No arguments here - you're absolutely right, of course, if you're talking about VOLUME. The same size VOLUME of muscle weighs more than the same volume of fat because muscle is dense and fat is fluffy. It's like if I fill up one pillowcase with feathers and one with lead - the one filled wih lead will obviously be much heavier.
BUT ... a pound of feathers weighs a pound and a pound of lead weighs a pound. One just takes up more room than the other.
The problem with the phrase 'muscle weighs more than fat' is that it doesn't. A pound of fat is a pound ... a pound of muscle is a pound. A pound is a pound is a pound.
When people start exercising and gain weight, often you'll see someone say - 'oh, don't worry - muscle is heavier than fat'. But a pound of muscle just weighs a pound. Sure it's denser and tighter than a pound of fat, but it doen't weigh MORE than the pound of fat. If you start exercising but aren't creating a calorie deficit (to burn fat), certainly you can ADD muscle without LOSING any fat and the scale will creep up. But it will only go up a pound for each pound of muscle you add - just like it will go down a pound for each pound of fat you lose.
What can I add to what Meg said? usually nothing. Just want to stress one more thing - probably because I learned it hard way by making mistake myself - it is water! In my case I lost about 20 pounds by exercise only, later on joined 'name diet' and even though I kept my exercise high and ate on plan - instead of loosing 1-2% of my weight a week I was loosing 0.2-0.5%max! I got so frustrated (and 'name plans" cost you). And one day somebody - God bless this soul - asked me about water. Well, I said - sure I drink water, but when I measured how much - I was drinking about 1 liter (instead of recommended 2 and even more). Guess what - as soon as I increased my water intake - my weight just simply melted one day
Good luck to you - as Meg said - it is calories in versus out - but wash those calories with water please!
Thanks all for your replies. I did see 1 lil pound difference, and I am making sure to have a deficit in the calorie dept. I think I was panicing, as I've been religious about the exercise (I'm into week 5) and was expecting it to just magically make me lose weight. Right now I think I'm a SOLID full of muscle person with a fat layer over it. I know through patience eventually the fat will go to show me my new purdy mus-kuls. I'll be patient!
Hello! My first post. This thread has really helped me. I've been dieting for 8 full weeks, today is day one going on 9 weeks. I swim 30 laps a day and power walk with 5 pound ankle weights and a huge dog with a prey drive for cars. I've just recently started lifting. I'm 5'2" and right now I weigh 172. I'm 45. I'm wearing a 12 finally, it was an 18/20. When I was a size 12 before in my life, I weighed around 130 or even less. So I'm counting on the muscle weight being the reason. It's nice to know that someone can weigh more than 130 and wear a size 4. So am I to believe that the exercise trainers on TV who are solid muscle could weigh a lot?
I don't drink enough water, I haven't been drinking water. I suppose I should see if it makes a difference, but an hour of swimming might be more difficult. I eat more calcium in the form of nonfat yogurt and small pieces of hard cheese (max 2 a day). I'm also eating more mustard and hot peppers, I have no idea if that helps.
Hi Kastara Welcome to LWL we just LUVS newbies!! I agree someone who is muscular is much smaller... YAY .... I weigh 145, am 5'3'', and wear a very loose size 8 lately I'm aiming for a size 6 ... 20 years ago, which was the last time I was small enough, I weighed 135 and wore a size 9... I tried a pair of pants this week that I had kept just as a pant-o-meter and they were toooo big, I remember when I bought those I think it was 15yrs ago they were too tight ! Muscle is a very, very good thing... MrsJim aka Karen I think weighs in the 150s and she wears a size 4.!! She's my hero , where is Karen these days anyways??
You must drink more water, you'll see a difference and feel the difference in your workouts too... I know when I haven't had enough water my workouts suffer.
Another tweak on the size then vs. size now is this. A size 10 pant some years ago was actually cut at a real 10. Nowadays, manufacturers make clothes bigger but put the same smaller size tags in them so people won't "feel" like they are bigger because they are buying larger sizes. I have run into this A LOT!!! I have a pair of slacks that are a size 8 and I KNOW I can't wear an 8 and haven't in a long time.
Hi,
AS continuation of this thread - here is my question. Let's say I am puzzled . I used to exercise regularly for the last 4 years , but my weight stayed around 130 only for last year. In a week is my anniversary at my goal weight and I wanted to get to 128 again. I was doing just fine BUT recently decided to lift weights to get more muscle - my BF was 24% while it was 21% a year ago - so I thought I will do more weight lifting to get my muscles back.
So I started about a month ago and first saw slight drop in weight . I added some biking - about 60km/week to my 2x5k/week running and 3 weight lifting sessions. I improved my speed at biking... Well, the scale showed 4 pounds gain!!! Not only that, today I COULD NOT FIT INTO MY JEANS (thighs)! Mind you, I am REALLY watching what I eat and I am really caring for exercise... What is that than? Definitely not muscles! So basically I did not change my diet, but I burst my exercise... and gained weight... obviously fat...
Of course, beeing on my goal weight on May12 is out of question now ;( but I'd love to get to the bottom of it! Any advices?
So....like a crazy person, I took my measurements this morning, nothing else better to do at 4:45AM I guess.
I am down two inches at the bustline, two inches at upper chest area, 1 inch on the hips, .5 inches on the upper arm, but no change on the upper thigh and waistline. I totally freaked out but then reasoned that 1) waistline is swollen from my procedure, 2) it's near TOM and I am holding water and 3) although the tape measure didn't budge on the thigh, the appearance is changing so I should keep on and not freak out.
I will try to remember to NOT measure around the same time next month. That was too early in the morning for a shock.
The same size VOLUME of muscle weighs more than the same volume of fat because muscle is dense and fat is fluffy. It's like if I fill up one pillowcase with feathers and one with lead - the one filled wih lead will obviously be much heavier. 
YAY .... I weigh 145, am 5'3'', and wear a very loose size 8 lately I'm aiming for a size 6 ... 20 years ago, which was the last time I was small enough, I weighed 135 and wore a size 9... I tried a pair of pants this week that I had kept just as a pant-o-meter and they were toooo big, I remember when I bought those I think it was 15yrs ago they were too tight ! Muscle is a very, very good thing... MrsJim aka Karen I think weighs in the 150s and she wears a size 4.!! She's my hero 
. I used to exercise regularly for the last 4 years 
, but my weight stayed around 130 only for last year. In a week is my anniversary at my goal weight and I wanted to get to 128 again. I was doing just fine BUT recently decided to lift weights to get more muscle 
- my BF was 24% while it was 21% a year ago - so I thought I will do more weight lifting to get my muscles back.