Does Muscle Weigh More Than Fat?

Posted by: Paul

It's an old saying that muscle weighs more than fat, but is it really true?

If you post in a forum that muscle weighs more than fat, someone will inevitably say "no, you're wrong, they are the same, a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat".

This comes from an old joke/riddle that goes like this:

What weighs more a pound of feathers or a pound of lead?

And some people well say the lead weighs more, at which point you tell them that they both weigh a pound.

So, yes a pound of anything weighs the same as a pound of anything. But that's only when you specify that each weigh a pound.

But guess what lead does weigh more than feathers and muscle does weight more than fat.

This is about volume, meaning if you take a square inch or muscle and a square inch of fat - the muscle will weigh more. This is because muscle is denser than the fat, just like lead is denser than feathers.

Okay, why is this important in bodybuilding, fitness or weight loss?

There are two ways to improve the appearance of a body:

1) Building muscle.

2) Losing fat.

Muscle building is achieved by intense weight training.

And fat loss is achieved by lowered calorie intake and cardiovascular exercise.

You should do both no matter what your goal is or if you are training for bodybuilding, fitness or weight loss.

The problem is if you build muscle while losing fat, the scale may not change much and this could lead to frustration as someone is not seeing the weight gain or weight loss they want to see.

So, the scale is not as good a measuring tool as are the mirror, measuring tape or a body composition test.

You could step on the scale and it is exactly the same as a month ago, but you look better in the mirror, a measuring tape says your waist is smaller and a body composition test says you went from 15 percent body fat to 11 percent. So, you can see that gained muscle and lost fat at the same time.

To conclude, knowing that muscle actually weighs more than fat by volume helps you to know how to correctly gauge your progress no matter what your goal is.

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