having more muscle mass wont actually help u lose weight

[thisisdabest]

Hi all, i am a newbie to these forums but i have been reading and hanging around here a while,,,,,,,, I always hear the argument here that having more muscle mass will burn more fat and/or calories..........ok i agree so far..........but how will this help an individual to lose more body fat???

The individual would have to eat a surplus or calories to maintain the muscle mass they have in the first place, so basically the extra calories the muscle is burning would have to be taken in be eating anyways to maintain their muscle mass.

Is this correct or am i just wrong?

[pusher]

Sort of. With more LBM your BMR increases making it easier to enter a caloric deficit. If dieting and training correctly, the extra muscle can utilize fat stores to provide its nutrition to maintain under the hypocaloric conditions, although it is easier to catabolize muscle for energy, which is why you must diet and train correctly to maximize how much muscle you keep on a cut.

[ianack4life]

Sort of. With more LBM your BMR increases making it easier to enter a caloric deficit. If dieting and training correctly, the extra muscle can utilize fat stores to provide its nutrition to maintain under the hypocaloric conditions, although it is easier to catabolize muscle for energy, which is why you must diet and train correctly to maximize how much muscle you keep on a cut.

Everyone seems to be afraid of their muscles being burned up if they're in a calorie deficit, this simple isnt how it always work. Proteins in your muscle are one of the last things to get broken down for energy, its not the first place your body turns to as people here seem to want to believe. You can be in a calorie deficit and maintain muscle but you will get smaller mostly due to the fact that you're losing excess fat around the muscles which makes you appear smaller.

[IRN-BRU]

I agree, with more muscle mass, you will have a higher basal calorific requirement, and you'll probably be hungrier as a result. But if you want to lose weight, you'll find it easier to lose weight and stick to a 2500 cal daily diet, than a 2000 cal diet. Just because you can eat more of what you want.

Given this doesnt apply to you guys will iron will power, who dont take pleasure in eating cake. :-)

[pusher]

Everyone seems to be afraid of their muscles being burned up if they're in a calorie deficit, this simple isnt how it always work. Proteins in your muscle are one of the last things to get broken down for energy, its not the first place your body turns to as people here seem to want to believe. You can be in a calorie deficit and maintain muscle but you will get smaller mostly due to the fact that you're losing excess fat around the muscles which makes you appear smaller.

Its a little more complicated than that, and its not all or nothing. If only that were true Still on a cut my arms seem to skrink before my belly.