• FreeTrainers.com Forums
• Experienced Exercise
• Why does our body use muscle for energy

Group: Experienced Exercise

Why does our body use muscle for energy

Equis Posts: 10 Joined: 2002/10/16	2002/12/01, 05:33 PM Hello, I have read alot about how to much cardio and wrong diet could cause your body to use muscle for a energy source, Is that only on skinny people?, if you had fat stores would your body use them first? Thanks Heaps
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2002/12/01, 06:01 PM Pretty much answered your own question. If you have large fat stores, then the body will easily use it for energy. It becomes an issue as you become leaner, the body wants to hold onto those remaining fat stores, natural bodily function. The body interpets this as starvation. So it will resort to other areas for energy. Muscle tissue will be sacrificed in its place. It becomes a tricky proposition to keep burning fatty acids when you are at an extrmemly low bodyfat level. -------------- The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary!
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2002/12/01, 06:04 PM I should probably add that just because a person is skinny, does not mean they will have a hard time burning fat. Many skinny people have no muscle tone. They can be actually skinny and flabby, and the body in this case will have no problem using fat.
Equis Posts: 10 Joined: 2002/10/16	2002/12/01, 06:43 PM Thanks very much for your reply bb1fit (and all your other great posts) I was always worried about losing muscle so i was eating heaps, but with that came the problem I was not loosing fat either, I have a few (about 20kgs lol) of fat to lose, so I will start to reduce calories to about 2000 -2500 per day for a few weeks and see what happens, I do weights about 3 times a week, cardio 2 - 3 times a week.
chris789 Posts: 99 Joined: 2002/09/06	2002/12/02, 11:02 AM Like bb1 said, I was sorta like that. I was real skinny and really didn't have much muscle at all. This was when I was going out alot late at night. However, I did a complete 180 when I started eating alot and working out. I'm still not big or anything, but now my body consists of more muscle than it does fat, plus it's much harder. -------------- "Some people call it insanity, I call it intensity"
INTRUDER Posts: 642 Joined: 2002/06/27	2002/12/04, 05:56 PM Cardio has nothing to do w/losing muscle. You can only lose muscle from not working out. -------------- "Get everthing you want--just make a little change now"
drjuice28 Posts: 7 Joined: 2002/10/21	2002/12/06, 04:52 PM Cardio most definetly will use muscle breakdown as a means of finding an additional energy source. Amino acids are worth about 1/2 the energy as glucose to the body. Even though they're a bit tougher to utilize, your body does it all the time, regardless of how much fat is available simultaneously.
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2002/12/06, 06:08 PM Thank you drjuice...I was going to reply to that post, but thought I better leave it alone. LOL.... -------------- The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary!
almatoo Posts: 6 Joined: 2004/02/24	2004/04/29, 11:18 PM I joined FT 8 weeks ago and started my program. A trainer at the gym measure me when I first started. They measured me again yesterday. My biceps were bigger, my hips and legs were smaller, my body weight was the same and my body fat went from 12 to 15 percent. I am thin(5'9'' 120 pds) so I was happy to gain some body fat. I have gotten stronger within the last 8 weeks. I feel stronger and can lift more weight that I could at the beginning. This is my question - the trainer told me based on my new measuremnts and the fact that my body fat went up that I was burning muscle. Can I burn muscle and still get stronger? I asked another trainer and he said no. I don't know what to believe now. Any thoughts?
asimmer Posts: 8,201 Joined: 2003/01/07	2004/04/30, 08:30 AM almatoo, are sure they did your body composition test right? What method did they use? If it was a hand held device (bioelectrical impedence) it could be very off. many composition testing methods can have different results depending on when you last ate or drank anything, how much water is in your system, if you just exercised. It sounds to me like you have aded some muscle and lost some fat if your arms are bigger, your hips and legs are smaller and you are stronger. Your gender isn't filled in, but i know that my female clients start off with a sort of swapping period, where their weight doesn't change as much but they add muscle and lose fat. Another thing i see with their body composition testing (I use calipers) is that the leanr they get, the more accurate it is, so for the first few months, as long as we are seeing and feeling change, we don't stress too much about the lean mass going up and down a few pounds. Your monthly cycle will also give you an 'off' reading on a comp. -------------- If you fall down seven times, get up eight.
almatoo Posts: 6 Joined: 2004/02/24	2004/04/30, 10:16 AM Hi asimmer. You have been so helpful already I did not want to load you again. I do appreciate your response. The trainer used a caliper and measured several areas like thighs, back, arm,etc. I am in the "water holding" stage of my cycle so he did admit that could throw off the numbers. Are there some signs that would help me determine if I'm losing muscle? Also, how can I prevent it? I'm in the "hard gainer" category so I could see how my body may use muscle to fuel up. p.s. - I don't know why my gender(F) does not appear. It's in my profile.
nexus14 Posts: 23 Joined: 2004/04/28	2004/04/30, 11:27 AM ============ Quoting from almatoo: p.s. - I don't know why my gender(F) does not appear. It's in my profile. ============= I agree mine is in my profile too but it is not showing.
nexus14 Posts: 23 Joined: 2004/04/28	2004/04/30, 11:37 AM Never mind, I've just figured it out. Now it's showing.:)
msunderstood Posts: 1 Joined: 2009/04/28	2009/04/28, 10:46 AM I am 158LBS I wanna lose 20LBS but don't want my body to feed on my muscles for energy I'm on STRICT diet and I do mean STRICT!!!!!!! ============ Quoting from bb1fit: Pretty much answered your own question. If you have large fat stores, then the body will easily use it for energy. It becomes an issue as you become leaner, the body wants to hold onto those remaining fat stores, natural bodily function. The body interpets this as starvation. So it will resort to other areas for energy. Muscle tissue will be sacrificed in its place. It becomes a tricky proposition to keep burning fatty acids when you are at an extrmemly low bodyfat level. ============= :angry::angry: