Stopping sports: muscles do not turn into fat

And all of this reinforces the preconceived notion that muscle turns into fat when you stop exercising. Or that the more muscular you were, the more likely you are to become chubby. This is false for a very simple reason: fat cells are adipocytes and muscle cells are myocytes. And a cell can do two things during its lifetime: grow and divide, but in no case can it change its nature.

The reality is that muscles atrophy once they're no longer exercised. And it happens quickly: they lose between 1 and 5% of their mass after a month without exercise (that's still okay), but a whopping 7 to 12% after two months.

Okay, but what about fat? As with quitting smoking , the hardest part of changing your lifestyle is changing your eating habits towards sobriety: even if they no longer need as many calories to compensate for the energy spent exercising, athletes often keep the same diet. At first, no problem: muscles are fibers that consume a lot of energy even when you stop, just for their maintenance.

But, as we've said, muscle mass decreases. And less muscle equals more fat if you don't revise your diet. All the fat not burned by exercise is stored.

Especially since for former athletes, like everyone else, we also tend to gain weight with age. There are several reasons for this: reduced physical activity (and therefore loss of muscle volume) and the resulting drop in metabolism.

Other reasons, such as sleep deprivation, which triggers the production of an appetite-stimulating hormone, or conversely, reduced sensitivity to another appetite-suppressing hormone, may explain why people over 50 gain weight. Without actually gaining much weight! This can be misleading for those who keep an eye on their scales.

Fat is half solid, half liquid, and muscle is a fiber. The difference in mass between the two is 17%. This means that, for the same weight, fat takes up 17% more volume. For the same weight, you're fatter if you're not muscular. Maradona may not have gained a single gram. But a gram of what?

Jean-Luc Eluard

Image by Matan Ray Vizel from Pixabay