How Many Calories Are Burned Per Day Per Pound of Muscle?
Muscle burns an additional 6 calories per day. I actually quoted 12 calories per day in my earlier post, but with further research it looks like 6 is the more accurate number. People don’t agree on the exact number, but 6 looks like a good average. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has it close to 5 and I’ve seen other studies where it is a bit higher. Bottom line…muscle doesn’t increase your metabolism THAT much. Let’s Put This Into Perspective If someone loses 20 pounds of fat, they will burn 40 LESS calories per day. A 10 pound muscle gain would burn 60 calories per day. A person who had this type of body composition change would burn a grand total of 20 more calories per day! If that same person lost 20 pounds of fat and gained 20 pounds of muscle, they would only increase their daily calories burned by 80 total calories! Not exciting at all! How Many Calories Burned to Lose a Pound of Fat? It takes 3,500 calories burned to lose a pound of fat. An extra 20 calories per day
