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

jen26410d

So totally true! The first day I met with my personal trainer she asked me to get on the scale. I told her no because it wasn't important.

A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of brick - nicely done!

PunkRockDad

Two of the biggest things on this forum that I see people always saying is that muscle weighs more than fat. It doesn't. The other is the constant worrying about what the scale says. Throw the damn thing away.

First on the fat vs muscle weight myth:

Fat is bulky and lumpy so if you carry an extra five pounds of fat, you'll be lumpier than with five pounds more muscle. A five pound pile of fat will take up more space (volume) than a five pound pile of muscle; but five pounds is still five pounds, so for those of you that don't "get it", you cannot say one thing weighing a certain weight weighs more than another thing at that same weight. It's a common joke to play on an 8-year old. The correct way to state the muscle weighs more than fat scenario is, "Muscle is heavier by volume than fat."

A woman weighing 150 pounds with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman at 150 pounds with 35% fat. They weigh the same, yet the composition is different. Because muscle is more dense than fat the person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller.

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.

If I am following the recommended caloric guidelines MFP has setup and trying to lower my body fat % by working out and exercising then the weight will come off.

And to end this rant, I will say that most of us here did not become overweight in a week. It took months, if not years of unhealthy living and diet. You cannot expect to lose it all in a week or a month. Stick to the guidelines, simplfy it, and you WILL see results. It's all mind over matter.

-Rant over

you're completely bonkers my friend.

Thanks for adding so much to the discussion.

PunkRockDad

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.

And it sounds to me like you need a big ole' hug.

alimac92

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.

And it sounds to me like you need a big ole' hug.

Thanks your one liner made laugh :laugh:

rydn4h2o

Love it! I am addicted to the scale, but have finally started to ween myself away from it....it is evil and will drive you batty if you let it! :grumble: I am now trying to focus on my measurements and how my clothes fit.

mmapags

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.

And it sounds to me like you need a big ole' hug.

Very nice! Way to stay classy. Despite the naysayers, I said it earlier but it bears repeating, I thought your OP was awesome!

keiraev

- If you did Zumba for two weeks and you're not losing weight... you are not gaining muscle.

Haha I see so many of these posts. Usually accompanied by eating 800 calories a day diets.

Sox90716

Well said!

newday332

Definitely! Well said!

dinosnopro

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"....

monicalynne68

Two of the biggest things on this forum that I see people always saying is that muscle weighs more than fat. It doesn't. The other is the constant worrying about what the scale says. Throw the damn thing away.

First on the fat vs muscle weight myth:

Fat is bulky and lumpy so if you carry an extra five pounds of fat, you'll be lumpier than with five pounds more muscle. A five pound pile of fat will take up more space (volume) than a five pound pile of muscle; but five pounds is still five pounds, so for those of you that don't "get it", you cannot say one thing weighing a certain weight weighs more than another thing at that same weight. It's a common joke to play on an 8-year old. The correct way to state the muscle weighs more than fat scenario is, "Muscle is heavier by volume than fat."

A woman weighing 150 pounds with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman at 150 pounds with 35% fat. They weigh the same, yet the composition is different. Because muscle is more dense than fat the person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller.

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.

If I am following the recommended caloric guidelines MFP has setup and trying to lower my body fat % by working out and exercising then the weight will come off.

And to end this rant, I will say that most of us here did not become overweight in a week. It took months, if not years of unhealthy living and diet. You cannot expect to lose it all in a week or a month. Stick to the guidelines, simplfy it, and you WILL see results. It's all mind over matter.

-Rant over

Very well said. However when people say "muscle weighs more than fat" it's just an easy way of saying that the same amount of muscle weighs more than the same amount of fat. A pound is pound. A pound of feathers and a pound of steel still both weigh a pound but the feathers will take up much more room than the steel will.

As far as the scale, keep in mind that the scale weighs everything, muscle, fat, retained water, food that you ate, water you drank, bones...everything. The gym I go to does measurements every month. Go by those numbers, not the ones on the scale. I lost 2 pounds in the whole month of February but when I got my measurements done the beginning of March I had lost 8.5 inches total. That is the number I'd much rather rely on than the number on the scale. Of course on the "Do as I say, not as I do" mentality, I get weighed every morning. lol But if the number doesn't go down, I don't sweat it. I know I'm keeping to my calories goals and exercising consistently. I don't get to the gym every day but I do get there 4-5 days a week. I do weight training 3 days a week for 30 min and 2-3 hours of cardio. Don't forget to count your strength training as cardio. I don't log my strength training by exercise, weight and reps. I log it as cardio. Your heart rate does go up when doing weight training and breathing correctly is very important so by all means count it as cardio.

And as he said, you didn't get overweight in a day. You aren't going to become a bikini model in a day either...if at all. People have a very skewed view of body image and what people think we are all supposed to look like. Back in the '50's, the sexiest women at the time were Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe among others. Both of those women were size 12 or more. In this day and age, the media has convinced us that if you are more than a size 6 there's something wrong with you. Keep in mind, all those Hollywood starlets have personal trainers, private chefs and a full time staff to make sure they workout and eat right to keep the pounds off. And in the off chance they do put on a few pounds, there's always body doubles and air brushing. Go by how you feel and how your clothes fit, not how you think you are supposed to look like.

kbmnurse

I agree thrown out the scale.

Jenvan78

:happy: :happy: :happy: :happy: YEP....rock the heck on!!!

louiseniel

Back in the '50's, the sexiest women at the time were Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe among others. Both of those women were size 12 or more. In this day and age, the media has convinced us that if you are more than a size 6 there's something wrong with you.

[unquote]

Marilyn Monroe's measurements were 35 22 35 at 5'5", 118lbs - that is not a current size 12, more like a size 2 maybe a 4 at the biggest. my hips and butt measure about 38 inches - I can fit into some size 4 pants and I'm about the same height. One of the reasons why she was and still is considered sexy is that she has a great waist to hip and bust ratios. She is skinny in places and fleshy in the bits men find attractive. A women who is 35-29-35 is not sexy (those were my measurements for many years). it bugs me when people think or say that curvy women can't be skinny or vise versa because I think Marilyn was both - she had slim arms, calves, knees and ankles and waist - I think that makes her skinny not just curvy.

louiseniel

don't know how to make replies yet using quotes

__Jamie__

I'm not sure what the issue is with the scales... I use some that read my body fat % so I concentrate on getting that down rather than my overall weight. I weigh myself twice daily & manage my water/food intake quite strictly (it works for me) to see exactly how my weight fluctuates first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I view my results on my iPad and, when my weight's creeping up I'm spurred on to work harder, and when it's working it's way south I'm happy as hell and work my *kitten* off that bit harder... I don't kid myself into thinking that if I go cycle my *kitten* off or lift my weights extra that I'm gonna drop 5lb over night, so I'm never disheartened when I don't see those sort of results.

I think many people misuse certain tools. Use them responsibly and keep yourself informed and I can't see why scales are such an issue. Don't expect them to do the work for you, and don't rely on them to keep you on track - I use my little myotape to keep my measurements in check too, so if I wasn't bothered about knowing my body fat% that'd be my only tool.

Strokingdiction

don't know how to make replies yet using quotes

But you know how to necro 2 year old threads.