Muscle burns more calories?

g3n3l

The root belief around this question is that "additional muscle mass will make you burn more fat". I've done some study on this idea, and my conclusion is that while this belief is TECHNICALLY true, you have to be a fairly seriously bodybuilder, and add a very large amount of lean mass in order for that muscle mass to make any noticeable difference in your ability to burn fat. Sorry. Most of your anti-fat war is waged by diet (90%), and exercise(10%). And the more lean you get, the more difficult fat burning becomes. This happens due to both psychological factors (the more lean you get the less drastic the changes become) and physiological (your diet has to get much smarter as you lean out). Dropping the soft drinks, bread, and fruit might be all you need to do if you are 100 lbs overweight...you'll drop weight. but if you're at 12% fat trying to get to 6%, you have to have your diet really dialed in and adopt new strategies (intermittent fasting, carb cycling, etc).

osubuks92

BUMP

Azdak

The root belief around this question is that "additional muscle mass will make you burn more fat". I've done some study on this idea, and my conclusion is that while this belief is TECHNICALLY true, you have to be a fairly seriously bodybuilder, and add a very large amount of lean mass in order for that muscle mass to make any noticeable difference in your ability to burn fat. Sorry. Most of your anti-fat war is waged by diet (90%), and exercise(10%). And the more lean you get, the more difficult fat burning becomes. This happens due to both psychological factors (the more lean you get the less drastic the changes become) and physiological (your diet has to get much smarter as you lean out). Dropping the soft drinks, bread, and fruit might be all you need to do if you are 100 lbs overweight...you'll drop weight. but if you're at 12% fat trying to get to 6%, you have to have your diet really dialed in and adopt new strategies (intermittent fasting, carb cycling, etc).

Hence the pitfalls of "one size fits all" diet or exercise strategies. I think it is easy for beginners to get sidetracked by peripheral issues instead of just being consistent about following the few most important guidelines.

BigGuy47

It's the TON of calories your body churns thru to repair the damage you do while strength training. First the calories go to replenishment, then repair, then they try to build. That's where the weight management effect of strength training comes into play,

I'm guessing there's no good way to calculate the calories expended from weight training.

I do cardio and weight training. I enter both activities into MFP, the calorie burn for weight training isn't calculated by MFP. I still enter the strength exercise for record keeping purposes only. I just consider the weight training a bonus on top of the cardio, extra credit if you will.

A HRM would probably be fairly useless for calculating calorie burn for weight training. Correct?

Should I be tracking the calories used for weight training?

DavPul

The root belief around this question is that "additional muscle mass will make you burn more fat". I've done some study on this idea, and my conclusion is that while this belief is TECHNICALLY true, you have to be a fairly seriously bodybuilder, and add a very large amount of lean mass in order for that muscle mass to make any noticeable difference in your ability to burn fat. Sorry. Most of your anti-fat war is waged by diet (90%), and exercise(10%). And the more lean you get, the more difficult fat burning becomes. This happens due to both psychological factors (the more lean you get the less drastic the changes become) and physiological (your diet has to get much smarter as you lean out). Dropping the soft drinks, bread, and fruit might be all you need to do if you are 100 lbs overweight...you'll drop weight. but if you're at 12% fat trying to get to 6%, you have to have your diet really dialed in and adopt new strategies (intermittent fasting, carb cycling, etc).

Hence the pitfalls of "one size fits all" diet or exercise strategies. I think it is easy for beginners to get sidetracked by peripheral issues instead of just being consistent about following the few most important guidelines.

Totally agree. It's almost a "too much information is a dangerous thing" situation on MFP. People get incredibly sidetracked instead of just getting it done.

DavPul

5' 2" tall - I have done cardio only, have done lifting only, now do a combo of both (heavy weight, low reps) - the combo give "me" the all around best results, fat loss, building lean muscle, better definition, look better overall, also have strength gains which is very beneficial in real life, injury prevention, bone health etc.

Lifting only for me, did not give enough fat loss, I am older (age 47) short, and female. So for "me" - I need cardio AND resistance, to reach "my" goals. my fat loss is better with both, vs one or the other alone.

Lifting NOW with Cardio, will actually give you better overall results then cardio only, even though you are heavier now.

You may not "see" the muscle yet, but you will still tighten up underneath, so you will lose inches faster, clothing will fit better, (smaller sizes) and when you do "start" to see some muscle definition - you will seem to see very fast results, because you have already build that muscle, but now you finally see it. Just getting fat off the top. And it really is very encouraging to help you keep going, no matter what your goal.

If you wait, you may loss a lot of weight, but likely will loss more lean muscle, (doing only cardio) and though you may be "smaller" you will be lossier and "flabbier" and still look "fat" when actually you are seeing loss skin, and loose muscle that must be tighten. Thats pretty depressing, when you feel like you have been working so hard for the past moths, and this is where you now are.....

Its also hard for women to gain muscle, you really do not want to lose to much muscle now, if you can avoid it, because it can be very difficult to regain. Easier to try and keep what you have at least, and try to also lose the fat.

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/cardio-vs-strength-training-workouts

Adding in heavy lifting to my routine has made dramatic changes to my body look, feel, tightness and tone. I look WAY better now, with extra muscle. Even though the scale says I weigh 15 lbs more then I did doing cardio only, when I was previously at this same "goal" size - I look much better, smaller and leaner - then I looked in the past with less muscle.

I fit in smaller clothing, don't jiggle (where I should not), and look good dressed or nakkid.

Even when I was heavier, with 50 lbs to lose, the muscle I had made me "look" better, smaller etc.

See pics below, from an earlier post I made, for some examples on the way added muscle changes appearance.

Heres some pictures that may help you.
My results have been similar, I am 10-15 pounds heavier then my "rough goal weight" but am already AT my goal clothing size, and physically I am about 1-2 times smaller clothing wise, then last time I was at my goal weight (when I had less muscle) - So I look tighter leaner and smaller, then before at my "small" weight. (size 7/8)
So to everyone else I look like I am already at my goal weight. But I am scale weight heavier, which is fine Ignore the scale.
Less weight - yep you will look good dressed and may fit the smaller clothing size - but, add more muscle and a bit more scale weight - you also fit the smaller clothing size, AND look good dressed AND look good nakkid. Thats a win-win

5 lbs heavier in after pic, but tighter and leaner


Not same girl, but cute example


Same weight, after was when she started lifting heavy


Different girls but both size 4


Same girl, before and after lifting heavy weights, she lost 5 lbs


Stacy, read her story here: She is 14 lbs heavier in after
http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/


10 lbs heavier in after


10 lbs heavier in after


Different girl, but both size 2


5 pounds difference - big body change


Fat vs Muscle

What a terrific all around post. Thank you.

tangal88

Rogiefreida

Hey,

Thanks for all the replies.

@ Brian Sharpe, I currently spend about 50% of my time on each, and was just wondering whether it would be better to shift my focus more to cardio, for my current goal, which is to lose about 4kg. Because I currently have quite a high body fat percentage, and a large motivation for building more muscle is to look better, I just felt, that considering I have quite a bit of fat to get rid of first, perhaps shifting to cardio, would speed up shifting the weight, and so help me to get better defined looking muscles in the long run. But yes I totally agree, wouldn't switch to pure cardio forever.

@DavPul, thanks very much for that insight, I hadn't at all considered the energy that would be burnt in repairing muscular tears.

@jacqueling I definitely agree that toned is better... I just feel I have too much fat in the way hiding it at the moment, and maybe it would be better to concentrate on shifting that first.

Haven't finished reading all the responses in this thread yet, but FWIW, I am in the same boat as far as not having a ton of weight to lose, but having a high body fat percentage. I consulted with a PT at the gym and she strongly recommended I at least add strength training to my workouts to decrease my BFP, since I'm not overweight but would like to lower my body fat. So, I'm doing a combo, just started last week so I have nothing to share at the moment as far as progress goes (other than I'm sore as hell. lol).:bigsmile:

ETA: tangal88, your post was awesome and very inspirational.

g3n3l

(other than I'm sore as hell. lol

Sore is a good sign:-) This may seem a bit of a blasphemy, but when I'm trying to cut, I stop or at least reduce squats/leg workouts and do mostly upper-body training, so it doesn't impact my cardio/hiit routine. But that strategy depends on what your goals are. PT's will advise you to add strength training while on calorie restriction for 2 reasons: 1) to preserve muscle mass 2) to avoid the "skinny-fat" look. Just don't expect to add a lot of muscle while on calorie restriction.