You have probably heard this time and time again, the old saying that fat weighs less than muscle. But is this true?
In one easy point: a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat. No matter how you weigh it a pound is a pound.
But it is true that muscle is more dense than fat. If you have a block of muscle and an equal size block of fat the muscle will weigh more. The great thing, it is much tighter and looks a heck of a lot better than have the same weight in fat.
I guess that easiest way to picture all of this weight issue is that if you take a 6 in. X 6 in. X 6 in. cube of fat and take a same size cube of muscle the muscle will weigh more due to its density and compactness.
I have heard and seen dozens of women who look as if they weigh up to 30 pounds less than they actually do simply because of their muscular build. There is no doubt that if you are planning on packing on the muscle then you will inevitably put on a few pounds.
But the difference in this weight gain compared to weight gain during the holidays is that you are gaining lean muscle. You will look and feel slimmer but the scale will tell a different story.
Screw the scale is what I say! I had one women explain to me that she had only 12% body fat but weighed 190lbs! Let me tell ya 12% body fat is very low. This just goes to show her body is composed mostly of lean muscle.
Obviously for strength training and muscle production it is vital to throw out the scale, that should be your first plan of action. Find a more efficient for figuring out progress. You can buy a body composition scale or even fat calibrators to determine fat %. This is much more efficient than the numbers on the typical scale.
The best method I see is to simply take note of your progress. Keep logs and journals and even take pictures of yourself regularly to compare! I suggest picture taking once a month so you have a time frame for changes to occur.
So to sum it all up, muscle does not weigh more than fat. But is it more dense and size does matter! Also remember that muscle is a heck of a lot more metabolically active then fat, so the more you have the more calories you are going to burn off. Build muscle and shrink the fat!
