The muscle and metabolism myth

One of the biggest myths about metabolism is the idea that with every new pound (0.45 kg) of muscle mass your body will burn an additional 50-100 calories per day.

According to Adam Zikerman, author of The Health Program. The power of ten, three extra pounds of muscle burns about 10,000 calories per month. ”

Zikerman also says 3 extra pounds of muscle “burn as much same calories how much would you burn if you ran 40 km in week, or 25 aerobic workouts per month. ”

You also probably read that muscles burn calories around the clock to support yourself even when you are sleeping or sit at your desk. ”

The effect of muscle mass on metabolic rate

When you gain muscle mass, the basal metabolic rate (the number of calories your body is able to burn peace) rises. But during this period, much less is consumed. 50-100 calories that are often written about.

Where did this figure of 50-100 come from? calories

I dont know. It seems like it’s just one of those myths that is so it has long existed that its veracity is no longer in doubt, just as we often have misconceptions about many things. Someone says something, then someone else repeats it, and then we repeat it. And then a friend, it becomes a fact.

If you look at the results of research on changes in muscle mass and metabolism, it may develop the impression that the metabolic rate in the muscles is about 50-100 calories per pound (≈100-200 cal / kg). But if you look closely more carefully, then you will understand that not everything is so simple.

A good example is a study in which studied a group of 26 men, performing 18 weeks power training. In the first 8 weeks, these men scored about 1, 27 kg of dry body weight, and the average daily metabolic rate grew by 263 calories.

Dividing the increased basal metabolic rate (263 calories) by an increased indicator of dry body weight (1.27 kg), we get 207 calories per kilogram. However, we cannot assume that this the figure reflects the metabolism in the muscles.

Why?

The first problem is that daily metabolism includes the costs of physical activity. We cannot with confident to say that an increase in calorie intake has occurred only due to the appeared muscle mass.

But this is not the only problem.

From the 8th to the 18th week, these men gained another 0.8 kg of dry weight body. If muscles had such a big effect on metabolism, then we should have seen another increase in the rate of exchange substances. But that did not happen. Also during the study was not revealed no changes in metabolism during sleep.

Moreover, methods for measuring basic metabolism and body composition vary in their accuracy and reliability. We do not know exactly Does baseline metabolic rate change due to additional muscle mass, or is it measurement errors.

In addition, other studies show an increase in speed. basic metabolism, even when an increase is taken into account dry body weight. Scientists believe that in this process, in addition to other dry mass increases are also partially involved mechanisms (such as changes in sympathetic nervous activity systems).

And then fat is not just “dead” tissue. He highlights such proteins like leptin and cytokines that can affect metabolism.

What is the real metabolic rate in the muscles?

In fact, the muscles have a very low metabolic rate if they are at rest, where they stay most time. And muscle metabolism is inferior in speed compared to other parts of the body.

In fact, the heart and kidneys are at the highest level. resting metabolism (400 calories per kg). Brain (218 calories per kg) and liver (182) also have high rates.

In contrast, the level of basic metabolism in skeletal muscle is only 12 calories per kg, and fat burning is 4 calories per kg

In other words, while skeletal muscle and fat play 2 leading roles, their contribution to energy consumption at rest is less than other organs.

The lion’s share of energy at rest is consumed by such organs like the liver, kidneys, heart and brain, which make up only 5-6% of your weight.

As is often the case with similar questions, not all converge on exact numbers.

Printed in “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” Robert Wolf, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at the University of Texas Medical Branch, “notes that” every new 10 kilograms of muscle masses increase energy expenditure by 100 calories per day, subject to the presence of a constant balance between synthesis and protein breakdown. ”

This means 10 calories per kilogram – a figure that is not much different from the above 12 calories per kilogram.

I want to note the important difference between the muscles that are at rest and muscles that are at rest recovery.

The above estimates of basic muscle metabolism allow make an assumption about what should happen in the body a constant process of protein breakdown and synthesis.

However, most strength training will speed up protein turnover (i.e. will increase the rate of its synthesis and decay), which will increase consumption calories in a few hours (and in some cases days) after training.

And there are studies that prove that the more muscle, the more calories you burn after intense workout.

After performing exercises in the body processes it takes time to bounce back. Expended glucose and fat should be replenished. Damaged muscle cells need recovery. All this requires energy.

And the more processes need to be restored, the more calories (mainly from fat) are burned after exercise is over.

In other words, while the metabolic rate in muscles in dormancy is not as high as previously thought, metabolic rate of recovering muscles demonstrates that people with more muscle mass will burn more calories after exercise.

What does all this mean to you?

If you replace 1 fat with 1 kilogram of muscle in your body, then your metabolism will increase by less than 20 calories per day.

It takes a huge amount of muscle mass to significantly increase your metabolism – much more than most people will be able to dial in the gym.

This brings me to another important point.

Among people with large reserves of fat who start training from the beginning or after the break, only very few will simultaneously gain a lot of muscle mass and burn a lot of fat. The body is not so easy to do these two things at once.

That’s why I recommend focusing on one of the 2 processes, if you want to get in shape – either build muscle and minimize fat gain, or burn fat while maintaining muscle mass.

Despite the fact that the basic metabolism in mice is not so high, as previously thought, this does not mean that strength training useless for burning fat. This is far from the case. AT in fact, they will improve your body composition by a few ways.

First, strength exercises make the body burn calories and fat not only during training, but also after it, if you train hard enough.

Secondly, if you do not perform strength exercises during staying on a diet, then in addition to fat you will lose a lot of muscle masses.

If you are lucky to gain a significant amount of muscle in the process fat burning, then their effect on basic metabolism will be small, and, of course will not be 10,000 extra calories in month.

Interesting topic:

1. Muscles, their structure and properties
2. Overtraining in athletes: how to treat and how to avoid overtraining
3. What is the rate of natural muscle growth?