How many calories in a pound of muscle?

[Banana Brain]

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.

[Banana Brain]

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.

[Banana Brain]

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!

[mudbug]

math is not my thing, BB. but muscle BURNS more calories than flab.

[Caine]

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.

[Banana Brain]

Originally Posted by Caine

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.

[Andy M.]

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.

[Banana Brain]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

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.

[Michael in FtW]

Originally Posted by Banana Brain

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.

[Banana Brain]

Originally Posted by Michael in FtW

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.