Does muscle really burn an extra 50 calories?

Workout4Health

I'm trying to find the truth about this. Cardio gets bashed a lot, and often I think unjustifiably. The claim by many professionals is that a pound of muscle gained equals an extra 50 calories burned per day. So 5 pounds would be an extra 250 calories, the equivalent of a 3 mile walk. However, I am very skeptical about that claim. Because a lot of football players are over weight and bodybuilders gain fat during the off season. If a pound of muscle burned about 50 calories, wouldn't the extra 30 pounds of muscle burn about 1,500 calories? Body builders seem to have no problem putting on weight, why doesn't all that extra muscle just burn the fat off? Why would there need to be a bulking period if their muscles burn that much?

Having said that, I have found that throughout my life, I've always been leaner when I've been working out with weights.

I also wanted this observation to be addressed by others. Girls don't typically have a lot of muscle. So if girls cannot gain very much muscle weight in the gym, how is weight lifting benefiting their metabolism? I'm trying to ask critical questions here, so please don't think I'm trying to act stupid.

Sapporo

Only personal anecdote here, but with weight lifting regularly, I can get away with more accidental binges not affecting my weight and eating more overall with still getting smaller in clothing sizes, than eating less and not lifting weights. This did not kick in until about 7-8 months of weight lifting but it is pretty sweet now.
Also, being stronger is pretty awesome, I started running a couple of months ago and my progress is amazing, thanks to leg muscles and increased fitness level.

Holla4mom

Great question. I'm new here and wondering the same thing.

QueenBishOTUniverse

I will just say spend some time looking in to how many calories those body builders and football players are consuming when they are trying to bulk. I'm not sure about exact numbers, but in general people with higher lean body mass will have higher TDEE's and this means they will require more calories to maintain weight, and the main component of lean body mass that can be increased is muscle, so more muscle = more LBM = higher TDEE = you get to eat more calories.

As a personal example, I have a decent amount of muscle for someone my height and weight (5'8" and 164.6lbs). I eat around 2300 to 2500 calories a day to lose weight, and the only exercise I do outside of normal daily activity is lifting four days a week.

Also, just because it's slower for women to add muscle doesn't mean it can't be done.

spoiledpuppies

No. Google it. You'll find results saying things like:

- A pound of muscle burns 6-10 calories, while a pound of fat burns 2-4.
- 10 pounds of muscle burns 50 calories, while 10 pounds of fat burns 20

Not much more for muscle. The best way to increase burn is to move more.

JoeCampbell85

I think saying one pound of muscle burns an extra 50 calories is a bit much. I'm not sure of this guys sources:

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/does-building-muscle-burn-fat/

but his 5-6 extra calories is far more believable. I have read some studies that showed HIIT and weight lifting increased residual metabolism post-workout, however, I don't have it on hand. If you really force me to, I can probably find it. So, that is a few more calories extra.

In the grand scheme of things, though, it doesn't matter that much. Weight lifting and cardio are beneficial for different reasons, neither being that they help you lose weight by themselves all that much.

meshashesha2012

first question : they gain weight just like everyone else, they eat more calories than their bodies can use on average. just because they might be able to eat more than other people doesnt mean that they can't eat more than they need.

this is also anecdotal but i'm a girl (well a woman, actually) and there was a time in my life when i was bulking to help develop more power and strength for the position i played in rugby. the main benefit i found during bulk cycles was that i saw significant increases in strength and power (more food = can get the muscles used to doing more work). at that time, my maintenance calories was around 3K in offseason i would eat around 5k. i knew guys on football and rugby teams who were eating twice that.


just because women can't gain much muscle weight doesnt mean a)that they can't gain any and b) that weight lifting doesnt have benefits. i mean honestly your question is like asking "if you can't save x amount of money each month then what's the point in saving at all?"

QueenBishOTUniverse

Good article because we're mixing some issues. At rest, no muscle doesn't burn all that much more for you. In use, having more muscle will burn more for you, but it's not a huge amount. Muscle recovery, burns even more, so it will help but as most people advise, you don't lift weights to lose weight specifically, but it does make the process easier....

http://www.ncsf.org/enew/articles/articles-poundofmuscle.aspx

paulperryman

i dunno but my motabolism has gone into overdrive the past 3 weeks, so i'd have to say it certainly burns more then not having it

KHolladay36

This is how I heard it explained by a personal trainer.
When the body gets a good workout (ei you are actually sore from working out), you have created tiny "tears" in the muscles. Your body will naturally heal these tears, by using extra calories, to heal the muscles. This in turn creates larger muscles. Over time, this effect will increase muscle strength, allowing you to lift more and become stronger. The key is in working your body to acheive "tiny" tears in muscles, but not working your muscles so much to hurt yourself or go above your capacity. There is no definative number of calories your body will burn, as each person is different. But yes, the body will continue to burn calories long after you have completed your workout. Its your body's natural response to activity.
This is the reason people refer to a body builder as "ripped". They have created larger tears in their muscles that burn high amounts of calories. Keep in mind that simply because you are not loosing weight does not mean you are not building muscle, which weights more than fat, but also burns more fat.
Another thing to remember is that if you work a specific area of the body, DO NOT work that area again for at least a day or two.
For example, if you work your arms and they feel sore the next day, this is a good thing, but don't go to the gym or use your home equipment to work your arms again until they are healed. This is why it is good to follow a simple plan: Cardio one day, then strength training the next, cardio, day off, strength training. Repeat. Your body needs time to heal during strength training to gain the muscle.

Football players...they might be large, but keep in mind even the biggest one will knock you on your *kitten*, and probably have more endurance than you. LOL.

Mr_Knight

The claim by many professionals is that a pound of muscle gained equals an extra 50 calories burned per day.

The number is 6 calories/day.

Unless you're quaffing steroids, it's in the noise and can be ignored.

paulperryman

This is how I heard it explained by a personal trainer.
When the body gets a good workout (ei you are actually sore from working out), you have created tiny "tears" in the muscles. Your body will naturally heal these tears, by using extra calories, to heal the muscles. This in turn creates larger muscles. Over time, this effect will increase muscle strength, allowing you to lift more and become stronger. The key is in working your body to acheive "tiny" tears in muscles, but not working your muscles so much to hurt yourself or go above your capacity. There is no definative number of calories your body will burn, as each person is different. But yes, the body will continue to burn calories long after you have completed your workout. Its your body's natural response to activity.
This is the reason people refer to a body builder as "ripped". They have created larger tears in their muscles that burn high amounts of calories. Keep in mind that simply because you are not loosing weight does not mean you are not building muscle, which weights more than fat, but also burns more fat.
Another thing to remember is that if you work a specific area of the body, DO NOT work that area again for at least a day or two.
For example, if you work your arms and they feel sore the next day, this is a good thing, but don't go to the gym or use your home equipment to work your arms again until they are healed. This is why it is good to follow a simple plan: Cardio one day, then strength training the next, cardio, day off, strength training. Repeat. Your body needs time to heal during strength training to gain the muscle.

Football players...they might be large, but keep in mind even the biggest one will knock you on your *kitten*, and probably have more endurance than you. LOL.

muscle is more dense it does not weigh more. 1kg is 1kg regardless of the matter and fat is energy. Muscle uses energy so it consumes more.

heybales

Good article because we're mixing some issues. At rest, no muscle doesn't burn all that much more for you. In use, having more muscle will burn more for you, but it's not a huge amount. Muscle recovery, burns even more, so it will help but as most people advise, you don't lift weights to lose weight specifically, but it does make the process easier....

http://www.ncsf.org/enew/articles/articles-poundofmuscle.aspx

Yea that makes sense. I can believe muscle burns more calories, but I can't believe it burns infinite more. I did read before that when working out a muscular person will burn more fat than a fat person his same weight. And of course it makes sense that ''recovering'' will burn calories as well.

Your example is good.

Person with less muscle moving same mass at same pace or intensity as person with more muscle moving same mass will burn the same calories both.

But for person with less muscle, it's more intense for it and will burn more carbs and be a harder workout. Person with more muscle is sharing the load, and will burn more fat and have an easier workout.

Now, which one burns more after their type of workout?
The really intense workout where the muscle was overloaded and trying to improve?
Or the easy shared workload where the muscle had an easy time of it and perhaps maintenance usage?

The more muscular person needs to go harder to offset that fact, and that means burning more calories actually.

MelodyandBarbells

I do believe that 50 calorie number is overstated

But the reason to do weight bearing exercise is not solely based on that.

Ask yourself , would you rather have less muscle and more body fat, or relatively more muscle when you're done losing weight? Retaining as much of your muscle mass as possible means you're losing mostly body fat as your weight goes down, and you'll be more likely to be satisfied with your results when you're done.

If you want to do cardio, do cardio. I myself happen to like it very much for helping achieve a caloric deficit for weight loss

cingle87

The figure is nearer the 6 calorie mark per pound so its not really worth paying attention to.

ninerbuff

Good article because we're mixing some issues. At rest, no muscle doesn't burn all that much more for you. In use, having more muscle will burn more for you, but it's not a huge amount. Muscle recovery, burns even more, so it will help but as most people advise, you don't lift weights to lose weight specifically, but it does make the process easier....

http://www.ncsf.org/enew/articles/articles-poundofmuscle.aspx

Pretty much this. But I think where people miss is that to RETAIN or GAIN muscle, workouts have to happen. Those extra workouts help with calorie burn and if eating is controlled, it makes it seem as if body fat gets burned much easier in a muscled up body than one that isn't. Also muscle adds weight to the person increasing BMR.

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