So I keep seeing people say muscle and fat weigh the same because a lb of each is a lb. But surely a lb of anything is an lb? You need less muscle to reach an lb then you do fat, right?
In: 0
Yes, a pound is a pound. Muscle is more dense, so one pound takes less space than a pound of fat. A 250 pound athlete can fit into smaller clothes than a 250 pound couch potato.
Need context to know why you keep hearing people say that.
One pound of muscle occupies less space than one pound of fat. This does not change the fact that having one pound of each gives you equal weights of fat and muscle.
Needing less of something to have the same weight of it means that that thing is more dense — so, you’d say muscle is denser than fat.
A pound of rocks is the same weight as a pound of feathers, guess which one takes up more space.
I think the disconnect is that you’re using the colloquial version of measurng weight which implies equal volume. Like, a cart full of feathers is obviously gonna be a lot lighter than a cart full of bricks, so our monkey brains go “brick>feather” and this is reflected in common speech. Same way a piece of muscle the size of an apple will be heavier than the same size and shape but made of fat. But people arguing the two weigh the same are using the objective, mathematical way to talk about mass, where 1lb is 1lb. IMO it’s not a very helpful way to understand things for the average person unless you’re a mathematician/physicist. We’re subjective creatures after all.
A pound of muscle is smaller than a pound of fat but they both weigh the same. I don’t know what point someone would be trying to make by saying they weigh the same because the point of the comparison is that they look different, not the same.
Latest Answers