Those who want to burn calories and lose weight often start a diet. But sport is also important for success, which is due to the high calorie consumption of the muscles. Building muscle can help with weight loss.
Muscles have a higher energy requirement
Appropriate nutrition after training is crucial for building muscle. In particular, in addition to proteins, the calorie requirement must also be considered – “muscles need 100 to 200 kilocalories more energy per day in order to guarantee the build-up at all
Interesting is the high consumption of kilocalories of muscle mass. However, this is necessary, because the muscles have to be “supplied with blood, supplied, warmed up and ultimately also activated by the metabolic process all day long and that costs energy.” A kilo of muscle mass requires about 50 to 100 kilocalories per day, explains the Froböse.
Muscle also differs from fat in terms of weight: muscle is about 13 percent heavier and therefore requires significantly more energy. The big difference: “Fat is a passive organization.”
Burn Calories: Weight Loss by Building Muscle
The high calorie consumption of the muscles can be taken advantage of. Building muscle is also crucial for losing weight. Froboese explains this in a separate blog post
In it he describes that losing weight is a slow process with many small steps. In particular, he recommends beginners and returnees “start with two cardio and three strength units per week.” He’s not talking about several hours, the main thing is muscle building: “The fact is: If you want to burn excess fat, you have to build muscle.” As a result, losing weight initially stagnates, but the weight may even increase.
Nevertheless, the muscles are important because they help to get to the fat reserves faster. At rest, the body uses very little fat. But: “The more muscle I have, the more calories I burn – even when I’m resting,” he explains. If the body burns more calories in a day than it gets from food, it goes to the fat reserves – and the weight loss process begins.