Can getting leaner make you look bigger?

Getting leaner can indeed make you appear bigger due to increased muscle definition. When you reduce body fat, the contours and separations between muscles become more visible, creating an illusion of larger size. This phenomenon is often experienced by individuals who switch from a focus on bulking to cutting down their body fat percentage. Despite actually weighing less on the scale, the enhanced definition can make one look bigger and more muscular 1 2.

For example, Sal Di Stefano and Adam Schafer from the Mind Pump Podcast shared that despite being lighter, they received more compliments about looking "huge" after they became leaner, reflecting the paradox where one appears bigger due to leanness, not necessarily mass 1.