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Do Your Muscles Turn Into Fat When You Stop Weight Training?

musclesBeing indoors for this long has given people a lot of time to do some research. If you have been researching fitness, weight training and muscles, I’m sure the thought of  – “will my muscles turn into fat if I stop weight training” has crossed your mind. While you might watch your fitness levels, maintain a healthy weight and improve strength, etc, it is equally important to understand what happens once you stop weight training in order to preserve muscle mass. 

What Do Muscles Mean? 

Muscle is a tissue in animal bodies. Their main purpose is to help us move our body parts. When a muscle is activated via exercise, it contracts, making itself shorter and thicker i.e. it grows in size.

  • When you exercise, your body does not create new muscles. Instead, your existing muscles grow larger and stronger.
  • With regular exercise, muscles also develop more mitochondria (this is where biochemical processes of respiration and energy production occur in the cell). The result is larger and more muscle mass.
  • When you stop weight training/adopt a sedentary lifestyle, then the increased blood flow previously needed to fuel your cells during exercise is no longer required, so your body begins to contract and reduce the size of your capillaries. As a consequence, muscles shrink and decrease in mass.

Points To Consider 

Muscle cells and fat cells are different structures and are not interchangeable at all. They will become smaller and weaker if you stop weight training because they lose muscle mass. Although, it will not happen in a short period of time as the process of losing muscle mass is slow and gradual which may take  4-6 weeks. Fat may be produced if your diet provides your body with more calories than required based on the activity levels you maintain.

You can preserve and maintain your muscle mass by keeping yourself active. By active I do not mean hitting the gym everyday but by just walking in between breaks, using the staircase instead of the lift, stretching your body every 2 hours, walking while being on a call instead of just sitting at one place, walking after every meal whether it’s your main meal or just snacks in between and obviously by eating a well- balanced healthy diet.

Keep an eye on your protein intake because the protein requirement of your body is directly associated with building and losing muscle mass as well. Don’t overtrain as this can also lead to decreased muscle. Leaving weight training alone should not be blamed for decreased muscle mass. 40-45 minutes of exercise 5-6 days a week is recommended and 1 day should be dedicated for rest and recovery.

We hope this article helps you. For more useful information on muscles, strength training, etc. check out Healthy Reads or tune in to LIVE, interactive workout classes by experts on GOQii PRO within the GOQii App. 

To get these tips directly from your GOQii Coach, subscribe for Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

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Fat or sugars- which is more harmful

fat vs sugar

You may have heard that carbohydrates can lead to weight gain (and this very statement might cause you to think that sugar is worse) but, you probably have also heard that fat can lead to weight gain (and this statement may force you to think fat is worse). With these two different thoughts in your head, you find yourself hopping from a low-fat diet to a low-carb diet and then back to a low-fat diet.

Well, if you are confused as to which one is worse (Fat or Sugar), you are not the only one. This ‘fat v/s. sugar’ debate has been on for a long time and has created lots of dialogues and articles – none of which however come up with a clear picture.

Here is the truth: While there is actually no good sugar that you can include in your everyday diet, fat can be good or bad (depending on the kind you pick).

Excessive Sugar Equals Fat:

Excessive sugar converts to fat in your body; as you eat something sugary or drink a soda, your body does not use all the energy that is produced by sugar. The extra sugar that you consumed, is stored by your body and eventually, is turned into fats. Therefore, an intake of too much sugar has no nutritional value other than it getting stored in the body and converting to fat. Sugar is present in common snacks like biscuits and cakes, cereals, fruits, aerated drinks, smoothies and ready meals. Limiting the sugar intake should be a priority for you to maintain a healthy body. There are many negatives of a high sugar diet.

  • High sugar diets can lead to resistance to insulin resulting in diabetes.
  • The main reason for causing caries in teeth.
  • Sugar-rich diet raises Low Dietary Lipoprotein (LDL) (bad cholesterol), blood glucose and insulin levels. These are all major risk factors for heart disease.
  • Sugar is addictive and causes the release of dopamine in the brain. The pleasure sensation that the brain gets when dopamine levels are elevated creates an addiction.
  • Excess sugar is not used up by the body and is stored as fat for future use. It is a major cause of obesity.
  • However, fruits contain a small amount of fructose. Humans can easily tolerate the small amounts of fructose found in fruit. Reduce the added table sugar in your diet.

Fat Depends – there are good fats and bad fats:

  • Fat is considered deleterious to health and the root cause of high cholesterol. However, there are different kinds of dietary fats
  • Saturated – Animal fats and dairy
  • Monounsaturated – Olive oil, avocado, ground nuts and
  • Polyunsaturated – Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats in fish, walnut and flax seeds.
  • Eating a moderate amount of saturated fats, such those found in butter and meats, coconut oil along with seed oils such as olive and avocado are okay.

Foods with good fats are vital for good health:

  1. Essential for absorption of fat soluble vitamins like Vitamin A (vision), Vitamin D (strong bones), Vitamin K (blood clotting), and Vitamin E (healthy skin). These vitamins are vital for brain health.
  2. Saturated fats found in butter and coconut oil play a role in improving immunity. The saturated fats are present in white blood cells and their loss can reduce the ability of white blood cells (WBC’s) to kill germs.
  3. Less fat in the diet can lead to skin becoming dry and chapped.
  4. Fats provide twice the caloric energy as sugars. A fat rich meal helps to keep the body satisfied. A diet rich in walnuts, salmon, olive oil, and butter aids in weight maintenance.
  5. Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats raise the levels of High-density lipoprotein  (HDL or good cholesterol) in the blood.

In conclusion, I would say both sugar and fat cause equal damage and cause us serious medical problems and especially when bad fats are combined with sugar in a meal. You need to come up with a diet plan that avoids sugar completely and uses only good fats. Also, avoid processed foods and eat whole natural foods along with regular exercise.

 

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Myths and Facts about Dieting

diet myths

Dieting is synonymous with Weight loss. But what does dieting mean? There is a lot of misconception among people that going on a diet means not eating enough food is dieting.

Let’s clear this misconception by proper examples and scientific approach.

1. Dieting means to skip meals?

The major misconception that leads to health risk is skipping meals which people assume will help them to achieve weight loss. Skipping meals will only increase acidity levels, more food cravings and large portion size. The sensible approach is to take lesser quantity food at regular intervals what we call as “small ad frequent meals”.

2.Reducing calories

Reducing calories doesn’t mean you skip your major course meals, for instance, skipping rice, roti or oats. The smart approach is to fill your stomach with low calorie and more fluid foods. If you take a salad plate include more cucumber and sprouts which will fill your stomach with a good amount of food but are low in calories.

3.Restrict non-vegetarian food

The non-vegetarian food contains all the essential amino acids that lack in vegetarian or vegan food. However, food preference is a matter of choice for each individual. If you choose chicken, fish or lean beef you are probably increasing proteins in your diet. Make sure the portion size is not more. Your plate should have more of low calorie, high protein food and less of calorie dense food.

4. Cut back on carbs to lose weight.

Carbohydrates come in different forms: simple and complex. Simple carbs found in foods like cookies and candy lack vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Cutting back on these sweets is a great way to eat healthier. Foods with complex carbs like whole-wheat bread, beans, and fruit, have lots of nutrients that are good for you. Cut back on simple carbs but keep complex carbs on the menu.

5. You need fat in your diet. Fat keeps you full and satisfied.

Fat is the slowest food component to clear the stomach. For ages, it was assumed that fatty foods slow digestion and keep you feeling full longer. Recent research proves that the proportion of sugar and fat has little or no difference in satiety ratings. What’s more, fat actually has twice the calories of protein or carbohydrates. In reality, protein tends to leave people feeling more satisfied than either carbohydrates or fat while fibre and whole grains affect feelings of fullness and satisfaction. To stay full longer, eat healthy foods that are high in fibre, like fruits and veggies and lots of healthy whole grains.

6. Only dieting will promote weight loss.

Weight loss is 50% with proper diet (as mentioned above) and 50% with exercise. You need to burn already stored calories in the body to lose weight. Extra calories and extra carbs are converted into fat in the body for storage. Extra proteins get converted to uric acid. You need to burn out and eliminate that extra energy. Choose exercise from low intensity to gradually increasing to moderate and then high.

7.Detoxification is the quickest way to lose weight.

The truth is that while detox actually does help you lose weight very quickly, most of the weight loss is body water and the weight will come right back on as soon as you stop doing it. Detox can also help you lose stool through diarrhoea and that will cause your weight to drop fast but as soon as you eat, the stool will build up again. You can lose only so much weight when participating in a cleanse diet. It is much better to lose weight the conventional way—through eating a low-calorie diet and exercising in order to lose the extra pounds.

 

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