So often, I hear people say, "Muscle weighs more than fat." Actually, a pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as a pound of fat.
A pound is a pound is a pound. It doesn't matter what you are measuring in weight. If you measure a pound of fat and a pound of muscle, they each weigh ... a pound. So what I think we are trying to say is that fat has more volume. A pound of fat is larger than a pound of muscle.
Now think of this pound in your jeans, which pound would you rather be wearing inside your jeans? Personally, I'm all about the muscle 🙂 Muscle takes up about 5 times less space than fat but... as we just discussed, it weighs the same, pound for pound. Let that sink in for a minute. So, imagine if we weigh 150 lbs. and our body fat is at 50% of our total body weight, hold that picture in your head for a minute. Now, imagine- knowing that muscle is about 5 x's smaller than fat- how you would look if you weighed 150 lbs and your body fat was 25%. Which body would make you happier? You would be smaller, stronger, move more easily. You would be less likely to injure yourself. Hopefully, you are also stretching and releasing to keep your flexibility and mobility.
So How Do I Get More Muscle?
If you have been doing any kind of resistance training with dumbells, resistance bands, body weight and/or gym machines, you have muscle. Perhaps you live or work on a farm and you lift bails of hay, push/pull heavy objects or pick up heavy objects, move then around and set them down. This is also resistance exercise. When we perform movements and there is resistance within the muscle, we are building more muscle. However, in order to build a good amount of muscle, we must be performing resistance activities at least 3x's/wee consistently over many weeks. It may be a cliche' but, it is true, "Use it or Lose it".
Let's say you are already training effectively 3 days/week, every week and you still have a lot of body fat. You will need to look at your nutrition intake. It will take 45 minutes of running at a good pace to burn off 1 Kit Kat. You can NOT work off a bad diet in the gym. You can NOT burn off enough calories with exercise to erase the effects of a big slice of cheese cake and reduce your body fat. Your nutrition must be in line with your fitness activity.
If you have changed your nutrition along with consistently participating in a fitness program, the scale will show the results. If your goal is fat loss and you are sweating every day and consuming well balanced, clean and nutritiously delicious meals, you will see the scale change. There is one catch ... the clean eating must be consistent. Consistency is the key. How many "treats" are you eating/day? /week? Muscle will show up and fat will melt when you have all your ducks in a row.
Your Goal
Let your goal for weight loss be building lean muscle tissue and consistently eating well balanced meals. You will love the body your soul calls home. Decide what you want, be willing to do what it takes to get there and then go for it!