Is it possible to lose fat but not weight?

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Replies

  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
    1st off muscle does not weigh more than fat. 1 lb of muscle weighs the same as 1 lb of fat.
    2nd is how many calories are you eat? If you're not eating enough your body will store what calories it get.
    You need a good eating plan and a combo of resistance / cardio. Friend me if you'd like some help.

    Yes muscle does weigh more than fat, it does because it is more dense. Your argument is flawed in that when comparing weights you should hold volume as the constant and the weight would be the variable. When comparing volume is when you use the weight as the constant.

    The poster never said 1lb of muscle weighs more than 1 lb of fat, so why are you putting words in their mouth. The posters argument held volume as the constant when stating muscle weighs more than fat, which is the way it should be done, and therefore is correct.

    You are correct but most people don't know it in that sense. The educated ones do. But 1 lb of muscle does not weight more than 1 lb of fat. Most people don't realize that muscle is denser than fat and they also think that you can turn your fat into muscle. That is also not true. I just wish people would do a little research before spouting out that muscle weighs more than fat.
  • lauz45
    lauz45 Posts: 243
    I started a similar thread yesterday (thinking about size vs weight). There's a really good pic that MFP won't let me post the link to, that shows 2lb of fat next to 2lb of muscle, and you can how much less room the muscle takes up (plus its smooth and firm, not wobbly and bumpy!).

    Question though - a lot of people are saying you can't build muscle without weight training, so why do my muscles ache after a run, then gradually hurt less and less each time I run? (including my abs). Is it not because i'm building (strengthening) those muscles? Same for push ups and crunches, I am still aching from my little session a couple of nights ago. If you over work muscles they repair themselves and become stronger, correct? Which is why you shouldn't work them 2 days straight. So surely that's increasing your muscle density? Or am I being thick?
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
    I started a similar thread yesterday (thinking about size vs weight). There's a really good pic that MFP won't let me post the link to, that shows 2lb of fat next to 2lb of muscle, and you can how much less room the muscle takes up (plus its smooth and firm, not wobbly and bumpy!).

    Question though - a lot of people are saying you can't build muscle without weight training, so why do my muscles ache after a run, then gradually hurt less and less each time I run? (including my abs). Is it not because i'm building (strengthening) those muscles? Same for push ups and crunches, I am still aching from my little session a couple of nights ago. If you over work muscles they repair themselves and become stronger, correct? Which is why you shouldn't work them 2 days straight. So surely that's increasing your muscle density? Or am I being thick?

    Your muscles hurt because you are using them and fatiging them. Muscle only grow when you tear the muscle and it repairs itself. When you do resistance training your are causing tiny micro tears in the muscle fiber. The muscle heals and grows to adapt to the stress it just went thru so next time you do that it can handle it better. Also, in order to really gain muscle you need a calories surplus not a calorie deficit. Make sense?
  • lauz45
    lauz45 Posts: 243
    Ah I see, thanks, that's what I thought but I didn't realise it was only through weight training that that happened :)

    Would push ups (proper ones!) have the same effect, because i'm effectively lifting my body weight with my arms? I'm going to try and get a decent weight kettlebell for toning up, but in the meantime, i'm limited to running and floor exercises.
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
    I started a similar thread yesterday (thinking about size vs weight). There's a really good pic that MFP won't let me post the link to, that shows 2lb of fat next to 2lb of muscle, and you can how much less room the muscle takes up (plus its smooth and firm, not wobbly and bumpy!).

    Question though - a lot of people are saying you can't build muscle without weight training, so why do my muscles ache after a run, then gradually hurt less and less each time I run? (including my abs). Is it not because i'm building (strengthening) those muscles? Same for push ups and crunches, I am still aching from my little session a couple of nights ago. If you over work muscles they repair themselves and become stronger, correct? Which is why you shouldn't work them 2 days straight. So surely that's increasing your muscle density? Or am I being thick?

    This Picture?

    fat-v-muscle3.jpg

    As for the question, what you are doing and how long you are doing it determines what you are building. Yes, you can build the endurance fibers of muscles with cardio like running, and the intermediate fibers of muscles (a little cardio and a little strength) with body weight exercises and high rep, low weight activities. But those types of fibers don't store as much glycogen because they don't use as much glycogen to fuel those types of activities and they aren't prone to hypertrophy. So, using that type of fiber for your exercise means you won't "build muscle or gain weight from muscle building" like you will from focusing on strength and hypertrophy type training. The type of muscle fibers that are prone to strength and hypertrophy are used for more intense, heavy weight work and will store more glycogen and actually increase in size of the fibers not just strength with the exercise stimulus. Therefore, using them will stimulate added glycogen storage (and water to store the glycogen in) and eventually increases in muscle size, which show up on the scale and body composition analysis as increases in lean body mass (often mistakenly referred to as just muscle increases, when it isn't all just muscle). Regardless of which type of fiber you are working, you will feel the Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness from breaking them down with the exercise stimulus, just not as much with the endurance work as with the strength work.
  • lauz45
    lauz45 Posts: 243
    Yes that's the picture! Thanks.

    Ah I see, there's a lot more to it than I thought, thanks for explaining.
  • lipglossjunky73
    lipglossjunky73 Posts: 497 Member
    I lost 2 clothing sizes but the scale has not changed at all. It is possible!!!
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