When talking about weight and gym and stuff, I hear people often say "... you know that muscle is heavier than fat though, so you'll actually put on weight by going to the gym if you're doing a lot of weights ..."
Leaving for the moment that it's much harder to build a kilogram of muscle than it is to lose one of fat, so this never really happens this statement always bothers me.
See muscle isn't really heavier than fat. It's more dense. At least for me, if you say something is heavier, it's an absolute measure between two actual things.
So for example, a car is heavier than a bicycle. My mate Simon is heavier than me. 10 cubic meters of bubble wrap is heavier than my laptop. And 5 kilos of fat are heavier than one of muscle.
These are all absolutes. The one item is absolutely heavier than the other. And both items are explicitly mentioned. If you don't mention the items, but are just talking about generic things, I suppose you are implying the same volume of both, but for me this just rings as rather unscientific.
That's why when comparing two generic substances, like say fat and muscle, we should really talk about density. Muscle is more dense than fat, which then leads to muscle being heavier than the same quantity of fat.
In fact muscle is about 20% (give or take) more dense than fat. So the reason you'd be thinner with more lean muscle than fat is that it takes up less space, because it's more dense. Even though you might weight the same.
It all reminds me of the old school yard joke, "Which is heavier, a kilo of feathers of a kilo of lead".
1. Gordon
That’s because that is the way you think. Most people aren’t scientific so it’s up to those that are to extrapolate and make a few presumptions.
Simple.
2. Adrian
Hey if people can correct my spelling, I can correct their science.
Can’t I?
3. Gordon
No. You are ALWAYS in the wrong… sheesh, for someone so smart you can be real dumb sometimes.. ;-)
Ohh wait, I need to be nice to you, don’t I.
Dammit.
I hate that.
4. Stuart
It’s best to have an internal science corrector.
Like when people say ‘Oooh, close the curtains, the cold is getting in’ you can either turn around and say ‘Ah HAH! No! The heat is going out. Through conduction to the cold air outside, you see?’ or you can close the curtains and feel quietly smug.
Of course when people TELL you things that are patent nonsense in a manner that suggests they’re telling YOU something, you can correct them, and it’s a free-for-all and you can in fact kill them if you like.
5. Adrian
I guess spiders are more interesting than science.
6. Destructor
Thank God I escaped before you started counting calories again.
7. Adrian
And you wonder why you are part of the “Fat Fucks Club” eh … ;)
8. Donalda Bint
I remember my chemistry teacher telling us all about strong and weak solutions. He said the terminology could be confusing, but we were not to confuse these with concentrated or not concentrated solutions.
He did, however, tell us to keep quiet about the difference because apparently if your wife brings you breakfast in bed and apologises that the tea is strong and you correct her and say that it isn’t, it is concentrated and they are confusing their terms, you may end up wearing it. Sound advice.
NB: if I am bringing anyone breakfast in bed I say sorry for nothing. They are getting breakfast in bed, dammit.
9. mark
Right on! A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat!! Some gym instructor told me yesterday that muscle weighs more than fat after I said, “I want to convert two stones of fat into two stones of muscle!” And he said, “well it weighs heavier!”
He obviously wasn’t listening to what I was saying they both weigh the same except that one is more dense, aerodynamic, stronger, powerful, sexy and above all healthier. Yeap, I’m gonna be a sex machine once I finished weight and aerobic sessions.
Oh, I corrected him on this…