does muscle really weigh more than fat?

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  • lucentabella
    lucentabella Posts: 114 Member
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    No matter what it's made of, a pound is a pound. A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    You should ignore anyone who suggests that while on a fat loss diet that you might be gaining muscle.


    Wrong!!


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/447514-athletes-can-gain-muscle-while-losing-fat-on-deficit-diet

    Is it possible? YES. Is it going to happen by accident and be a common reason people on MFP might nott lose weight? NO!

    Oh I know this, but I was pointing out your wrong statement. It takes a different dedication to gain muscle and cut body fat but it is possible.

    What was wrong about my statement? I made a suggestion that is more often than not going to be valid.
    Because you said to ignore people that say it MIGHT happen. Now you changed your original comment to include MORE OFTEN THAN NOT. Basically your agreeing that it can happen, but your amendment makes you right......see what you did there?

    No I don't. My original point still stands. If someone is not losing weight, the more likely scenarios are 1) underestimating calories consumed, 2) overestimating calories burned, or 3) water weight is hanging around.
    You just want to be right......, now your going off into a different nutritional direction altogether, now it's people that aren't losing weight......basically another strawman. It is possible to gain muscle in a deficit, and also there is something called regional mass gains, which is shifting muscle mass to area's that are worked moreso in a deficit.

    Stop being so obtuse. Why should people believe they are gaining muscle when they're not? Because there is a 0.1% chance I need to make them believe that they are?
    There you go again, moving the goal posts. Pretty much any novice that incorporates weight training into their weight loss jouney will experience muscle mass gains at the beginning. Does everyone do that, no, will they gain LBM if they don't weight train, probably a 0.1% chance. Again my point is that people do experience LBM in a deficit and why your ORIGINAL statement is still wrong....if you with your knowledge, which is quite obvious you do have in nutrition, made that distiction, that it is possible under certain circumstances (weight training, sufficient protein intake) to gain muscle mass, I wouldn't along a few others need to remind you that it does happen quite frequently to those that do make the right adaption.

    So much how much muscle mass can a novice who is 50-100lbs overweight expect to gain while on a fat loss diet eating 1500 calories a day?
  • love2cycle
    love2cycle Posts: 448 Member
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    You have read my mind! I thought about posting this very question this morning! A pound is a pound! Like the old joke, which weighs more a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers? HA! Obviously the pound of muscle looks better, though!
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,017 Member
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    So much how much muscle mass can a novice who is 50-100lbs overweight expect to gain while on a fat loss diet eating 1500 calories a day?

    lol, how much is not the point and somehow makes your original point valid, but it would depend on the individual's dedication....
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    So much how much muscle mass can a novice who is 50-100lbs overweight expect to gain while on a fat loss diet eating 1500 calories a day?

    lol, how much is not the point and somehow makes your original point valid, but it would depend on the individual's dedication....

    I think you are trying to prove me wrong a heck of a lot more than I'm trying to be right.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,017 Member
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    So much how much muscle mass can a novice who is 50-100lbs overweight expect to gain while on a fat loss diet eating 1500 calories a day?

    lol, how much is not the point and somehow makes your original point valid, but it would depend on the individual's dedication....

    I think you are trying to prove me wrong a heck of a lot more than I'm trying to be right.
    Next time try incorportating your original point and your followup strawman together, then we won't have a problem with misinformation.:smile:
  • katiejneely
    katiejneely Posts: 52
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    Yes, by volume fat weights less, but not by a lot at all - a litre of muscle would weigh 1.06kg and a litre of fat is 0.9 so muscle is 18% denser. It isn't an excuse for people who say they weigh more because they have muscle underneath.

    fat-v-muscle.jpg
  • BarbWhite09
    BarbWhite09 Posts: 1,128 Member
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    They have different volumes - take up different amounts of space. I hate the whole "muscle weighs more than fat" thing...If you have 5 lbs of each of them it's still the same weight, makes no sense to say muscle weighs more.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    So much how much muscle mass can a novice who is 50-100lbs overweight expect to gain while on a fat loss diet eating 1500 calories a day?

    lol, how much is not the point and somehow makes your original point valid, but it would depend on the individual's dedication....

    I think you are trying to prove me wrong a heck of a lot more than I'm trying to be right.
    Next time try incorportating your original point and your followup strawman together, then we won't have a problem with misinformation.:smile:

    I still don't know what the strawman was.
  • margieward82
    margieward82 Posts: 406 Member
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    It's simple, muscle is more dense.
    A pund of muscle takes up less room than a pound of fat. done.
  • jadesta55
    jadesta55 Posts: 33
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    i really dont pay attention to that part but i know muscle takes up less space and i love it!
  • Sister_Someone
    Sister_Someone Posts: 567 Member
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    A pound is a pound is a pound.

    Would you say that a pound of feathers weighs less than a pound of lead? No? Didn't think so. Same applies to fat vs. muscle. It might take you hell of a lot more fat than muscle to make for a pound, but it's still the very same pound. Therefore, a pound of muscle will only look better on you than a pound of fat.
  • bstoetzer
    bstoetzer Posts: 96
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    muscle and fat "weigh" exactly the same. 1lb of fat = 1 lb of muscle

    Muscle however is denser than fat so there is a smaller volume of muscle needed to make up the 1 lb.

    In addition, muscle uses more calories than fat, so they help your metabolism keep going even when at rest. Fat on the other hand is basically stored energy that does very little. And, too much can harm your body in a number of ways.

    better to have muscle than fat!

    ^^ Agree!!
  • MCplmr
    MCplmr Posts: 1
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    I've been exercising since Jan. 1. I also started dieting the same time.....both religiously. I treamill 2 miles 4 or 5 times a week. I dropped like 7lbs. in Jan., but feb has been going up 1 or 2 lbs. even though i've been hardcore.
    People tell me left and right that I look like I lost more than the scale sez. It's hard for me to add the extra cals when inputting my exercise numbers. Is that affecting the scale?? I don't really want to eat more just cuz I worked out. I feel good, but not happy with the scale.......suggestions??
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    . it takes months of training to gain a pound of muscle so you wouldn't see that kind of gain overnight.

    That isnt true. You can gain a pound of muscle weight every week. There are exercise regimes out there that show you how to. You can even gain 3 pounds of muscle a week, but that is by using very extreme methods.

    Not unless you are on the 'roid juice.
  • CoryIda
    CoryIda Posts: 7,887 Member
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    . it takes months of training to gain a pound of muscle so you wouldn't see that kind of gain overnight.

    That isnt true. You can gain a pound of muscle weight every week. There are exercise regimes out there that show you how to. You can even gain 3 pounds of muscle a week, but that is by using very extreme methods.

    Not unless you are on the 'roid juice.
    This
  • d2footballJRC
    d2footballJRC Posts: 2,684 Member
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    I've been exercising since Jan. 1. I also started dieting the same time.....both religiously. I treamill 2 miles 4 or 5 times a week. I dropped like 7lbs. in Jan., but feb has been going up 1 or 2 lbs. even though i've been hardcore.
    People tell me left and right that I look like I lost more than the scale sez. It's hard for me to add the extra cals when inputting my exercise numbers. Is that affecting the scale?? I don't really want to eat more just cuz I worked out. I feel good, but not happy with the scale.......suggestions??

    Throw the scale away if you are going to judge yourself by it. Measurements is where it's at.
  • d2footballJRC
    d2footballJRC Posts: 2,684 Member
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    . it takes months of training to gain a pound of muscle so you wouldn't see that kind of gain overnight.

    That isnt true. You can gain a pound of muscle weight every week. There are exercise regimes out there that show you how to. You can even gain 3 pounds of muscle a week, but that is by using very extreme methods.

    Not unless you are on the 'roid juice.

    Even on roid juice you won't be gaining 1lb of muscle if you are eating a deficit. Katanadrol is considered the best cutting PH out and you are looking only like 4-5 pounds of muscle gained on a cycle of it (8 weeks on average)
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
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    If I see this debate again I am going to gouge out my eyes.
  • savage22hp
    savage22hp Posts: 278 Member
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    Weight=mass x force of gravity
    Density =mass / volume
    Therefore Weight = ( Density x Volume ) x force of gravity
    The density of muscle is greater than the density of fat SO ... Gravity is the same for both , density is different , volume CANNOT be equal to weigh the same .
    1 lb = 1 lb , no matter the material but the saying muscle weighs more than fat is ASSUMING equal volume .


    Now for a really hard question :
    If it took a chicken and a half a day and a half to lay an egg and a half ,
    How long would it take a monkey with a wooden leg to stomp the seeds out of a pickle ? ( assuming the density of monkey = the density of chicken )

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