Have you
ever heard the saying, “Muscle weighs more
than fat?” Perhaps at some point in your life you were working your
butt off in the gym in an attempt to lose weight. During this time, you
hopped onto the scale weekly, sometimes even daily. Some days were better
than others. Sometimes the numbers on the scale decreased, but to your dismay,
this wasn’t always the case. Some weigh-ins showed that the scale read
higher than your starting weight. Other days the scale wouldn't budge.
In the fitness world, the statement,
“muscle weighs more than fat” is habitually tossed back and forth.
In the context of fitness and recording body weight numbers on scales, the
statement “muscle weighs more than fat” does not hold much weight. It just does
not make sense because one pound is one pound.
The truth is that when placed on a
scale, one pound of fat is going to weigh the same as one pound of muscle –
just like one pound of bricks is going to weigh the same as one pound of
feathers. Where the confusion comes in is that muscle and fat differ in density
(muscle is about 18% more dense than fat) and one pound of muscle occupies less
space (volume) than one pound of fat.
So yes, muscle seems to weigh
more because there is a difference in the volume between the two.
When a cubic inch of muscle and a cubic inch of fat are measured, the
cubic inch of muscle will weigh more. As you add compact muscle mass to the
body, body weight may increase. However, pound for pound, muscle and fat weigh
the same and when tracking progress of a fitness program, it is very important
to look at all markers of improvement, and not just the numbers on the
scale.
Cross section across skeletal
muscle = more dense
Cross section across fat tissue = less dense
Five pounds of muscle compared to five pounds
of fat
By looking at the photo below, you can
see that five pounds of muscle (pictured on right) is going to take up less
space in the body and be a lot less “lumpy” under your skin and in between your
organs than the same weight in fat (shown on left). In fact, the
difference can be quite dramatic. I would much rather have five pounds of
smooth, lean, dense muscle tissue inside of my body than five pounds of
amorphous, bulky, gelatinous fat, and I am guessing you would too!
Besides being more compact in the body, there are also many health
advantages to increased muscle mass.
Benefits of having more lean
muscle mass
Having more muscle mass in your body
will:
o Create
a leaner physique
o Reduce
your risk of injury
o Increase
strength, stability, power and endurance
o Improve
balance and mobility
o Improve
the way you feel about yourself
o Increase
energy and vitality
o Improve
athletic performance
o Create
metabolic reserve in times of traumas such as (car accidents and burns)
o Increase
your metabolic efficiency
o Improve
insulin sensitivity and improve blood glucose control
Now Let’s focus on the last two
most important benefits listed: “Increase your metabolic efficiency” and
“Improve insulin sensitivity and improve glucose control.”
Increase your metabolic efficiency
Each
pound of fat that your body stores represents 3,500 calories of unused energy.
In order to lose one pound, you have to create a calorie deficit of 3,500
calories by either consuming 3,500 less calories over a period of time than
your body needs or by burning 3,500 calories worth of exercise. Which fat is
really burned through the breath (86%), and the rest is excreted through
perspiration and pee time (14%).
By
increasing your lean muscle mass through resistance and body weight training;
you will help your body burn more calories. One pound of muscle will burn slightly more
calories at rest than one pound of fat tissue at rest. Six (6) calories per
hour per pound of muscle and two (2) calories per pound per hour of fat.
Focus on all of the health benefits of having more muscle mass,
not just on the calorie burning abilities of muscle
Health
and fitness professionals across the world put a lot of emphasis on the “muscle
is a high-octane calorie incinerator” concept and even exaggerate (sometimes
unknowingly) the actual amount of calories muscles burn while at rest.
Fitness magazines, health experts like Dr. Mehmet Oz, and personal trainers
across the country happily report that one pound of muscle burns an extra
50-100 calories per day than fat.
However,
recent scientific research has proven this number to be inflated. One
such study was led by Claude Bouchard, an obesity researcher
from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA. His
collected data over the years has revealed that one pound of muscle, at rest,
burns about six
calories a day while one pound of fat burns about two calories per day.
Six is a lot different than the 50-100 calories that is often stated by
others in the health and medical fields.
As a fitness professional, I do not like
to over-emphasize the point that muscle tissue burns more calories than fat.
I feel it is an important fact to know, and can be used as a motivator
when getting started with a fitness program, but I do not think it should be
the primary driving force behind gaining muscle mass. Yes, muscle is
three times (not 50 times) more metabolically active at rest than fat, but
the actual amount of calories that is burned is not a grand amount.
Granted,
at the end of the day, any extra calories burned is a great thing, and when you
eat healthfully (and mindfully) and engage in a proper resistance training program, you will
increase the amount of muscle in your body. The more muscle you have, the
more calories you will burn while at rest and this is exciting. However,
it is pertinent for individuals not to become too crazed (or comfortable) with
the notion that their resting metabolisms (rate at which one burns calories
while at rest) are going to skyrocket once they begin weight lifting and
gaining muscle. I have seen that often, when an individual puts too much focus
on the calorie burning capabilities of muscle, it becomes very easy for that
person to become:
o Relaxed
about what needs to be done to get the results wanted and in return, becomes
sedentary and may even neglect sound nutritional habits by overeating. If
muscle is burning calories at rest, then there is room for overconsumption and
inactivity, right? Wrong.
or:
o
Overly obsessed with calorie burning through long bouts of cardio, weight training sessions and
starvation. The main focus becomes all about decreasing fat, increasing muscle,
and expanding the amount of calories muscle will burn at rest. With this
extreme approach, overtraining and poor health are often results. More is
better, right? Wrong.
The above behaviors are unhealthy,
unbalanced, and unsustainable. I want people to get away from calorie obsession
and start training with a balanced approach and with common sense. It is
important to look at all of the health benefits of muscle mass, not just one.
However, In my opinion, knowing that
muscle can help balance insulin sensitivity and blood glucose levels within the
body is of greater interest than one pound of muscle burning an extra four
calories more than one pound of fat. When the body’s endocrine system is
working properly, it is much easier to maintain a healthy weight. When
insulin sensitivity and glucose management is screwed up, weight management
(and loss) becomes a very difficult task. Combine healthy insulin and
glucose control with an increased resting metabolic rate (RMR), and you have a
win-win situation.
Improve insulin sensitivity and better glucose
control
In
2011, researchers reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolismthat muscle
mass strongly correlates with improved insulin sensitivity within the
body. It has been noted that with a 10% increase in skeletal muscle index (a
measure of how much muscle is on the body), HOMA-IR (a measure of insulin
resistance) saw a relative reduction of 11%. People with a higher insulin
sensitivity have better glucose control and ultimately, lower rates of diabetes.
This is great stuff because when a person is insulin sensitive, he/she
can handle glucose well, which means less dietary glucose will turn into body
fat and less insulin is necessary to keep body systems operating optimally.
The result? A healthy functioning
of the body’s systems. This will create balance within the body as well
as long-term and even permanent results, especially when it comes to battling
the bulge.
Are you setting yourself up for failure? Step
away from the body weight scale
While participating in a “weight loss”
program, solely depending on a standard body weight scale to track your
progress can cause frustration and may even set you up for failure. Although
you have been busting your buns in the gym and eating healthy foods, the
scale may still display your weight as being the same as when you started, even
after a few weeks of exercising. This can create extreme disappointment
and ultimately cause you to quit your program.
I can confidently assume that many of
you reading this article know exactly what I am talking about. We have
all been there at some point. It is that all too familiar feeling of
anticipation you experience while you are standing on top of the scale, looking
down, waiting to see what the wonderful magical number will read, anxious for
it to be lower than the last time you stood in the very same position.
The number flashes in front of your eyes, it reads the same, as if the
scale was frozen in time. You shake the scale, reset it, step on and do
the whole process over, only to find the end result is the same. The
number has not shifted, not even a fraction of a pound.
If you are experiencing this type of
despair, I suggest that you step far away from the scale (put the scale out of
sight) and shake off the dissatisfaction you are feeling and think for a
minute. Assess all that you have been doing and consider all of the other
methods you have used and should be using to track your weight loss journey and
progress. Have you used other markers to track your progress?
The scale does not represent everything that
is happening within the body
When the number on the scale does not
budge, it is important to remind yourself that the scale only shows you a
snippet of what is happening. It is only expressing your total body
weight – which includes fat, muscle, bones, organs, skin, etc. and not the
composition of that weight within your body.
Your
total body weight represented on the scale may be the same as when you started
your weight loss program, BUT if you are building muscle mass and losing fat
tissue, your body composition will be much different. Remember, as
mentioned before, muscle and fat differ in density. One
pound of muscle is going to occupy less space (volume)
within the body than one pound of fat.
When you have
more muscle and less fat, you become more firm and will lose inches from places
such as your waist, hips, buttocks, thighs, etc. Seeing the same number
on the scale is not always negative. Again, we need to set our minds on
other indicators of health and wellness.
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