Muscle vs. Fat: Conclusion

In conclusion and to hopefully help answer your fat vs. muscle questions, take a look at some quick summaries:

Quick Summary of Fat:

• Fat can not become muscle and muscle can not become fat.

• Fat can only be reduced if the number of calories expended in a day exceeds the number of calories consumed in a day. Fat will be gained if the opposite occurs.

• If you stop training, but compensate for this with a slight reduction in diet, your body fat will not increase.

• If you begin training but also increase your dietary intake, you can gain fat.

• Fat cells act as one, meaning you can not choose where you lose it or gain it.

Quick Summary of Muscle:

• Changes in muscle size, density and/or efficiency cause an increase in strength; however, these changes only result if the muscle is stimulated beyond what it is accustomed to.

• Weight training is the easiest way to control and monitor the changes in your muscle physiology. By manipulating your sets, reps and weight lifted you can achieve various responses. Because of this, it is possible to increase your strength without adding bulk, and it is also possible to increase both.

• When you stop stimulating the muscle, your muscle composition may return to normal or, depending on your regular routine, it may simply stay as is.

• Unlike fat, each muscle can be specifically targeted, so you can choose the specific area you would like to improve. With that said, realize that while you can work your abdominal muscles, for example, you may not see the enhanced shape and form if you have a thick layer of fat covering them up.

As you can see in this picture, the 250 lbs. of fat is much bulkier than the 250 lbs. of muscle… A 250 pound pile of fat will take up more space (volume) than a 250 pound pile of muscle. A woman weighing 150 pounds with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman at 150 pounds with 35% fat. They weigh the same, yet the composition is different. Because muscle is denser than fat, the person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller. Once you understand this, you will stop being so concerned with body weight and start paying attention to body composition. How much body fat do you have compared to muscle?

If you want to look slimmer, the key is to build more muscle and to burn more fat! And remember, when it comes to fat loss, exercise is the method that can be most easily manipulated… the more active you are, the more fat that you will burn!

Here's to happy fat loss!