Muscle & Fat
How many times have you heard that muscles weigh more than fat? I hear that all the time, but it is not true. Pound for pound, they weigh the exact same. The magic is in the volume.
I found this awesome picture of 5 pounds of muscle and 5 pounds of fat:
Besides the fat looking majorly icky, and the muscle looking nice and smooth, you can see the difference in how much room on your body the muscle takes versus the fat. It really makes you think about the importance of weight. Looking at that picture makes me realize that I probably won’t ever be 120 pounds. I’m just not built like that. While my muscles are pretty mushy right now, they weren’t always like this and I used to be very strong. I have the build for it.
As I exercise and work to increase my strength, I will be replacing that lumpy fat with some nice, lean muscle. I will become fit and healthy, regardless of what the scale says. I am working hard to keep that in mind during my weekly weigh ins.
Weekly Weight Loss Progress - Down 0.5 Lbs
This week I weigh in at an even 218 lbs so I lost 1/2 lb this past week. Let me tell you, I am pretty darn happy about that. My exercise regimen now involves working on building muscle strength so I thought I may add some weight on this week. I can definitely tell that what I am doing now is working. My brand new pair of pants aren’t as tight and with each passing day it is getting easier to do my wall pushups. Before I know it I will be ready to do some knee push ups.
For this week, I am going to do the same thing as this week. However, I am replacing my desk chair with my exercise ball. More on that later.
How Much Would I Weigh on Other Planets? Hint - Glad I Don’t Live on Jupiter!
The last few days I have been doing some health research and discovering some new health blogs and subcribing to a lot of feeds. Something I do on Blogging Away Debt is post some interesting links on Fridays. I’d like to start doing that here as well, although I’m not sure what day of the week yet.
Along my internet travels, I came across a site that will compute your weight on other planets and the moon. I bookmarked the calculator for later, but unfortunately I forgot which blog had the initial link that lead me to the calculator (sorry!).
Here’s how must I would weigh using my current weight of 218 lbs:
- Pluto: 14.6
- Moon: 36.1
- Mars: 82.1
- Mercury: 82.4
- Uranus: 193.8
- Venus: 197.7
- Saturn: 199.6
- Neptune: 245.2
- Jupiter: 515.3
I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to be on Pluto or the Moon. I mean, with the weight my bones and muscles have been carrying…they would be rocking it! I could hop all over the place in a single bound.
If you want to calculate your weight, here’s the link: 3 Fat Chicks
A Link Between Diet Soda and Gaining Weight
Back in 2005, some researchers discovered something interesting about those who drank diet soda. For every can or bottle of diet soft drink that was consumed, there was a 41% increase in the risk of becoming overweight.
“What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity,” Fowler tells WebMD. “What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.”
In fact, when the researchers took a closer look at their data, they found that nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks came from diet sodas.
[Via Webmd.com]
Researchers theorized why the obesity risk increased and their theory makes sense with me. When you drink something sweet like a diet soda, you are not getting any calories from that drink. Your body thinks that it should be getting something from it. That creates cravings for more food and could lead to overindulgence.
In February 2008, another study came out. This time, it links saccharin to weight gain. Like the 2005 study, they concluded that there was something about diet soda that made people eat more but this study narrowed the reason down to artificial sweeteners.
As with many things, there is a warning about applying the findings of a study too broadly:
He [Adam Drewnowski] added: “We now have studies showing that sugar calories are associated with obesity and the absence of sugar is associated with obesity. Pity those people trying to do something about obesity.”
[Via LA Times]
For my soda consumption, I used to drink regular Mountain Dew. Then I switched to Diet Mountain Dew. Then I quit the soda, then started drinking it again, then quit again, and now I’m back drinking Diet Dew again. I’m a roller coaster pop drinker. The caffeine and the sweetness lure me back to it every time.
After reading these studies, I was reminded of a few things:
- Diet sodas, while calorie free for the most part, add artificial stuff to my body that it probably doesn’t need.
- I could drink regular soda but I’d be drinking calories that are not nutritious.
- Water is healthy for you, satisfies thirst and has zero calories.
In my mind, I know the benefits of drinking water. I’ve written about water before on here because it is a great thing to drink while dieting. But my addiction to sweet, caffeinated drinks is strong.
Starting tomorrow, I will work towards weaning myself off of the Diet Mountain Dew again. It will be healthier for me, and I’ll save some money too!
