I’ve heard that muscle weighs more than fat, and I’m curious as to a) is this true, and b) if so, how much more?
I ask because I recently discovered that I currently weigh between 195 and 200 pounds (5-foot, 8-inch male).
The last time I weighed this much was ~15 years ago at age 27-28, when I had just quit drinking. I was a beer drinker, and at the time I quit I was drinking a minimum of 12 beers/day. All that beer translated into a lot of fat. I also wasn’t getting a lot of exercise despite not having a driver’s license (lost to a DUI at age 26) - I lived only a few short blocks from my job, and stores were also close. I took the bus for longer trips.
My quitting drinking was followed a few short months later by my finding a new job that was 2 miles from home. I took the graveyard shift which meant I had to walk or bicycle the distance as our local buses stop running at 7:00 PM. In less than a year the combination of increased exercise and drastically reduced calorie intake resulted in my weight dropping down to a more appropriate range of 165-175.
By choice, I went a total of 15 years without a driver’s license, preferring to walk or bicycle as much as possible, and I was able to maintain a weight range of 165-175 for that time period. But once I hit 40 I decided it was time to start driving again. Now, after less than two years of driving my weight has ballooned back up to 195-200. Not from beer this time, but from eating and reduced exercise. I’m once again working only a few blocks from home, so walking or bicycling to work daily would still not get me to the level of exercise I got in the past.
Now, with those details out of the way, there is one thing that brought the statement about muscle weighing more than fat to my mind. At ~170 pounds, I comfortably fit into jeans with a 32- or 33-inch waist. When I weighed ~200 pounds at age 28, I had to buy jeans with a 36-inch waist. Now, at age 42 and ~200 pounds, I comfortably fit into jeans with a 34-inch waist. Same jeans — Wrangler 13MWZ “Cowboy Cut” jeans — not modern “relaxed fit” jeans. Also, when I weighed that much at age 28, the weight was as apparent in my face as much as my gut and butt. Not so now. And even though I currently have a roll of flab around my middle (which has appeared since I started driving again) that I’d like to be rid of, I can suck in my gut and, unless I’m shirtless, it’s not readily apparent that I’ve gotten “fat”. I couldn’t do that at age 28.
So it occurred to me that 15 years of walking and bicycling really built up my leg muscles, far beyond where they were when I was 28. My current job, which I’ve had for 2-1/2 years, has also contributed to improving my upper body strength. I think it’s safe to say that my body has a greater proportion of muscle mass now than it did at age 28. That, combined with my pants waist measurement, tells me that muscle must weigh more than fat. How correct am I?
(Note: I’m making an effort to bicycle more because I’d still like to get rid of the fat.)
) would have the same resistance effect as lifting weights with my legs.