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If we have fat in our body, our system burns that fat and creates muscle. It eats from the body fat we have.

In old days (8 years ago), I was very skinny, with very little muscle. Now, I have a little visible muscle. In my life, there are a lot of things I do and I limit the exercise of creating muscles or eating well.

After 8 years, I am not eating (not properly), and I am doing no daily exercise.

My muscles have remained in a good shape for me, instead of losing weight- I ate very little 8 years ago, now I eat enough. I have a little body fat ONLY in my stomach.

I will now start to do biceps and chest exercises.

Question: Does this little body fat helps my body to gain muscles on biceps / chest? I will start eating well too, but does this fat I have help for biceps/chests muscles?

In the old days I was trying to eat a lot after workouts with proper foods(protein etc) so I will "eat the muscle "with the proper indregents.

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  • I was trying to edit this but I'm having difficulty understanding here. If I were to simplify your question, is it simply "Does extra body-fat around my stomach help, or not help, in building bicep or chest muscles?"
    – C. Lange
    Commented Apr 18, 2021 at 3:00
  • @C.Lange seems like it.
    – user33409
    Commented Apr 18, 2021 at 14:44
  • Does extra body-fat around my stomach help in building bicep or chest muscles?(this fat I get was unhealthy) [email protected]
    – e.p
    Commented Apr 18, 2021 at 18:24
  • How old are you now? If 8 years ago you were 14, your hormones might have had an influence in your current shape.
    – Luciano
    Commented Apr 29, 2021 at 16:13
  • "If we have fat in our body, our system burns that fat and creates muscle. It eats from the body fat we have" Fat does not get turned into muscle. Losing fat and building muscle are two different processes. Fat is an energy storage for your body, you lose fat by spending energy. Muscle are built from protein and training. I didn't see this information answered yet (or I misread) so I thought it could be usefull for some people. Commented Jun 20 at 14:59

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Proportionally, most male body fat is deposited around the waist. The fact you have "a little" fat there is perfectly healthy, and you would probably really struggle to lose it.

However, don't purposefully eat unhealthily in order to gain fat. In fact, don't aim to gain fat at all. Gaining fat will NOT help you get bigger chest or arms.

Leftover calories will turn into fat, but you should try not to have leftover calories: aim for a balance, the amount of energy you eat should match the amount of energy you burn during your workout, and the recovery and growth of those muscles.

If your goal is to hypertrophy your chest and biceps, then eat 150-300 calories above your maintenance calories. If you want to pay attention to dietary specifics, then you can eat about 0.4g of fat per pound of bodyweight every day. The rest of your calories (by far the majority of your calories) should come from slow-release carbohydrates. Make sure you eat enough protein to see hypertrophy results (normally about 0.8g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day).

Strength athletes like powerlifters or strongmen are often so fat because fat gain is an unavoidable side effect of eating as much as they do (6-10,000 calories a day) to maintain their muscles. Bulking always inevitably comes with some fat gain, and these steroid-fuelled world elites are just at the extreme end of that. A high bodyweight provides a stable foundation while moving massive weight. They have built up to their size over years, don't copy them; suddenly switching to a 10,000 calorie diet is not the optimal way to increase the size of your muscles, and would be very unhealthy. Fat itself costs calories to maintain, calories you would rather spend on working out your muscles and growing your muscles, and having too much fat is unhealthy.

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    I generally agree with the vibe of this answer, but the statement "You should get calories by eating carbohydrates, not fat" feels misleading to me. The whole low fat movement is on pretty shaky ground in my opinion, and I don't think you should necessarily reduce your fat intake if you're getting enough protein and remaining within a reasonable range for caloric intake. There are many low carb/moderate carb/high fat kinda diets that have been shown to be effective (paleo, carnivore etc.)
    – E.Aigle
    Commented Apr 22, 2021 at 9:27

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