Please explain how...

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  • prencesskl
    prencesskl Posts: 123
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    The lb of fat takes up almost double the room the lb of muscle takes up, so you may gain weight by adding muscle in place of fat, but you will lose inches, that's why when you stall you need to have your measurements so you can see the difference. Also the more muscle you have the more fat you burn : )
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
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    There is actually a genetic limit to muscle size. It can only get so big before it doesn't have the storage space for glycogen and water or the ability for actin and myosin to get larger. The only way to change that is steroids, which I doubt you are using. :wink: The quality of the muscle growth is also inhibited by steroids to allow them to get bigger but not actually gain strength. So, short answer, no, the muscle on your thighs probably won't get as big as the fat that is currently there unless you are genetically gifted to be able to build larger muscles.

    As for the scale, yes, it will eventually start going down too. Adding that muscle mass burns more calories, so at rest you will be burning more fat (because you primarily burn fat for fuel while at rest) then you were with less muscle mass. It takes time, though, so don't get discouraged. But eventually, the fat will burn off faster then you are building muscle or storing muscle glycogen because of those genetic limits and the added metabolism from the added muscle.

    As for the person who said it is hard to build muscle, yes it is. But muscle glycogen stores in the muscle are increased by as little as one heavy weight workout. Muscle glycogen and the water it is stored in, read as lean tissue in a body composition analysis, so a lot of trainers call it added muscle mass. Technically, it is stored in the muscle so it is increasing the mass of the muscle, but not the actual muscle fiber size. Actual muscle fiber size increases take several weeks of consistent training.
  • live2smyle
    live2smyle Posts: 592 Member
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    Yep, pound vs pound thing covered. But I wanted to share this thread about "fearing the scale"... It helped me.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/160943-why-the-scale-lies
    Awesome Article Thank You :flowerforyou:
  • live2smyle
    live2smyle Posts: 592 Member
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    Thank you everyone so much for the help :flowerforyou: I am seriously considering throwing this scale away. I dont need this kind of pressure in my life :) I am actually wigging out a bit about weighing myself. I am doing this to lose weight yes but I also want to learn how to eat right. Lower my salt intake to hopefully lower my blood pressure, get my cholesterol in check etc.
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
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    Thank you for this post! That is one of my biggest pet peeves on here. Seeing people tell other people that have only been working out for a couple weeks that "oh you must be gaining muscle which weighs more than fat" Wrong. It takes quite a bit of hard work to gain enough muscle to make a difference on the scale but at the same time you're losing fat so it essentially equals out unless you're lucky enough to not need to lose fat and want to gain weight through muscle, wouldn't that be a tough situation to be in?!! lol Sorry to go off on a rant but gosh that statement irks me!! The only explanation I have is muscle is denser than fat so a smaller "chunk" of muscle weighs the same as a bigger "chunk" of fat. As you gain the muscle and lose the fat the muscle takes less space making you sleeker plus you're removing the fat which is what makes you "bulky" muscle does not make you bulky, fat does.
    You are almost correct...Some of us are built in a manner that allows us to gain muscle very quickly and due to these structural components the muscle visually appears very quickly. I am short in stature with very short arms and legs that muscle up quickly

    Good point. I stand corrected. :)
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
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    As for the person who said it is hard to build muscle, yes it is. But muscle glycogen stores in the muscle are increased by as little as one heavy weight workout. Muscle glycogen and the water it is stored in, read as lean tissue in a body composition analysis, so a lot of trainers call it added muscle mass. Technically, it is stored in the muscle so it is increasing the mass of the muscle, but not the actual muscle fiber size. Actual muscle fiber size increases take several weeks of consistent training.
    [/quote]

    Thanks, yes that makes sense and I knew this, just didn't word it correctly I guess ;)

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