NOT turn into fat… to explain further, here’s how it works:

muscle cells are of an entirely different composition as compared to fat cells — note: these cellular structures are not interchangeable

and so.. what exactly happens when i stop training, and why do i “feel fatter” when that happens?

you’re experiencing a change in body composition; meaning to say, your muscle mass has probably gone down, while your fat mass has probably gone up 🥲

since your muscle size has decreased pretty much due to the lack of training stimulus from lifting weights, your body now has space to accommodate for more fat mass (accumulated, if not burned) — this especially exponentiates we keep up with our daily bread for breakfast at the mrt station, or that carb heavy snack or two 🤧

if you’re looking to at least maintain your muscle mass, (aka look ‘lean’) the bare minimum you could do for your body is to keep up with your body’s protein intake — a good indicator would be for every 1kg of body mass, you consume 2g of protein. for e.g if you’re 50kg, you would want to consume 100g of protein each day, to maintain your muscle mass 🔥

hence, if you’re looking to stay ‘lean’, start lifting weights, and lift weights with progressive load, consistently! 1-2x a week would suffice especially if you’re just starting out

note: as a science major, i truly believe that nuances are highly critical and so this is not for all cases, but it’s meant to address the general take

#fitnessmyths #debunkingmyths #fitnesstips #personaltraining #femalehealth