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Building up muscle tissue also helps you burn calories faster when not working out. Cool little details I learned at the gym.

This is a very common myth.

To their surprise, the researchers found that none of the groups, including the athletes, experienced “afterburn.” They did not use additional body fat on the day when they exercised. In fact, most of the subjects burned slightly less fat over the 24-hour study period when they exercised than when they did not.[1]

[1]http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/phys-ed-why-doesnt-...



Except that adding lean body mass increases your Basal Metabolic Rate, which increases the amount of calories you burn when you are not exercising.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_rate


You're absolutely right, the article above is referencing a different phenomenon. My mistake.


I'm not sure they are talking about the same kind of exercise. One is about building muscle mass, the other is cardio. Increased muscle mass does increase resting metabolism.


So, you are saying that a woman weighing 100 pounds with 20% bodyfat will burn the same amount of calories as a male weighing 200 pounds with 10% bodyfat? Do you realize how little sense that makes?




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