Muscle is more dense? 10 lbs of skin...? The mass of fat?

Nov 17, 2012

We often read someone saying Muscle weighs more... Well no. It is more dense.

I read people saying "you will have 10 lbs of excess skin"... Well that seems to make sense but I saw someone dispute it so I did what I do best. Researched the heck out of it.

It was great and offered me some insight into the exact reasons for things I have been dealing with since I made the changes I did pre-op. It was a forum post but I want to find it without searching hard in the future so I am cross posting 2 of my own posts to my blog.

*the second is because it personally applies to me, and where I am at in my process but I need to remember that 7lbs of fat lost is a BIG deal. Not kick my own arse because it was only 7 lbs.*

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Actually... Fat has greater mass (size) and is pound for pound something that takes up more space then most other tissues as it is less dense. That's why it is squishy until it's casing (your skin) fills to bursting and then things feel firm and look like over stuffed sausage.

Muscle is more dense then fat. Muscle density is 1.06 g/ml.

Bone is more dense then fat. Bone density has an average of 1.75 g/ml.

Blood has an average density of 1.04 g/ml.

Fat is approximately 0.9 g/ml.

I could not find a measure of density for skin... A shame but most seemed to focus on area.

Excess skin... Can be heavy. There is a wide range... it is all over your body (head to toe baby) and will vary greatly. Some stretch their skin more because they are larger, and some have less elasticity so they have more excess skin. 

The adults who've not stretched said skin (as well as created a surface area which needs to produce more cellular growth as the stretching is the stretch marks, but skin does completely replace it's self every 28 days or so with 7 layers if I recall correctly) their average area of their skin is 1.8 m².

Some will have less, and some will have more. They say an average of 10 lbs because they average 1lb for every 10 lost really... 10 is a good number to go with as an arbitrary number around here as most lose somewhere in that range (some more and some less but in the range).

Think about ALL of the areas it occurs. Arms (upper arm and forearm), legs (thighs and calves), Backside from shoulders to buttocks, front side from chin/jaw line to ... well... The naughty bits.

Why don't you check this OH thread out: http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4094586/How-much-does -that-loose-skin-weigh/

Some have less... Some have more. It is all in the elasticity.

I think the best quote I found is here: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/IgorFridman.shtml "The skin is the largest organ in the body: 12-15% of body weight, with a surface area of 1-2 [square] meters."

I'll use my own numbers as an example...

330lbs now so 15% is 49.5lbs.

200 is goal so 15% is 30lbs.

I hope for some elasticity... And hope it is 10-13lbs... Not the 19.5 if I have no elasticity, but the stretch marks will shrink and they weigh nothing really so there is the 6.5 lbs less.

I hope this finally makes sense.

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AND

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It even explains why 7lbs pre-op loss makes sense with my large number of lost inches. 7lb = 3175.1g ÷ 0.9g = 3527.8889ml which makes a heck of a lot of sense with numbers like my lost inches. 4 off my hips, 3.5 off each thigh, 1.5 off each calf, 3.5 off my ribs, 2 off each bicep, 1 off each forearm during the time I lost ONLY 7 lbs (not working out at the time so no muscle building). My GP was right. 7lbs is a lot. 3.5 liters of fat.

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I think this will be very important for me personally... When I have to remember that I ONLY lost a few pounds but I lost a lot of inches.

20 inches lost. YAY!

7 lbs lost. Uh..... REALLY?

3.5L of fat lost? TOTALLY AWESOME!

I am very happy to know I lost 20 inches... I am even happier to think about the fact that it was all fat as that is the only number that makes sense.

Post-op I know my body will likely finally start to lose some muscle (I am actually looking forward to it a bit) but I am looking forward to losing the fat more.

Shell

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