Fact or Fiction: Once you stop lifting weights your muscle will turn to fat?
I honestly can’t even believe this myth exists lol. I am guessing it exists because when big bulky dudes stop lifting weights and stop being active, but continue to eat the same amount they get rounder…and not in a good way. BUT…This has nothing to do with their muscles turning into fat and everything to do with them eating too much.
Three things happen when you stop exercising with weights.
Number one on the list, you lose strength. That makes sense right? If you don’t use it, you lose it. Your body adapts to the habits or stimulus you put it under. If you have been making it stronger by lifting weights awesome! However, once you stop lifting weights your new habit of not lifting causes your body to get weaker because there is no demand for it. This means things that were once easy start to become harder and more challenging. Stairs become a challenge, carrying groceries, and yard work becomes a pain as well.
Number two on the list, you lose muscle. Just like the above, if you don’t use it you lose it. The key is that this muscle is NOT turning into fat. It is simply going away because your body doesn’t need it. No biggie right? Wrong! The less muscle you have, the lower your metabolism is as well. Ever wonder why you could eat more at 25 years of age then now…and if you did eat that now, 10 years later, you would gain 10lbs? This is why! As you age you lose muscle, thus you “lose” (lower) your metabolism. Not cool.
Number three on the list, your muscle building hormones decrease. When you stop lifting, your hormones also “stop” lifting and slow down as well. This causes you to have less energy and makes your day to day harder. Which causes more stress, which makes you want to eat more and move LESS, terrible combo. And the end result is a rounder you.
In short, your muscles won’t turn to fat if you stop lifting weights, but it might look like they do unless you change your eating habits ;-).
Go be awesome!
KELLEN LAKE – I lift weights so I can eat lol ;-).
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