Health

Do Your Muscles Weigh More Than Your Fat?

May 5, 2009
By J White

Does muscle weigh more than fat? This is a question that I hear a lot. If you think about it, the answer is easy, especially if you ask it in a different way. A better way to ask is does a pound of muscle weigh more than a pound of fat. Of course the answer is they both weigh the same.

I believe the point that someone is trying to make when they say that muscle weighs more than fat is that muscle is more dense than fat. What this statement actually means is that a pound of muscle requires a smaller volume to hold it than does a pound of fat. Muscles look tight and firm and fat looks, well fat.

Another Misconception

Another misconception is that if you stop exercising, muscle will turn to fat. Not true. If you know someone who is very muscular, say a football player, and you see him 6 months later and now he’s fat, his muscle did not turn to fat. For this to happen to him, he had to stop exercising. However, during that time, he kept eating the same amount of food– and you know what happens when you eat more calories than you burn off.

So clearly his muscles did not turn to fat. It just seemed as though it did. In fact, his situation is a good lesson to learn from, which is if you stop exercising, but continue to eat the same amount of food, you are going to gain weight. So if for some reason you get injured and can’t exercise, cut back on your calories or your muscles will also appear to turn to fat.

This reasoning is probably fueled by the belief by some that if you start working out your fat will turn into muscle or that, if you stop exercising, your muscle will turn to fat. Neither statement is true. Each tissue is different in composition. You can gain muscle or lose fat. You can lose muscle or gain fat. However, muscle and fat can’t convert into each other.

These are just two misconcetion about diet and exercising. Do you know of others. If you do, share them in the comments below.

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