Does Muscle Weigh More Than Fat?
Well it goes something like this.. person starts exercising and expects drastic weight loss, once they start working out. Whilst they might experience some weight loss as their clothes become loose, the weight scales do not show any real noticeable change. In some cases, the person may actually gain weight, instead of losing it.
So person becomes disheartened and gives up and starts looking for some other method of weight loss. What is the reason behind this phenomenon? This is where most trainers give the explanation that exercises help in muscle building and muscles weigh more than fat. This is not actually true, and the real facts can be misunderstood or misused by the trainers.
FACT: If I place one pound of muscle on a scale and one pound of fat on a scale, they will both weigh one pound.
WEIGHT LOSS vs. FAT LOSS
The difference between the two is in total volume. Another way to say this is the difference is the amount of space one pound of muscle occupies compared to one pound of fat. One pound of muscle may appear to be the size of an orange; however one pound of fat will be three times the size and look like a lump of jelly.
One pound of muscle and one pound of fat are NOT the same size.
The image above shows what one pound of muscle and the same one pound of fat. As you can see, muscle is smaller in size than an equal weight of fat, when you replace fat with muscle, your body will occupy less space. (i.e., smaller clothes)
So muscle is a denser tissue and thus takes up less space than an equal weight of fat. That’s why it’s possible to lose inches but show little to no change in weight but still lose fat, look great and feel great!
Having more muscle means you have a more desirable body composition, or fat-to-muscle ratio. Your body will look different, smaller, and more toned.
So two people can weigh the same yet look very different. One you might refer to as toned and fit looking, the other as rounded, fatter and unhealthy looking. Yet both are the same weight. Which one are you trying to be?
The fatter person gets fat easier. The other does not. When the fatter person diets their weight yo-yo’s up and down. They don’t keep the fat off. They gain it back faster and easier. He or she has a slower metabolism. He or she is less energetic. They also look fat.
Here’s another image for you… this shows two thighs of the same size side by side.
Even though both the circumferences of the two thighs are the same, the one on the right is much fatter than the other. The one on the left uses more calories than the one on the right.
So Does Muscle Weigh More Than Fat?
No but it looks much bigger! Again, try to visualise this.. if you put 5 lbs of lean muscle into a container next to the same 5lbs of fat – the fat would take up 3 times the space looking 3 times bigger! That’s what your body looks like when it increases fat. For every lb of fat you lose, it will be 3 times smaller than the same loss of muscle (losing muscle has been associated with chronic dieting without appropriate exercise).
Also stored fat does not burn calories unlike stored muscle which requires some 50 calories per day for each 1lb of muscle you maintain. Fat is only useful for burning calories when you carry it around with you (so if you are carrying excess fat, be more active).
Tags: exercise calories, fat burners, fat burning, fat loss, muscle toning, weight loss
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