Has Your Muscle Turned To Fat?

“I don’t exercise because if I stop my muscles will turn to fat.”  Yes, people have said this to me, and it is one of most persistent exercise myths around. We have all seen the former high school athlete who now sports layers of fat instead of muscle, but the muscle has not changed into fat.  Fat and muscle are two different types of cell.  One cannot be converted to the other.  If you stop exercising you will loose muscle mass.  If you continue to consume the same amount of calories you will add fat.  (The reverse is also true; when you lift weights and trim your body, you have not turned your fat into muscle, you have lost fat and added muscle).  So if this is your excuse not to exercise, you need a new excuse, it is simply not true.