Question from Visitor

Hello,

Thanks for the question.

You wrote:
" Is it true that some people weigh more but look smaller than an indiviual that weighs less than them? if so, why is it that? "

It is possible for a person to be smaller than another of similar body types but yet weigh more. The reason for this is usually muscle mass. The heavier, smaller person tends to carry more muscle. Muscle is much denser than fat weight, thus it occupies less space. Fat takes up more volume of space per pound than muscle. Therefore, a fatter person tends to be bigger than a lean person of the same weight.

We can all witness this process as people age. After the age of around 30 years our body very slowly loses muscle (the rate of loss is slowed with regular exercise). As you lose muscle it reduces the metabolism, the result is we need less calories. Eventually this leads to a positive energy balance (we eat more energy than required) and we slowly replace lost muscle with fat weight. In many cases (those managing to maintain a steady weight over time) some people remain the same weight for years yet they seem to grow in size and width (butt gets bigger, hips, etc). The fact is they do grow bigger as the fat percentage rises. This process is often referred to as "middle-age spread".

You can read more about body types here:

http://www.weightlossforall.com/body-types-weight-loss.htm

Hope this helps!

All the best
Wayne
www.weightlossforall.com