Turning Fat to Muscle through Work

[Gershon]

As I approach my target weight, I've decided it's time for another research experiment. As with any experiment, it needs a hypothesis which is always expressed in the negative.

Hypothesis: You cannot turn body fat into muscle through work.

Then there is the alternate hypothesis which is the positive statement.

Alternate hypothesis: You can turn body fat into muscle through work.

I understand that physiologically the body does not turn fat into muscle, but the old saying still has merit because it's easy to remember and motivational.

Methodology

This is an n=1 research experiment with me as the only subject. The only control variable will be work in the form of housework, yard work, gardening, etc. This work will be measured in minutes and all different types of work will be given an equal value.

Weight will be held constant at approximately 165 pounds.

The Diet will be the McDougall Diet.

The subject will continue averaging 10 miles a day walking.

Body fat percentage will be measured with an Aria scale which sends the data directly to Fitbit. Although it is known to be somewhat inaccurate, the trend should be sufficient for the purposes of this experiment.

There will be a two week lead-in period as I lose the last six pounds and get used to working more. The results will be published, but the official project will not start until I reach 165 lb.

Why Work?

I thought about starting to work out with calisthenics, but the fatigue that comes from calisthenics does not feel as good as the fatigue that comes from work. I'd rather build functional muscles for what a person normally does than show muscles to do calisthenics or other weight programs. Besides, there are plenty of things around the house that need done.

The Goal



I found this on a website and it's as good as any. The initial target is a body fat percentage of 13%. I'm currently at 18.1%.

As a goal, the only thing I can control is the amount of work done. Initially, I will do 60 minutes of work each day in addition to what I was doing before.

[vgpedlr]

As I approach my target weight, I've decided it's time for another research experiment. As with any experiment, it needs a hypothesis which is always expressed in the negative.

Hypothesis: You cannot turn body fat into muscle through work.

Then there is the alternate hypothesis which is the positive statement.

Alternate hypothesis: You can turn body fat into muscle through work.

I understand that physiologically the body does not turn fat into muscle, but the old saying still has merit because it's easy to remember and motivational.

Perhaps you could modify the hypotheses to read You can/cannot REPLACE fat with muscle, as that is more accurate?

You've left enough work undone that you will have enough for the duration of the experiment? This new energy expenditure is truly new to the experiment?

[Gershon]

vegpedlr,

I'm still working on the hypothesis as I'm starting the experiment. It will likely change as I gather more data.

My goal is to build functional muscle weight that will allow me to work steadily for long periods. I haven't decided how long yet. The type of work will be housework, house maintenance, gardening, yard work, etc. My example is the guy across the street who is 78 years old and always doing work around the yard.

I'm not counting normal work I've done in the past. Fortunately, the Fitbit tracks lightly active minutes, and these are the type normally earned during this type of work. I will be able to tell if it's additional work thanks to this.

More later. I have to run.