A Common Myth

Okay, I wasn't going to wax lyrical about this at all, but seeing as how quite a few blogs I've come across mention the same thing I feel I should post about this.


Myth:  That muscle weighs heavier than fat.


WRONG!


Alright, now you want me to prove it?  Fine.


I, like many, thought that muscle weighs heavier than fat and I was shocked and a bit surprised to learn different.  When I joined a slimming club earlier this year the consultant said to me 'You do know that muscle and fat weigh the same?' (or something along that line) so I asked her to prove her theory.  She then asked me a question 'Which weighs heavier, a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers?'.  So I automatically said bricks, because in my mind they are the heavier object.  To which she smugly replied 'No, they're equal.'  This got me thinking.


Then I grasped what she was saying.  A pound of weight is still a pound of weight regardless of the object being weighed, it's just the quantity of the object that varies.  A pound of bricks weighs exactly the same as a pound of feathers, the only difference is that you'd need fewer bricks to make the weight of a pound than you would with feathers.  So you see, it's only the quantity that's changed.


So a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, the difference being you need less muscle to make up the pound in weight than you do with fat.  Fat takes up more space in the body than muscle.  


Don't believe me?  Here's some visuals...






Much love,  AK xoxo