Podcast 12

Does Muscle Really Weigh More Than Fat?

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SHOW NOTES

Brian Cygan and Amy Hudson break down the age-old question of whether muscle really weighs more than fat and why the number on the scale can be very misleading when you’re trying to improve your health and fitness.

• When many people start a strength training program, they look at their body composition and may wonder whether muscle is heavier than fat. The accurate answer is that muscle is more dense than fat.
• When people say that muscle weighs more than fat, what’s really being communicated is that muscle is more dense so it takes up less space within the body.
• Body fat is more voluminous. This is why you get a better change in body composition and physical health when you lose body fat as opposed to a combination of fat and muscle.
• The ideal approach to weight loss is to do what it takes to maximize fat loss, and the only way to do that is to combine whole food nutrition and whole effort exercise; science-based and intense strength training.
• If you don’t do strength training when combined with whole food nutrition, you will lose weight from both body fat and muscle mass. This can result in a slower metabolism and actually regaining the weight in the future.
• If you lose five pounds of body fat, you may not see a difference on the scale but still see a considerable improvement in body composition.
• You can lose more of your body mass overall even without losing a pound on the scale. The scale may not change over the course of the year but you will still feel stronger and have more energy and stamina.
• Get rid of the preconceived notions of what number on your scale means you’re healthy, and instead focus on adding strength, losing body fat, and feeling great.

You get a better change, a better result, a better change in body shape and a better change really in your health as well when you lose body fat as opposed to a combination of body fat and muscle being lost.

Welcome to the strength changes everything podcast. I’m Amy Hudson, exercise coach franchisee here with my co host Brian Sagan, CEO and co founder of the exercise coach. And today we’re going to answer a very common question. The question is, does muscle really weigh more than fat? Oftentimes when clients are just getting started on a strength training program, they start to feel stronger and they notice some additional muscle, that they’re gaining some muscle, they’re feeling stronger. And as they look for body composition changes and a change to their appearance over time, as they, as their goal is to lose body fat and gain muscle, they wonder, does the muscle that they’re gaining really weigh more than fat in their body?

Brian. Give us the answer to this question. Does muscle really weigh more than fat?

Okay, I understand the question. I’ve heard it often, and it’s been said often. The answer is really no, muscle doesn’t weigh more than fat, but we should say more. The accurate answer is that muscle is more dense than fat. Imagine if we said, does a pound of iron weigh more than a pound of feathers? The answer would be no, right?

They both weigh a pound. So something’s mass or something’s density rather is its mass per unit of volume. And when people say muscle weighs more than fat, what’s really being communicated is that it’s more dense. and so it takes up less volume or less space per unit of mass. So that, if we go back to the analogy, a pound of iron, you could hold in one hand, but a pound of feathers, like that’d be a really big pillow. It takes up a whole lot more space, this less dense, material and so muscle and body fat are just like that muscles more dense it takes up less space for every pound of it that exists whereas body fat is more voluminous it takes up more space for every pound of it and this is why you get a better change a better result a better change in body shape and a better change really in your health as well when you lose body fat as opposed to a combination of body fat and muscle being lost.

And that’s why the ideal approach to weight loss is really to do what it takes to maximize fat loss to make the weight loss focused weight loss, meaning every pound you’re losing is coming from body fat. And the only way to do that is to combine good whole food nutrition, when we’re talking about weight loss, we’re going to want to implement some good whole food nutrition strategies, and combine that with what we call whole effort exercise, just good, safe, science based high intensity strength training. This is the key. And it’s the key, not only because it improves the hormonal and metabolic fitness of your body, which leads to better fat burning, but also it actually prevents you from losing muscle while you’re losing overall weight from your good strategic nutrition. If we don’t do strength training, along with good changes in eating, then we will lose weight from both sources from body fat and from muscle.

And this means you can end up with a worsened metabolism And it’s very likely that you’re going to just rebound back and put that weight on and maybe then some muscles more dense than fat takes up more space. And that’s why if you lose five pounds of body fat, you can see a really significant change in body shape. And a lot of times people starting a new effective strength training program and combining that with good nutrition might notice early on that they haven’t changed on the scale, it might be I haven’t lost any weight. And it’s like, yeah, but you just told me you already are down a size in your jeans, but you haven’t lost any weight. Why is that? It’s exactly what we’re talking about here.

We’re restoring muscle that’s been lost as part of the usual aging process, and you’ve lost body fat. that in let’s say someone has has built five pounds of muscle, which is not uncommon in the first few months of a program, like at the exercise coach. So let’s say they’ve built five pounds of muscle, they’ve lost five pounds of fat, obviously, they weigh the same on the scale, but their clothes are fitting better, they’re looking better, they’re feeling better already, even though they weigh the same. And that’s because that fat takes up more space. So you’ve lost more of your body overall, even though you haven’t lost a pound on the scale.

That is an awesome truth bomb, Brian. I mentioned that before. So you’re saying that somebody who is combining whole effort exercise and whole food nutrition, let’s say for six months, They may have lost 5, 10, 20 pounds of body fat over time, and they’ve added that muscle. And so their weight on the regular scale may not change very much over the course of those six months or even a year, but their body shape may look completely different. They will feel stronger. They will have more energy, stamina, and all of those other results.

And that number on the scale may not look that different. And so sometimes I encourage you and challenge you to get rid of any preconceived notions of some number on a scale that you just have decided means that you’re healthy and instead focus on adding strength, losing body fat and feeling great. And this is completely achievable with a program that combines strength training and whole food nutrition, such as the exercise coach program.

Amy, I couldn’t have summed it up any better myself. Thanks for doing it. And thanks for the question today.

You’re welcome. We will see you next week on the strength changes everything podcast. If you’re enjoying these episodes, I’d encourage you to subscribe to this podcast to share this episode with a friend. This is an important and valuable information that we want everyone to know. We will see you next time. And remember strength changes everything.