Muscle DOES NOT weigh more than fat and put away the damn sc

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Did you know that the OP and I weigh the same because 1lb of him weighs the same as 1 lb of me?
  • OnWisconsin84
    OnWisconsin84 Posts: 409 Member
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    Stop being so obsessed with body weight and start paying attention to body composition. How much body fat do you have compared to muscle? Simply seeing how much you weigh isn't very helpful.

    Now onto the scale and how much you weigh:

    Take measurements and put the scale away. The scale is just one tool out of the toolbox to use to track your progress, but in my opinion is probably the less helpful. The scale has a way of playing mind tricks on you and causing setbacks and hopelessness if you do not hit the number you "think you deserve" from all the exercise you are doing. There are so many factors tied into that number on the scale, that weighing nightly, daily, weekly, every two weeks can play significant emotional mind games with some people. Put the damn thing away and use it monthly to track your progress, if at all, if that number even means anything to you. It doesn't to me.

    I gauge my success off how my clothes are fitting, my energy levels, and my overall outlook on life. Not some 3 digits on a scale.

    ^^^ Needed this reminder today :ohwell:
  • kellyisloved
    kellyisloved Posts: 441 Member
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    Did you know that the OP and I weigh the same because 1lb of him weighs the same as 1 lb of me?

    LOL
  • bjohs
    bjohs Posts: 1,225 Member
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    I understand what you're trying to say... I've tried to explain it before when I started out here too. But now, I just put it this way...

    Pound for pound: Muscles weighs the same as fat.
    Volume for volume: Muscle weighs more than fat.

    - If you are gaining weight, but not losing inches... you are not gaining muscle.
    - If you did Zumba for two weeks and you're not losing weight... you are not gaining muscle.
    - If you are not doing some serious weight training (and I mean heavy weights, lots of reps and lots of sets) over the course of a few months... you most definitely did not gain a pound of muscle. Edit to add: Just ask any bodybuilder how much dedication, time and hard work goes in to gaining 1 pound of muscle. :)

    (Oddly enough, I had Jeff Foxworthy's voice in my head as I read those back to myself. HA!)

    The threads that I usually see the "muscles weighs more than fat" comments in are from people trying to explain why "Jane Doe" isn't losing weight even though she says she's eating right and exercising (walking, elliptical, DVD workout, etc.) a couple times a week. I'm sorry Jane... but you need to be more honest about your food diary. Not all calories are created equal. :)
  • bjohs
    bjohs Posts: 1,225 Member
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    you-weigh-less.png

    There you go. loose weight once a month.

    And it's also the reason why my broom can stand up all by itself today! True story! :)
  • bjohs
    bjohs Posts: 1,225 Member
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    And don't get me started on the whole Lose vs. Loose thing! LMBO!!!!!!!!
  • burg1801
    burg1801 Posts: 124
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    Well said.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    Thanks for saying this. I hope it will help some people to understand mass vs. weight.

    That said, people with a significant amount of weight to lose are probably fine focusing on the scale as a measure of how they are progressing. When you're 70lbs overweight, losing weight on the scale means you are losing fat. It's a lot more straightforward than if you think you have 10-15lbs of fat to lose, at which point it makes a lot more sense to look at body fat percentage.
  • jcstanton
    jcstanton Posts: 1,849 Member
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    OP are you related to Philip Rivers, SD Chargers QB? Or you're using his smirk face as your profile pic?

    My abs weren't cut enough to take the typical " I'm standing in the mirror with my shirt raised taking a picture of my abs with my iphone" picture that some of the men put on here.

    So your going to have to deal with the "smirk"....:wink:

    Personally, I prefer the Philip Rivers "smirk" to the ab photos. It's cute, it seems less conceited than an ab shot, and I happen to like Philip Rivers. :bigsmile: :wink: And I could be mistaken, but it seems like I remember the person who asked you this question commenting in another thread that she is a Charger's fan, so I don't think she meant it as a jibe.
  • NayaP
    NayaP Posts: 46
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    Thx for breaking it down! Nothing would please me more than to throw out the scale!! - But probably won't lol!
  • charmingtrouble
    charmingtrouble Posts: 54 Member
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    you-weigh-less.png

    There you go. loose weight once a month.

    I am fairly new to MFP, and am glad I've read this post

    I'd like to thanks the person who posted this picture, I now know which day I will weigh in each month :wink:

    and I'd like to thank the person with the picture of the 5lbs of fat vs muscle, I'm a visual person so I understand this topic better

    aaaannndddd I'd like to thank the OP because I didn't know that people referred to things in volume and not weight and I am guilty of suggesting that someone my have gained muscle instead of losing fat

    Now that I am thoroughly educated on the matter after reading 7 pages of replies I promise I'll keep this in mind the next time someone complains that their 3 digits aren't decreasing

    cheers to everyone :drinker:
  • sassysarah92
    sassysarah92 Posts: 13 Member
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    When people say that muscle weighs more than fat, they mean per unit volume. No one thinks 5lbs. of anything does not weigh 5 lbs.

    was going to say the same thing but you worded it better :)
  • SwannySez
    SwannySez Posts: 5,864 Member
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    This is wrong. a pound of fat is way heavier than a pillow for instance. It would take 6 100 pound girls to equal just ONE! 600 pound person.

    But what if the pillow is muscular?

    The problem is that the pillow simply cannot have built new muscle as it was on a calorie deficit, so that's a strawman.
  • essjay76
    essjay76 Posts: 465 Member
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    It's all about presentation and delivering the message correctly. If you want to explain it to someone:

    Muscle is more DENSE than fat, meaning the same 5 pounds of muscle is going to take up less space than 5 pounds of fat.

    So, you're going to look bigger with 5 pounds of extra fat on you vs. 5 pounds of extra muscle on you.

    Then you should show that person a picture of fat vs. muscle...
  • WingMan380
    WingMan380 Posts: 2,139 Member
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    Sounds to me like you need to do some reading on the forums before you go off on a rant about some **** you don't know **** about.
  • shellebelle87
    shellebelle87 Posts: 291 Member
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    Apparently no one bothered to tell you that new people (me too) are not allowed to post or have an opinion. That's just the way it is. I think it's in the rules somewhere. I'll probably be reported just for posting to tell you this.
    [/quote]

    I know that feeling well!! :mad:
  • EarthyChocl8AKA
    EarthyChocl8AKA Posts: 69
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    yea, however I think most people don't think about how when they are working out and they lose say 1 lb of fat, they may gain 2 lb of muscle, therein lies the belief that muscle "weighs" more than fat. They get on the scale and see that they have gained two pounds after working out but may not realize they have lost 1 lb of fat at the same time. Use the tape measure ( I use them both)
  • alimac92
    alimac92 Posts: 705 Member
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    http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/muscle-to-fat.html

    fat-v-muscle.jpg

    Yay! Finally! :drinker:

    All very interesting posts that have helped educate me. Now I understand why I have gone done in clothes sizes and why my work trousers are baggy even though the scales haven't moved much. Thanx for posting the picture it really helped too.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    , therein lies the belief that muscle "weighs" more than fat. They get on the scale and see that they have gained two pounds after working out but may not realize they have lost 1 lb of fat at the same time. Use the tape measure ( I use them both)

    I totally agree on utilizing the tape measure also. If you are losing inches you are losing fat. I don't agree on this though
    "they lose say 1 lb of fat, they may gain 2 lb of muscle"
    People dieting and in calorie deficit don't gain muscle. They are growing no new muscle tissue, they are training the muscle they have and getting it into shape. Why they gain a couple of pounds is the new amount of exercise they do causes the adaptive mechanisms in the body to store glycogen and water in the muscle tissue anticipation of those muscles needing energy to continue the work. If you stay with it, it all normalizes over time although a good workout will always cause some of this. That is why it seems to us that our muscles are "pumped" after a workout for a day or so. So the slight gain when starting a workout program is normal adaptive stuff.

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