Muscles Weight More Than Fat ???

CaptainGordo

Some of them are answered here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/help But I only happened to stumble upon that a few days ago.

That is more geared toward the use of the site, rather than FAQs about nutrition, exercise, etc.

I can understand the hesitancy to shy away from giving advice though, for liability reasons...

Posts by members, moderators and admins should not be considered medical advice and no guarantee is made against accuracy.

Steven

if the same questions are being asked again and again and again, it clearly demonstrates that this site needs an official FAQ to assist new members.

Agreed. There are many questions that can have conflicting opinions, but many (like this one) could be included in a helpful FAQ with brief yet concise explanations. I imagine that some members could even help to identify some good topics and resources for substantiating accurate responses. The FAQs could be stickified in each forum.

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While the idea of an official FAQ is a good one, and something we'll take under consideration, it still is not a substitute for the friendships that can be made when veteran users answer a new user's question "live".

CaptainGordo

While the idea of an official FAQ is a good one, and something we'll take under consideration, it still is not a substitute for the friendships that can be made when veteran users answer a new user's question "live".

Interesting point.

In the meantime, there are some fantastic answers to FAQs here, that members can use to help one another: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/457-unofficial-mfp-faq

CaptainGordo

Even with an official FAQ, the questions will still come.

It's up to us to handle them with respect or ignore them. I, along with lot of others, love to provide useful accurate info when we can. I've been the beneficiary of that kind of help in the past, and like to "pay it forward".

frechy

lol i think that is so true a lbs of fat weighs the same as a lbs of muscle the only difference is size think of this a lbs of fat is like popped popcorn and a lbs of muscle is like butter put them side by side and the difference is huge but a lbs is still a lbs no matter what it is.:happy:

KBGirts

Muscle weighs more than fat per unit volume.

People are leaving off the "per unit volume" rendering the statement incorrect. So if you have one square foot of muscle and one square foot of fat, the muscle weighs more. The muscle is more dense.... so people just say, muscle weighs more than fat. It's pretty simple.

TourThePast

Muscle weighs more than fat per unit volume.

People are leaving off the "per unit volume" rendering the statement incorrect. So if you have one square foot of muscle and one square foot of fat, the muscle weighs more. The muscle is more dense.... so people just say, muscle weighs more than fat. It's pretty simple.

I wish my big fat bum was in square feet, unfortunately it can be measured in cubic feet. :bigsmile:

Z_I_L_L_A

Its not rocket science. Go back to the saying, someone came up with the saying because they didn't want to hurt their fat friend's feelings. " Oh honey, thats muscle weight not fat." and "You know muscle ways more honey" LMAO I can hear it now.

12skipafew99100

I think its about volume.
A pound of mashallow fluff takes up a lot more space than a pound of rock.

oneIT

I still don't get it?

cramernh

So I see this statement posted over and over again and I just have to question it. Why would you say that muscles weight more than fat? In my experience (and I could be very wrong), a pound is a pound is a pound. One pound of muscle is one pound. One pound of fat is one pound. Why would one be heavier than the other if you are thinking of it as a pound?

Can someone enlighten me please? Thanks & have a healthy day!

Yes...
a pound is a pound is a pound is a pound...

Fat DOES take more room though in its 1lb measurement. Lean muscle takes LESS room in its 1lb measurement...

ansonrinesmith

It's probably been covered, but I like to post so people know how smart I am

What the statement means is certain volume of fat weighs less than that same volume of muscle.

If you fill a 10 gallon bucket with fat, it may weigh 20 pounds while that same bucket of muscle would weigh 30 pounds (numbers not accurate, just for example).

Long story short, you can stay the same weight or even gain, and become thinner.

jen6579

Muscles and fat weigh the same, muscle is more dense than fat.
The more muscle you have, the more fat you can burn!

ladyraven68

Muscles and fat weigh the same, muscle is more dense than fat.
The more muscle you have, the more fat you can burn!

How Much Muscle, how much fat?

You can't just say Muscle and fat weigh the same without a qualifying unit.

A lb of fat weighs the same as a lb of anything else, but 10 cubic inches of muscle does weigh more than 10 cubic inches of fat.

ashjbarnhart

think of fat as being like a marshmallow and muscle as steak....a pound of marshmallow takes up 6xs the amount of space than a pound of steak.

rowdy47879

This topic is the very reason why most doctors, trainers, etc also take measurements of certain areas of the body along with charting actual weight on the scale. Especially for women, who can notice substantial change in weight on the scale certain times of the month, the measurements will give a more accurate indication of progress. Both my doctor and trainer have advised me to base my progress more on how I fit in my clothes and the rate I go down in size of clothing rather than the numbers on the scale.

rybo

I'm so glad I saw this. I have been wondering about this for decades, and now I can finally learn the true answer!

ihern6334

So for us retarded people if you had a box that was 12x12x12 and you filled one box up with fat and you filled up the other box with muscle the muscle is going to weigh more.

Yes, but if you filled the box up with fat, and weighed it, then put the same weight of muscle in it, it would not fill the box.

So a body covered with muscle and a body covered with fat could weigh the same, but will look very very different.

I guess this answers my question about how someone weighs almost the same as I do but has a totally different body than I do.

Steven

Since the question has been thoroughly and correctly answered, I'm going to lock the post.

Much as I appreciate the debate regarding what does and doesn't fit within the guidelines of the site, it's off-topic now for the OP's question, so I'm going to delete a lot of the latter posts and leave the primary content in place.

I will simply say in response to all of the questions on this topic, that our primary goal in enforcing the guidelines is to create an environment where any sincere question is valued, and where those willing to take the time to answer (and thus also build connections with members) are encouraged to do so.

It may mean that we appear to be heavy-handed in our moderation, but I'd rather be accused of heavy-handedness in an attempt to weed out snark, than in a light-touch that leaves our users with the impression that we don't care if they're chastised for having questions they'd like answered.

And for what it's worth, we have no interest in attempting to reduce the number of repeat questions. We would actually like to ENCOURAGE users to ask whatever questions they've got, for the reason expressed in my earlier posts that it gives them an opportunity to interact with other members on the site. So, we certainly, don't want information to be hard to find, and a FAQ page might help on that front. But asking a question is a GREAT way to get an answer, provided that those who aren't interested in answering simply ignore the temptation to protest the question's existence.

Cheers,
Steven