A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat.
A simple math problem garnered over 4,000 upvotes on Reddit this week and sparked hundreds of comments, many of which were arguing about the answer.
Last week, a Reddit user posted a screenshot to r/facepalm, a subreddit dedicated to the things that exasperate and astound us, of a Healthline article. The r/facepalm forum is often use to poke fun at hubris or ignorance; for example, the tourists defacing the ancient ruins of the Roman coliseum, or the kid who attempts a backflip and lands face-down on the floor.
In this case, however, the “facepalm” is arguably the post itself.
It appears as if the poster sought to mock Healthline’s claim, which is that a pound of fat and a pound of muscle are equal. However, it’s true: a pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the same thing. They both weigh 1 pound.
The confusion often comes from a question of volume as opposed to weight. Muscle is more dense than fat. This is why, for example, an athlete building muscle may see a decrease in their waistline but a plateau on the scale. Muscle takes up less space than fat, but a pound measures mass, not volume.
As several commenters pointed out, it’s highly evocative of “What’s Heavier?”, a viral segment from Scottish sketch comedy series, “Limmy’s Show.”
For those still confused, it also provides a good visual explanation of the way the math works.
Sarah Baum
Source link
