Dominic Stone
To build muscle, you need to eat a surplus of calories. The number of calories you need to eat depends on your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body requires to maintain basic physiological functions at rest, such as breathing, cell repair, and maintaining body temperature. Your BMR can be calculated using the Harris-Benedict equation, which takes into account your age, gender, weight, and height. However, it's important to note that your age and gender do not directly affect the number of calories you burn. For example, a study found that a mild surplus of around 500 extra calories is sufficient to gain muscle.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Calories needed to build muscle | A calorie surplus of 200-500 calories per day is sufficient to build muscle. This can be calculated by taking into account your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body requires to maintain basic physiological functions at rest. |
| Factors affecting calorie intake | Age, gender, height, and weight. |
| Calories needed to maintain muscle | Once you have built muscle, it can be maintained with a small amount of calories. |
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What You'll Learn
- Calorie surplus: eat more than you burn to build muscle
- Calorie calculators: factor in age, gender, height and weight
- Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): the number of calories your body needs to function at rest
- Calorie deficit: losing one pound of body fat doesn't mean losing one pound of overall weight
- Calories from food: you can get extra calories from food or from energy stored in your body
Calorie surplus: eat more than you burn to build muscle
To build muscle, you need to eat more calories than you burn. This is known as a calorie surplus. The size of the surplus is up to you, but a mild surplus of around 200-500 extra calories per day is sufficient to build muscle. If you eat 100 extra calories every day, you will build muscle slowly.
The foundation of any muscle-building nutrition plan begins with calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR represents the number of calories your body requires to maintain basic physiological functions at rest, such as breathing, cell repair, and maintaining body temperature. This calculation is essential because it provides the baseline number of calories your body needs to function before accounting for activity or exercise. To estimate your BMR, you can use the Harris-Benedict equation, which takes into account your age, gender, weight, and height.
Your age and gender don't directly affect how many calories you burn, but they can be used to make a more precise calculation. Older people tend to move less, have less muscle, and be in worse shape overall, so their calorie intake will be lower. Women tend to have less muscle mass and more fat, so their calorie intake will also be lower.
Once you have built muscle, it is likely to stay on your body with a small amount of calories. However, it's important to note that the 3,500-calorie rule, which states that 3,500 calories is equivalent to one pound of fat, does not apply to other aspects of body weight.
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Calorie calculators: factor in age, gender, height and weight
To build muscle, you need to eat a calorie surplus. This means eating more calories than you burn each day. The size of the surplus is up to you, but it needn't be huge: 100-500 extra calories per day should be sufficient.
Calorie calculators can help you work out your ideal calorie intake. These calculators factor in your age, gender, height, and weight. They also take into account your activity level and overall general health. For example, a physically active 25-year-old male that is 6 feet in height requires considerably higher calorie intake than a 5-foot-tall, sedentary 70-year-old woman.
Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body requires to maintain basic physiological functions at rest, such as breathing, cell repair, and maintaining body temperature. This calculation is essential because it provides the baseline number of calories your body needs to function before accounting for activity or exercise. To estimate your BMR, you can use the Harris-Benedict equation, which takes into account your age, gender, weight, and height.
It's important to note that your age doesn't directly affect how many calories you burn. It's just that older people tend to move less, have less muscle, and be in worse shape overall. Similarly, your gender doesn't directly affect how many calories you burn either. It's just that women tend to have less muscle mass and more fat.
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Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): the number of calories your body needs to function at rest
To build muscle, you need to be in a calorie surplus, meaning you need to eat more calories than you burn. The number of calories you need to eat to build muscle depends on your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). BMR is the number of calories your body needs to function at rest, without accounting for any physical activity. It is the minimum number of calories required for basic functions at rest, such as breathing, cell repair, and maintaining body temperature. Your BMR can be used to help you gain, lose, or maintain your weight.
Your BMR is influenced by a number of factors, including age, weight, height, gender, environmental temperature, dieting, and exercise habits. Most people’s BMR is between 1,000 and 2,000 calories per day. To estimate your BMR, you can use the Harris-Benedict equation, which takes into account your age, gender, weight, and height. For example, if you are a 30-year-old male weighing 80 kg and standing 180 cm tall, your BMR calculation would be: BMR = 88.362 + (13.397 x 80) + (4.799 x 180) - (5.677 x 30) = 1,834 calories/day.
Once you know your BMR, you can determine how many extra calories you need to eat to build muscle. A mild surplus of around 200-500 extra calories per day is generally sufficient to gain muscle. However, the size of the surplus is up to you and will depend on your individual goals and preferences. If you are thinner or leaner, you may need to eat more extra calories to build muscle.
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Calorie deficit: losing one pound of body fat doesn't mean losing one pound of overall weight
To build muscle, you need to be in a calorie surplus, which means eating more calories than you burn each day. The number of calories you need to eat depends on your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body requires to maintain basic physiological functions at rest, such as breathing, cell repair, and maintaining body temperature. Your BMR can be calculated using the Harris-Benedict equation, which takes into account your age, gender, weight, and height.
While it is true that a pound of body fat contains approximately 3,500 calories, this does not necessarily mean that a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories will result in a pound of weight loss. This is because the 3,500-calorie rule only pertains to the loss of one pound of body fat, and does not account for other aspects of body weight. For example, if you are also building muscle, you may be gaining weight in muscle while losing weight in fat. Additionally, the 500-calorie-deficit myth significantly overestimates the potential weight loss that can be achieved over time. While a consistent 500-calorie daily deficit will roughly equate to 1 pound of fat loss per week, this equation tends to oversimplify and overestimate losses, so don't expect to drop that much that fast.
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Calories from food: you can get extra calories from food or from energy stored in your body
To build muscle, you need extra calories. These calories can come from food or from energy stored in your body. If you're thinner or leaner, you'll need to eat more calories to build muscle. This means eating in a calorie surplus, which is when you eat more than you burn every day. The size of this surplus is up to you, but a mild surplus of around 200-500 extra calories per day should be sufficient to build muscle.
The foundation of any muscle-building nutrition plan begins with calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR represents the number of calories your body requires to maintain basic physiological functions at rest, such as breathing, cell repair, and maintaining body temperature. This calculation is essential because it provides the baseline number of calories your body needs to function before accounting for activity or exercise. To estimate your BMR, you can use the Harris-Benedict equation, which takes into account your age, gender, weight, and height.
It's important to note that your age and gender don't directly affect how many calories you burn. Older people tend to move less, have less muscle, and be in worse shape overall, which is why their calorie intake may be lower. Women also tend to have less muscle mass and more fat, which can affect their calorie needs. However, these factors don't have a meaningful impact on calorie burning.
Once you have built muscle, it is likely to stay on your body with a small amount of calories. The 3,500-calorie rule, which states that 3,500 calories is equivalent to one pound of fat, only pertains to the gain or loss of body fat and not to other aspects of body weight.
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Frequently asked questions
Calories form muscle when you eat a surplus of them. This means eating more than you burn every day.
This depends on your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body requires to maintain basic physiological functions at rest. Your BMR can be calculated using the Harris-Benedict equation, which takes into account your age, gender, weight, and height.
No, a mild surplus of around 200-500 extra calories per day is sufficient to build muscle.
If you eat more than 500 extra calories per day, you may sacrifice fat loss. However, this needn't be a concern if you are comfortable with that trade-off.
