Many athletes and people far from this are wondering which is harder: muscle or fat. A sufficient amount of controversial information exists in this regard.
Full or weightlifter?
You can often find a common example in comparing fat and muscle: a well-fed person can weigh 100 kg and not look pretty at the same time, and a bodybuilder who also weighs 100 kg, but who has a low percentage of fat, nevertheless, looks quite aesthetically pleasing. The same weight, but the shape is different. In the first case, a person will seem much larger in size than the second, but in the meantime they have the same weight, so what's the mystery?
Having understood the question "What is harder: muscle or fat in a person", everyone can clearly understand what actions he needs to take depending on his goal of building a figure. After all, only having certain knowledge in a certain business can one correctly approach the solution of a problem.
Fat or muscle - which is heavier?
Having understood this topic, you can clearly understand why such cardinal differences in weight and appearance arise. If we consider the question "heavier than muscle or fat?" from the point of view of the cell structure, it can be clearly answered that the muscles are heavier because their cells have a higher density compared to fat cells.
Muscle cells contain protein and water, while fat cells contain only fat, or lipids. You do not need to have special knowledge in the field of body structure in order to understand that protein with water, they are muscles, will be much denser in composition than fat.
Body Fat Functions
Fat is not a useless phenomenon, its critical level poses a threat to health, so you need to responsibly approach the process of losing weight. Layers of fat protect the internal organs and create an additional source of heat in the cold, this explains the decrease in metabolism in the winter, as the body tries to maintain fat reserves.
Having learned the answer to the question "fat or muscle - which is heavier", many people are trying in every way to get rid of fat, which exceeds muscle tissue in volume , however , it is worthwhile to understand that there is a limit beyond which it is impractical to go.
The lowest threshold for a woman’s fat level is 12%, then problems with both appearance and female appearance may begin. Men can feel great with 5% body fat.
However, a high percentage of fat harms the body, as the likelihood of developing diabetes increases, energy decreases, metabolism slows down, lethargy sets in.
Why doesn't the weight change?
Due to the difference in muscle weight and fat during weight loss, the weight may stand still. In the process of sports activity, both fat is burned and muscle mass builds up. Due to the fact that the proportion of body fat may be lower than the proportion of muscle, the effect of stagnation of weight changes can be created. In other words, two processes occurred simultaneously - the fat was gone and the muscles were enlarged.
Based on this, you should not attach great importance to the numbers on the scales. Visually, you can see changes, a decrease in volumes in certain areas, but remain at the same weight.
Many believe that if you work out in the gym, the figure will in any case become athletic, whether they initially have fat or muscle. What is harder - burn lipids or build up a dry mass?
You need to understand that fat does not pass into muscle. Intensive loads, of course, reduce in a sense the fat layer, but a good result can only be achieved by limiting carbohydrates.
Heavy bones?
A full person has a large proportion of fat in the body, while the proportion of muscle and bone tissue changes slightly. It is impractical to believe that weight can increase due to bone growth, since a change of even 10% in the proportion of bone tissue leads to an increase in body weight of only 1-1.5 kg.
You can achieve a sharp increase in weight, provided that you have physical activity and proper nutrition, since muscles are heavier than fat and bones. For this reason, the athlete will have large muscle mass and weight, respectively. Although, according to the classification of acceptable parameters and weight, it will belong to the overweight group, while having a low percentage of fat reserves.
Today there is the so-called bio-impedance analysis, which allows you to calculate the percentage of muscle and adipose tissue in the body. Based on this, we can conclude whether a person needs to lose weight or gain weight.
Being interested in whether fat or muscle is harder, you need to consider many factors that affect weight gain.
In some cases, for example, in premenstrual syndrome in women or with heart diseases, weight can increase due to fluid retention in the body. In this case, consult a doctor. But still, almost everyone has excess weight associated with excess fat.
Understanding the question “What is heavier: muscle or fat?”, It is important to pay attention not only to weight, but also to the distribution of fat over parts of the body. So, a woman, even being overweight, may look harmoniously folded, which is due to the uniform distribution of fat deposits throughout the body.
The ratio of hips and waist, taken as the norm, for women - 0.7, for men - 1.
Body types
There are two types of figures: the female type is “pear” and the male type is “apple”.
People of the first type have a concentration of fat on the buttocks and lower abdomen.
Those of the second type have deposits, usually in the upper body. These people are prone to obesity, diabetes, ischemia, atherosclerosis.
You need to be aware that weight does not play a big role, it is much more important what this weight is made up of. The same weight of fat and muscle will look different. How? - many will ask. So, for example, 1 kg of muscle takes up a volume 2 times less than 1 kg of fat.
To replace fat with muscles, you need to eat protein and refuse harmful products, then you will no longer care about what is harder - muscle or fat in a person.