How many calories in a pound of muscle?

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Banana Brain

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I know it takes 3500 excess calories to gain 1 lb of fat, but how many calories (probably mostly protein calories I'd imagine) plus weightlifting does it take to gain 1 lb of muscle? I don't know how to figure it out, but I would imagine it would be less calories than in a pound of fat, since protein is 3 calories per gram and fat is 9 per gram.
 
Wait, I couldn't find it anywhere but I think I may have just figured it out. There must be about 1350 calories in 1 lb of muscle. Fat calories are figured by simple multiplication (I learned this from someplace else). A pound is 450 grams, but 10% of a pound of fat is actually water, so its more like 405 grams really. You multiply 9 (calories per gram) by 405 grams and get about 3645 calories in one pound of fat. So for muscle I did 3 calories per gram times 450 grams and got 1350 calories in a pound of fat. And obviously that would be 450 grams of protein.
 
Wait, crap, that doesn't make sense either. Because... of a lot of things. Like there couldn't be 1350 calories in 450 grams of protein, could there? I'm so confused. Please tell me someone who knows!
 
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Muscle consumes 300 calories, per pound, per day, just being muscle. There is no way to calculate how many calories you need to consume to gain 1 pound of muscle, though. There are too many mitigating factors to consider.
 
Caine said:
Muscle consumes 300 calories, per pound, per day, just being muscle. There is no way to calculate how many calories you need to consume to gain 1 pound of muscle, though. There are too many mitigating factors to consider.
Ok, but how much harvastable energy (which can be translated in calories) is in one pound of muscle? Thats what I'm trying to figure out.
 
You cannot create muscle by eating more calories. Muscles grow based on the demands made on them. They increase in size to accommodae the work they are asked to perform.
 
Andy M. said:
You cannot create muscle by eating more calories. Muscles grow based on the demands made on them. They increase in size to accommodae the work they are asked to perform.
But you do need to eat more to build more muscle by working out. It would be impossible to become larger if you were only taking in what you needed for energy, would it not? In order to increase muscles with minimum increase of fat, body builders need to take in a lot of calories from protien I know. They also have to have a lot more calories than most people who aren't trying to become larger. And if you ate a pound of human fat (if you were a cannibal) you would have consumed about 3500 calories. But what if you atea a pound of human muscle? Thats all I want to know.

And just so you know I'm not a cannibal. That was a hypothetical example.
 
Banana Brain said:
Wait, crap, that doesn't make sense either. Because...

You're right ... you can't figure it that way.

A pound of muscle is not something you can just base everything on ... a pound of bacon is about 2,300 calories, a pound of lean beef is about 1,257 calories, and a pound of chicken is about 640 calories (depending on the calorie scale you look at).

The problem is that muscle is not something gained from how many calories, or pounds, of what food you eat ... like Andy said ... it is something your body builds from hard work ... like lifting weights. For example, if you basal metabolic rate is 800 cals per day and you don't exercise on top of that ... and you eat a 1,200 calorie a day diet and an additional 3,500 calories per day of muscle meat ... the calories in excess of what your body needs will be stored as FAT, not lean muscle.

Calories, derived from different sources, are metabolized at different rates. Some provide quick energy to allow you to do the workout ... others are used later during the "recovery phase" after the workout to replenish and supply materials for building muscle to meet the workload demand imposed by the workout - ie, build new muscle mass.

Any bodybuilder, nutritionist, coach, exercise physiologist, etc. will tell you that it takes a balanced diet that includes things like "fats" - not just lean raw muscle meat in addition to exercise to "bulk up" - and it takes exercise of the muscles that you want to develop.

Do you think Joe Weider, Jack LeLane, Lou Ferrigno, or Arnold Schwarzenegger bulked up eating steaks and sitting on their butts in front of the tv or computer?

If you are in college - take a conditioning class. If you have a Jr. College in your area - check with them about taking a class. If not - join a gym or fitness center ... if that isn't an option ... then you can start doing some bodybuilding nutrition research online. I'm partial to the Weider System ... which is what I used when I wanted to add 20-pounds of muscle when I was very active in martial arts. Weider has supplements (found in just about any health food store) and books that are nutritional sound and I know work .. in addition to a lot of sweat and hard work.
 
Michael in FtW said:
You're right ... you can't figure it that way.

A pound of muscle is not something you can just base everything on ... a pound of bacon is about 2,300 calories, a pound of lean beef is about 1,257 calories, and a pound of chicken is about 640 calories (depending on the calorie scale you look at).

The problem is that muscle is not something gained from how many calories, or pounds, of what food you eat ... like Andy said ... it is something your body builds from hard work ... like lifting weights. For example, if you basal metabolic rate is 800 cals per day and you don't exercise on top of that ... and you eat a 1,200 calorie a day diet and an additional 3,500 calories per day of muscle meat ... the calories in excess of what your body needs will be stored as FAT, not lean muscle.

Calories, derived from different sources, are metabolized at different rates. Some provide quick energy to allow you to do the workout ... others are used later during the "recovery phase" after the workout to replenish and supply materials for building muscle to meet the workload demand imposed by the workout - ie, build new muscle mass.

Any bodybuilder, nutritionist, coach, exercise physiologist, etc. will tell you that it takes a balanced diet that includes things like "fats" - not just lean raw muscle meat in addition to exercise to "bulk up" - and it takes exercise of the muscles that you want to develop.

Do you think Joe Weider, Jack LeLane, Lou Ferrigno, or Arnold Schwarzenegger bulked up eating steaks and sitting on their butts in front of the tv or computer?

If you are in college - take a conditioning class. If you have a Jr. College in your area - check with them about taking a class. If not - join a gym or fitness center ... if that isn't an option ... then you can start doing some bodybuilding nutrition research online. I'm partial to the Weider System ... which is what I used when I wanted to add 20-pounds of muscle when I was very active in martial arts. Weider has supplements (found in just about any health food store) and books that are nutritional sound and I know work .. in addition to a lot of sweat and hard work.
Oh. Thanks for the responce, but one more q: is a pound of fat from different animals always the same though? I would just assume, since we CAN figure the amount of cals in 1 lb fat.
 
Actually Banana Brain is correct. There is a minimum level of calorie excess you need you need to create a LB of muscle. You must also give your body the nutrients it needs to create that muscle but that is beside the point you need energy (calories) as well as building materials (nutrients) to create anything.

On the flip side to this, if you diet improperly, by severe calorie restrictions below your RMR (resting metabolic rate) and your body flips into starvation mode, it will harvest the calories from muscle instead of fat. So there is also a harvestable calories per lb of muscle, just as 3500 calories is harvestable per LB of fat.

Unfortunately I don't know what it is. That’s why I came here. I am searching for that number. I want to calculate how much muscle I am losing if I restrict my diet too much. Calories per lb of muscle is not the only number I need, however I do need it to make the calculation, and I do know it is has been calculated before even if only from finding the amount of calories in human muscle by heating one gram of water one degree Celsius at 15°C (definition of a calorie). Unfortunately no one in the “health” community seems interested in explaining how or where they got their information, so there is no way to believe or disbelieve them only to guess at who is correct. Is being healthy science or a faith? If you say it is faith then I say that is why so many diets fail. It takes faith in science to lose weight and stay fit and healthy. (Or a very lucky guess)
 
Good grief, I have no idea what is going on here.

Frankly I am confused as to what the poster wants to know.

And I cannot fathom the post by tojomo.

Sorry guys, you're not asking cogent questions.
 
Good grief, I have no idea what is going on here.

Frankly I am confused as to what the poster wants to know.

And I cannot fathom the post by tojomo.

Sorry guys, you're not asking cogent questions.
Thanks auntdot, this thread made my head hurt like a crockpot thread a few weeks ago.
Not that I'm dumb, there's just too much thought involved about food sometimes!
EAT! DON"T SIT! (alot)
There, problem solved.
 
Actually Banana Brain is correct. There is a minimum level of calorie excess you need you need to create a LB of muscle. You must also give your body the nutrients it needs to create that muscle but that is beside the point you need energy (calories) as well as building materials (nutrients) to create anything.

Not true as you stated it! Yes, you must have more calories than your BMR PLUS the calories you expend exercising ... this is where the building blocks come from to build new muscle. But there is no one magic number. How much you stress your muscles is a factor - and how you stress them ... you can do light weight/high reps and build strength without building muscle mass - even on the same diet and expending the same number of calories.

On the flip side to this, if you diet improperly, by severe calorie restrictions below your RMR (resting metabolic rate) and your body flips into starvation mode, it will harvest the calories from muscle instead of fat. So there is also a harvestable calories per lb of muscle, just as 3500 calories is harvestable per LB of fat.

Unfortunately I don't know what it is. That’s why I came here. I am searching for that number.

If you take your BMR + daily activity level factor to get your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and reduce your caloric intake by about 14%-18% .... for every pound you lose (3,500 calories burned above that level) about 75%-80% will be fat and 20%-25% will be muscle - by weight. But, then you have to look at the volumetrics and density ... the density of fat is about 0.9g/cm³ amd muscle is about 1.1g/cm³ - so muscle is about 22% more dense than fat.

I want to calculate how much muscle I am losing if I restrict my diet too much.

Again - the answer is theoretical without testing - and a little more complex because it's not a linear inverse proportional relationship. I have seen nomograms in my physiology books ... but I don't have them anymore.

Calories per lb of muscle is not the only number I need, however I do need it to make the calculation, and I do know it is has been calculated before even if only from finding the amount of calories in human muscle by heating one gram of water one degree Celsius at 15°C (definition of a calorie). Unfortunately no one in the “health” community seems interested in explaining how or where they got their information, so there is no way to believe or disbelieve them only to guess at who is correct. Is being healthy science or a faith? If you say it is faith then I say that is why so many diets fail. It takes faith in science to lose weight and stay fit and healthy. (Or a very lucky guess)

LOL ... the "health community" gets their information about diet and nutrition from physiologists, exercise physiologists, sports medicine, and nutritionists. If every GP knew everything about medicine there wouldn't be a need for Diagnosticians (Internests) or sub specialties like Cardiologists, Pulmonologists, Endocrinologists, and the various sub-specialties of surgeons, etc.

Since you are referencing BB (who is trying to bulk up) and I get the general impression from your post that you're trying to shed a few pounds of fat with a minimal loss of lean muscle mass (not the same thing) .... you might try reading these sites:

How To Gain Lean Bodyweight - it also explains the weight gain/weight loss in the bodybuilding cycle.

The BMI/BMR calculator ... includes sensible weight gain/loss information

Hope this helps you find your magic numbers.
 
I too am interested in how many cals you need to eat extra to gain a pound of muscle, or, how to calculate it. As said the amount extra for a pound of fat gain is ref'd as 3500, but muscle should be alot less.

Also, I don't see how you can build strength without also building muscle.
 
Wouldn't it be nice if you could eat something and add muscle by doing that.

Sadly, it's not that easy. You have to exercise to add muscle. If you demand more of muscles on a regular basis, they will get bigger to satisfy that demand.

You have to eat 3500 calories more than your body uses to gain a pound. To lose a pound, you have to burn 3,500 more calories than you eat. Whether it's fat or muscle is dependent on whether you sit on the couch and watch TV or exercise.

It's your choice.
 
Wouldn't it be nice if you could eat something and add muscle by doing that.

Sadly, it's not that easy. You have to exercise to add muscle. If you demand more of muscles on a regular basis, they will get bigger to satisfy that demand.

You have to eat 3500 calories more than your body uses to gain a pound. To lose a pound, you have to burn 3,500 more calories than you eat. Whether it's fat or muscle is dependent on whether you sit on the couch and watch TV or exercise.

It's your choice.

Exercise goes without saying.
I'm just wondering about the cals required to gain 1 pound of muscle. It should be less than a pound of fat if you think about it.
 
I'm not sure that's something that's easily measureable. To gain a pound of muscle you must do some extensive exercising. How many calories you have to expend to do the amount of exercise needed to add a pound of muscle may vary for several reasons.

If a person is a couch potato who does not exercise at all, he may be able to add a pound of muscle with a lower number of calories spent on exercise vs. a highly developed, body builder who already has lots of highly developed musculature.

Why do you think it would be less than the number of calories to add a pound of fat?
 
I'm not sure that's something that's easily measureable. To gain a pound of muscle you must do some extensive exercising. How many calories you have to expend to do the amount of exercise needed to add a pound of muscle may vary for several reasons.

If a person is a couch potato who does not exercise at all, he may be able to add a pound of muscle with a lower number of calories spent on exercise vs. a highly developed, body builder who already has lots of highly developed musculature.

Why do you think it would be less than the number of calories to add a pound of fat?

Couch potatoes vs BBrs I know, that's why I said how many cals extra. Not how many to eat, but how many excess over and above maintenance for metabolism and activity, etc.

It should be less going by the energy value of a pound of muscle vs a pound of fat. Muscle, aside from the energy it's going to take for the structure's physiology to be built which is more complex than adipose tissue I would think, is like a store of protein (sure to us it's more than that) whereas adipose is a store of fat. The energy from a gram of protein is 4cals, 9cals for 1g fat. So, unless the difference in the energy of fat and muscle formation going by their stored energy is made up by the extra complexity of muscle vs adipose I'm thinking muscle would be less.

Also, most of fat tissue is fat, whereas much of muscle is water.
 
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I don't think there's any exact answer to this. Everybody is different and will have different needs. Also, training programs are different and will produce different results in different people. With that said, we are left with general guidelines such as eat an extra 3500 calories to gain a pound (hopefully mostly muscle but there will be some fat).

I recently started reading "Fitness an Health" by Sharkey and Gaskill. I haven't gotten to the speific section yet but I looked up their recommendations for weight gain and they say the following for adding one pound per week:

- Have a strength training program to build lean body weight.
- Reduce calorie burning activities such as aerobics and sports activities.
- Increase calorie consumption (+750 calories on weight training days and +250 calories on non training days). These extra calories should be largely from low fat, protein rich foods.

Seems pretty basic to me but remember that YMMV. I used to do a lot of weight training with some pretty hardcore people. I've known people who can add lean pounds easily and others who would eat everything in sight and never gain a pound.

Michael
 
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