Muscle DOES NOT weigh more than FAT

plyosteph

Well good to know why I gain weight from working out...

SweetSammie

By volume, it does. 2 square inches of muscle weighs more than 2 square inches of fat. So, when your clothes fit better and you lose inches, not lbs, this is why. That is what people MEAN, even if they don't clarify.

renkath

And no one is going to point out that the person who began this thread, who insists that people use language accurately, states that fat can be converted into muscle?

FlyeredUp

Oh f--- not this again!!

My thoughts exactly.

MisterTEZ

and to add my tuppence worth (as we say in the UK)

pound per pound muscle and fat weigh the same (no brainer) BUT

fat takes up more room in the body (like stubborn belly bulge).

No more threads like this one again please!

mfpcopine

This is because you are losing the fat and converting it into muscle.

You've substituted one misunderstanding for another. Fat is not converted into muscle. Fat cells may shrink because of depleted fat stores and muscle may be more noticeable as a result, but they're two different substances.

MoreBean13

Please people, learn the phrase PER UNIT VOLUME

it will make you all agree with each other. Except for the person that said that a cup of lead equals a cup of feathers. I'm hoping that one was sarcasm, because that's not true with any qualifications.

donnalemer

You are absolutely right 1 pound equals 1 pound.....but it is an optical illusion, similar to 1 pound of feathers vs a1 pound brick. However, 1 pound of muscle is leaner vs bulky, and takes smaller space then 1 pound of fat. Muscle also aides in the burning of calories and excess fat...When one builds muscle they more effectively are able to get rid of the fat.

kikih64

I really don't understand why people get so worked up about this statement. I understand what people mean when they say it. Sigh.

meclight

density = mass / volume or density is the relationship between mass and volume.

I believe that this all boils down to the volume of your body... Eureka! (in case you don't get the reference, look up Archimedes).

Weight, by definition, is the measure of the pull of gravity {of earth (or another massive body)} against the thing being weighed. So for your discussion weight ~= mass, okay?

So as your clothes seem smaller, this means the volume of your body is changing. If indeed you are fortunate enough to be converting 100% of that energy loss burning the fat into muscle (which I doubt) then you are actually using up fat to build some muscle but very unlikely it is equivalent in mass to the fat you lost.

A plateau in weight while "dieting", no loss, no gain, simply means that your output of energy matches the input you are eating, so neither muscle nor fat is necessarily changing. If you KNOW your upper arms are increasing in girth and your thighs are increasing in girth and your waist is slimming AND you are staying the same weight then you truly are/should be building muscle. BUT this does not mean it is from your existing fat, it could be from your diet and exercise (think of the border case, when you do not have any fat left to burn ). If you don't have any fat left to burn, then you will need to eat the right kind of foods BUT you will need to eat more than you burn (calories-wise) because you can not make muscle (or fat) out of nothing. That is, if you eat just enough to keep your body, with all its needs functioning "as is" then there is no way to make mass out of energy ... hehehe.

So, now that I've embarrassed myself, can someone please tell me what I could/should eat to build muscle? I mean, everything above is from a theoretical physics explanation. I don't know biology or body chemistry. What foods help you put on muscle and what exercises do you need to do while you are trying to build muscle?

Thanks

mangosabayon

It's weight per unit volume, muscle is more dense than fat.

boggsmeister

I love the fact that you think everyone doesn't already know that 5 pounds is five pounds.

skinnylove00

its like what they say, a pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of bricks :glasses:

fittiephd

Everyone who believes that muscle weighs more than fat needs to go back to highschool science class. F that, middle school science class. Whenever you learn what volume, mass and density are, that's where people need to be. It's not that hard to understand that if the density is different, it will take more of one thing to weigh the same as the other. *le sigh*

chuckyp

Now that we've got that sorted out, should I eat back my exercise calories or not?

illuminatusObservor

So by this logic... nothing weighs more than anything? Since 5lbs is 5 lbs?
Steel doesn't weigh more than feathers. 5lbs =5lbs o.O

mangosabayon

Everyone who believes that muscle weighs more than fat needs to go back to highschool science class. F that, middle school science class. Whenever you learn what volume, mass and density are, that's where people need to be. It's not that hard to understand that if the density is different, it will take more of one thing to weigh the same as the other. *le sigh*

"LIKE"

yarwell

When we say muscle weighs more than fat, we mean BY VOLUME!

It is always simpler and clearer to say what you mean, rather than say something else and hope that the listener will come to the same understanding as you.

"Muscle is more dense than fat" isn't exactly a linguistic challenge, so say what you mean !

MrJase

This is because you are losing the fat and converting it into muscle.

#

Fat does not convert into Muscle, they are two different things.

You lose fat and build muscle