Can Your Body Turn Fat Into Muscle?

Fat and muscle are two different types of tissues. They both play an important function in your body and one can't replace the other. The cells that form tissues are differentiated from stem cells -- and once this happens you can't turn one into another. However, increasing your muscle tissue can help lower your fat tissue.

Fat Tissue

Fat, or adipose, tissue is a type of connective tissue that contains mostly fat cells, or adipocytes. Fat tissue supports your organs, functions as energy storage, and conserves body heat by acting as an insulator. Fat tissue is built from excess calories you consume as food, the calories your body does not need are stored as fat in your adipose tissue. Fat tissue can be distributed in different ways. Men usually contain most of their fat tissue around the belly, while women have their fat around breasts, hips and belly.

Muscle Tissue

Muscle tissue is built of muscle cells, also called muscle fibers. A single muscle is composed of thousands of muscle cells that in turn are built from myofilaments, which make your muscles stretch and contract. Muscles are responsible for several important functions in your body, including movement, heat production and maintaining your posture. Males usually have higher muscle mass due to the hormone testosterone that helps build and maintain muscle mass. Muscle tissue plays a major role in your body's metabolism because muscle contraction requires lots of energy.

Increased Muscle Mass

The only way to build muscle mass is to cause stress to your muscle fibers. According to the "Anatomy and Physiology," when muscle cells are exposed to stress or resistance, such as strength training, they respond by increasing the number of myofilaments. The actual number of muscle cells stays the same but the mass and strength increases due to the increased number of the contractile myofilaments. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism, meaning the more energy your body uses.

Fat Burning

You cannot turn fat into muscle but you can burn fat to provide energy for muscle contractions. Muscles use a large amount of energy throughout day and night. Although you are not moving when you sleep, your muscles work by producing heat and maintaining your posture. To burn fat to provide energy for your muscles, you need to consume fewer calories than your body's metabolic rate requires, thus when you eat a low-calorie diet, your body begins to burn fat into energy. You can further increase your fat-burning by regular strength training that will increase your muscle mass. Although your body can't turn fat into muscle, it can replace fat tissue with muscle tissue.