For every pound of muscle you gain, you will burn about 5 more calories per day, according to the Chief of Metabolism at the University of Texas, Robert Wolfe. Your body needs a certain amount of calories in order to support fat and muscle mass. Since muscle is more metabolically active than fat mass, individuals with more muscle require more calories. Fat mass only burns about 2 calories per pound. Both types of calories are essential to survival, but consuming too many calories from fat or protein results in weight gain and other health complications.
Types of Calories
A calorie represents how much energy it takes to burn one unit of energy. Calories from fat are broken down into fatty acids and are used for energy or they get stored as body fat. Protein calories break down into amino acids to build muscles. Excess protein is not used by the body and gets flushed out in urine. Fat calories never change into muscles and protein does not change to fat.
Protein Calories
There are 20 amino acids that help build muscles and maintain body structure. Eight amino acids are considered essential because your body cannot make them and you must get them from your diet. For healthy individuals, the American Heart Association recommends consuming between 15 and 20 percent of total calories from protein. Consuming less than the recommended amounts of protein causes the body to use muscle as a source of energy.
Exercise Caloric Needs
Increasing your muscle mass will also increase the number of calories that you burn during and after a workout, says Wolfe. After an exercise session, the body uses energy to replenish glucose in the muscles and to remove waste products. The more muscle that needs to be replenished and rebuilt the more calories the body expends.
Metabolic Rate
One factor that influences your resting metabolic rate is your body composition. Men generally have a higher caloric need because they tend to have more lean muscle tissue, which increases their resting metabolism by 10 to 15 percent more than women. Losing body fat or gaining muscle will alter your resting metabolic rate and how many calories you should consume in a day.
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