Does muscles burn fats

Question

I am new to this site, and I am not a body builder, I am just curious about some information about fitness and muscle building.

It is well known for females to have a round big butt, they should do squat. So that, when doing squat with a healthy nutrition intake, muscles are build, giving the desired shape.

My question is , when building muscles in a specific position of the body (let us say the butt), what happens to the fats present in this position? Does they all converted into muscles? Or muscles are build from the enough protein intake so the fats will be kept?

Is it similar to the case of abs fat, in which Doing crunches and other abs exercises will not burn belly fat, but just build your abs muscles?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Is it similar to the case of abs fat, in which Doing crunches and other abs exercises will not burn belly fat, but just build your abs muscles?

Yes, just like abs workouts, you will not spot reduce fat. Fat is loss over your entire body when you are at a caloric deficit. There are exceptions, but generally speaking this is the only way to lose fat.

If you are exercising and gaining muscle while at a caloric surplus, the fat does not go anywhere, it stays on your body. In fact, you will actually gain some fat. The proportion between fat and muscle gain will depend on your caloric intake and activity level.

Likewise, when losing fat, you also lose some muscle. The amount depends on how much protein is consumed and activity level.

Now, if you consume as much calories as you burn, your weight will remain stable.

Where your body will store fat fluctuates a lot between individuals, but will mainly be stored in areas where there is a lot of space for them to be packed in. (Butt,Thighs,Belly, Breasts) You cannot control this and your body will decide what is the best place to store it.

My question is , when building muscles in a specific position of the body (let us say the butt), what happens to the fats present in this position?

You're asking this question, so I will assume you are new to weightlifting / exercising. You will lose fat (if overweight) as your body will use a lot of energy while you progress through your beginner's gains*. Realistically, your fat will either remain on your butt if you stay at maintenance caloric intake. Your butt look and feel a lot firmer however, seeing as your muscle-to-fat ratio will be higher.

*As long as you eat at your current maintenance or a caloric deficit

Answer 2

Spot Reducing fact is not possible. There is no controversy. Many youtube videos and journals on this. See here Blood Flow and lyposis..

Fat is not converted into muscle. Beginner weightlifters can loose fat, and gain muscle at the same time. Generally after six months this is not possible by 99.99% of the population, unless incredible genetics are present.

The idea after losing your "noob gains" (The fact that you are able to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time during your first several months of lifting), is one of the following

1. To gain weight by maintaining a caloric surplus. A caloric surplus is generally the only way to gain muscle after the first several months of training. There are other more advanced methods involving recomposition, but this is generally what happens. Note that lifters can expect to gain muscle, and gain fat at the same time, depending on the caloric surplus

2. To lose fat, but expect to lose slight amounts of muscle while loosing fat. I.e caloric deficit

In short

You cant spot reduce fat. You can lose fat. You can gain muscle. But they don't convert into one another.

Answer 3

“My question is , when building muscles in a specific position of the body (let us say the butt), what happens to the fats present in this position? Does they all converted into muscles?“

Adipose (fat), like muscle, is an internal body tissue. It's main purpose is to store energy and insulate the body. As such, it cannot be converted into any other type of body tissue including muscle. When you exercise, the body will use the stored fat as an energy source.

“Or muscles are build from the enough protein intake so the fats will be kept? “

Sufficient Protein intake is one of the required factors that leads to muscle hypertrophy. The calories from Protein (4 calories/gm), Carbohydrate (4 calories/gm) and Fat (9 calories/gm) all serve as an energy source. The calories are stored as fat when you consume more calories than you expend. In that case, the fat will be retained.

“Is it similar to the case of abs fat, in which Doing crunches and other abs exercises will not burn belly fat, but just build your abs muscles? “

As others have indicated, you cannot spot reduce. However, that does not imply that you will simply build muscle tissue instead. Several factors need to be present in order to build muscle tissue. Some of those include proper protein intake, rest, recovery, genetics, training status, and more.

Lastly, since muscle is more metabolically active, increasing muscle mass is one way to control your weight and burn calories.

Answer 4

The spot reduction fat loss controversy is still in the air, many believe you can many believe you can't. Consider this article from BodyBuilding.com.

I won't get into the details of that. My belief is that spot reduction, overall, is not possible.

When building muscle in a specific area, let's say the stomach, the fat cells actually never "burn up" or disappear. Essentially the energy they carry inside them gets sucked out to be used by the body as energy, thus the fat cells become deflated. See Hyperplasia vs Hypertrophy

The fat cells do not get converted. A simple metaphor is that fat, as we see it, starts out like a grape - full of fat juice. Then when we burn that fat, the juice gets sucked out and the fell cell becomes a raisin.

Overall, to burn fat you need to take in a caloric deficit. When your body has fewer calories from foods, it turns to itself for energy via fat cells and muscle tissue.

I'd suggest doing more research on your own about fat loss through various fitness and diet websites.