How many calories does fat and muscle use?
A pound of muscle can burn between 35 to 50 calories per day (depending on whether you use it or not) while an equal amount of fat (1 pound) only burns 2 – 3 calories a day. Another way to state this is: In order to keep a pound of muscle on your body you must consume 35 – 50 calories or it will begin to diminish. But, all a pound of fat needs to stay ‘healthy’ is between 2 – 3 calories. The amount of calories your body needs to keep tissue healthy (whether fat, muscle, cartilage, or any other type) is part of your BMR (basal metabolic rate — also knows as base metabolic rate or resting metabolic rate). Knowing this it’s not hard to understand why it’s so difficult for very overweight individuals to see a major difference in their body structures in the short-term — it simply takes more energy to create and maintain quality muscle than it does fat.
