Saturday, November 13, 2010

MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGHT MORE THAN FAT

Muscle does not weigh more than fat - five pounds is five pounds - but it is much nicer to look at!

Muscle and Fat Size Difference

As you can see, the 5 lbs. of fat is much bulkier than the 5 lbs. of muscle, but five pounds is still five pounds. Muscle does not weigh more than fat.

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" English, 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.

To read the full article, click here.

4 comments:

  1. lumpy...yep, that's me

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  2. Hear hear! I don't like it when people say that either! A pound is a pound! And like you say muscle looks much better. Lol
    Karen

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  3. Amy, you are the unlumpiest person I know. Okay, not THE unlumpiest, but one of the top ten unlumpiest...

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  4. Karen, I took off the thing were you have to register, so you can just put in your name as the poster if you want to.

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