-Diablo's Journal, 28 Jul 21

I was thinking of an easy way to explain why muscle mass makes such a big difference in fat loss and helps you keep it off. I posted a before and after shot not too long ago of me at 215 pounds of body weight when I was untrained vs. trained. The difference was dramatic. Let's say someone has 30 pounds more muscle at the same body weight. It is said that muscle burns an extra 10 calories at rest per day than fat. So that would be 300 calories.

Now, take into consideration that those 30 pounds of muscle make you a lot stronger. Instead of pushing 20k pounds of weight per workout, you're pushing 100k in an hour. That will burn a lot more calories. So if we go by the exercise diary here on FS, 1 hour of bodybuilding weight training burns 741 calories. 1 hour of moderate weight training burns 556. Now you add 300 plus the difference in calorie burn for the weight training(185 calories). Now say you workout for 2 hours (370 calories). So that is a total of 670 calories per day. Also, I think the difference would be even bigger but we'll go with that.

So now, your maintenance is 3420 vs. 2750. Now take away the weight training and the untrained sedentary guy is burning 2200. That's a 1220 calorie per day difference. Now add 30 min to an hour of walking per day and the difference would be huge! So an intake that would keep the training bodybuilder at maintenance would have the couch potato gaining over 10-15 pounds a month.

I thought this was going to be nice, easy, and short...oh well. Hope this helps people see the effect that adding more solid weight onto your body can have.

---

2827 kcal

Fat: 93.99g | Prot: 199.03g | Carbs: 344.01g.   Breakfast: Premier Nutrition High Protein Shake - Chocolate, Better Body Foods PB Fit Peanut Butter Powder, Fairlife Chocolate 2% Reduced Fat Ultra Filtered Milk, Post Churros Cereal, Dannon Light & Fit Greek Yogurt - Vanilla (170g), Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bar. Lunch: Strawberries, Great Value Light Greek Nonfat Yogurt Vanilla, Michigan Apples Gala Apples, Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bar. Dinner: Fairlife Chocolate 2% Reduced Fat Ultra Filtered Milk, Sugared or Glazed Doughnuts . more...