04 Think, understand and apply - Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat

My supervisor has a phrase he likes to use on a regular basis - If you don't think, you will never learn anything. My high school had a similar motto, that being - Think, Understand and Apply. I am here to help you - to show you, to educate you. Please do not just hear something, believe it, and never question it. WHY and HOW are the most important questions we can ask in life. For many of you, let's be honest - you will categorically state:
MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN FAT.
Really? Have you ever asked yourself : Why? Why do I believe this? Have I even thought about this statement?
Lets be scientific.

From the beautiful image above (all credit thanks to http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/muscle-to-fat.html), you can now see, you cannot say, 5kg of muscle weighs more than 5kg of fat. They both weigh 5kg. 
What we CAN say, is muscle takes up less SPACE or scientifically said, muscle is more DENSE than fat.
Kilogram for kilogram fat takes up more volume. This means, if you have two women and they both weigh the same, they can look vastly different.
Assuming the same height, a woman weighing 60kg with 18% body fat will look a lot smaller than a woman weighing 60kg with 30% body fat.
I found a site that is trying to help show people how your perception can be so misguided. It is a site that uploads photographs (sent in by volunteers) giving examples of what people look like at a certain height and weight, and you can see many examples of what I have explained above.
http://www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/heightweight.html

The next thing I would like to explain is, when you start training, I repeatedly hear despondent people saying:

image taken from (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/09/party.html)

                                              THE SCALE KEEPS GOING UP!! :((((
The next thing I hear, is a friend or someone trying to console them saying:

                                                          image taken from (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/09/party.html)
                                              But muscle weighs more than fat! :D

Right, so. Let's get it straight. The scale is going up because you are BUILDING muscle. But! Beware
DID YOU CHECK YOUR MEASUREMENTS?
If the scale is going up, and your measurements are going up, this means, you have not lost any fat.
Your total volume is going up.
If your weight is going up or staying the same (in this latter case, assuming you gain 1kg muscle and lose 1kg fat), and your measurements are coming down - YAY! This means, you are gaining muscle and losing fat. The muscle takes up less space (losing cm or inches from your body)

Obviously the easiest way is to go and get your body fat percentage checked and monitored, however this costs money. What do I do personally? I maintain my weight within 1kg, I train and eat carefully, and my measurements are dropping (slowly). My muscle mass is increasing and my fat percentage is decreasing. I can see this, my muscles are becoming more defined and lean. This way, I am not trying to lose weight (and risk the chance of losing muscle). This will take a while to get right, because it is easier to gain muscle than to lose fat. Losing fat is the body's last option. It will rather burn muscle first than fat. This is where your diet and exercise comes in. You need to make sure you train right and eat right to ensure you lose fat and not muscle.
If you starve yourself, the first source you will lose is muscle and most likely replace the muscle with fat. Inevitably, you are making yourself look fatter. If you overeat, you will gain fat. You need to make sure you EAT and you eat right.

To share a personal story, in 2007, I used to (wrongly) think that my "ideal weight" was 52kg. With my height at 173cm, this placed my BMI at 17.39 (underweight). I remember thinking that my friend who weighed the same, and was the same height was so much skinnier than me! The other thing I remember is that I could not run as fast or jump as high as I used to. I often felt tired and blegh - no muscle tone. I was a skinny fat person! What I believed then was that if my weight was less, I would be smaller. What I know NOW, is that if I train and eat right and gain muscle and lose fat, I will be smaller. I am a good 3kg heavier now than I was then, but my measurements are smaller than I was then. At 52kg I wore size 34 jeans (size 10), now at 55kg, I wear size 32 (size 8) jeans. True story folks.

What you really need to think about is not an ideal weight, but an ideal body composition. High muscle mass, less body fat, and from that small measurements will follow. And then we will all look fabulous and feel fantastic! :)

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