Muscle weighs more than fat

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MFPBrandy
MFPBrandy Posts: 564 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've seen a lot of people on these threads get REALLY worked up anytime someone says "muscle weighs more than fat."
I'm curious why people feel so strongly about this -- after all, a chunk of muscle DOES weigh more than an equally-sized chunk of fat. But I keep seeing statements like "Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat!!! A pound of feathers weighs as much as a pound of coal" (frequently followed by an implied "you f'ing idiot), which, while true, doesn't fit the context when people are talking about getting smaller but heavier. Really, if you go off of that argument, NOTHING in the world is heavier than anything else! A pound of anything is always equal in weight to a pound of anything else. So that vehement response every time someone says "muscle weighs more than fat" surprises me. And I'm awake at 5:20 am thinking about it for some reason, so I'm starting this thread to hear back from the "muscle is NOT heavier than fat" crew, so I can finally figure out what you guys are talking about.
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Replies

  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    What if the dumbbell was SHAPED like a ream of paper?
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    again? why?

    go workout or something
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
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    What if the dumbbell was SHAPED like a ream of paper?

    Like! :D
  • cartmail
    cartmail Posts: 36 Member
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    A pound of anything is a pound regardless of what it is muscle just looks nice than fat and is smaller in mass :)
  • MFPBrandy
    MFPBrandy Posts: 564 Member
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    again? why?

    go workout or something
    If there's a thread that already explains this, feel free to link to it.
  • Dani_wants_to_be_fit
    Dani_wants_to_be_fit Posts: 550 Member
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    Yup. 1lb of fat weighs the same as 1lb of muscle. If you go for equal sizes of fat and muscle then the muscle will weigh more. But I do think some people defend this to the end and it causes a lot of disagreements and arguments on the forums =/ I'm not about to argue with someone if they don't agree with me though like a lot of people do.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    I think people are just being pedantic. They know exactly what someone means when they say muscle weighs more than fat even if the statement doesn't make sense.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    deadhorse.jpg
  • CarolynB38
    CarolynB38 Posts: 553 Member
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    deadhorse.jpg
    Too funny!
  • victoria4321
    victoria4321 Posts: 1,719 Member
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    Clearly a lot of people have learned nothing in school as a kid.
  • Generalle
    Generalle Posts: 201 Member
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    basically it means someone like me, that weighs 72 kgs (158lbs) with a body fat % of 20 at 5 3" is always going to be regarded as 'overweight' on the BMI spectrum.
    Being in the 'healthy BMI' weight range is NOT my goal
  • noweightfisherj
    noweightfisherj Posts: 220 Member
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    Based on volume muscle as well as bone weighs more than fat, and that’s what we really need to look at is the volume. Are bodies are a confined space that with any luck are getting smaller. Which is why sometimes, we gain weigh as we get smaller and why people say that muscle weigh more than fat.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
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    deadhorse.jpg
    Too funny!

    This. Not again.
  • bubbaflip
    bubbaflip Posts: 14
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    here's a website on the subject that might help http://www.livestrong.com/article/438693-a-pound-of-fat-vs-a-pound-of-muscle/
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
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    Nope I just can't ...again. :ohwell:

    <walks off whistling If I had a Hammer>
  • Prahasaurus
    Prahasaurus Posts: 1,381 Member
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    Sure, but which one leads to "starvation mode" faster?

    --P
  • Biggipooh
    Biggipooh Posts: 350
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    She (or he) must be bored.....:yawn:
  • nicraeinc
    nicraeinc Posts: 2
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    I agree people do get needlessly worked up when someone says muscle weighs more than fat. However, its a completely incorrect statement. Weight is just a unit of measurement. So, if you have a pound of fat and a pound of muscle and you place both on a scale they will weigh the same (one pound). A more accurate statement would be that muscle is more dense that fat. Density is a measurement of mass over volume. Muscle is more dense and will therefore take up less space. So, you can have two people that weigh the same but if one has a lot more muscle mass than the other, they will look drastically different. The muscular person will be leaner and appear more hard than the person with more fat.
  • treimnitz
    treimnitz Posts: 51 Member
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    It has to do with size!
    One inch of muscle weighs more than one inch of fat! :)
    In high school, I weighed the same as I do now. But, I'm smaller because I'm more muscular.
  • MFPBrandy
    MFPBrandy Posts: 564 Member
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    Sigh. Never mind...same stuff (although more polite, which is nice). Was hoping for some insight into why this is so contentious, but it seems to just come down to some people finding the concept of weight as a measurement system to be invalid. Oh well...

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