The Holy Grail Of Weight Loss Revealed: Lean Muscle

Did you know that one pound of lean muscle burns about 35 to 50 calories per day compared to the 2 to 3 calories per day of one pound of fat? When most people are trying to loose weight they focus mainly on watching what they eat or starving themselves and neglect the important role muscle building plays in the process of burning fat and getting into shape. In this article you will learn more about body composition and the benefits of having lots of lean muscle.

The amount of lean body mass which is made up of muscle, bone and organs relative to the total fat mass of your body is called body composition. The relation between lean body mass and fat mass depend on factors such as age, gender, exercise, diet and of course a person's genes. Women normally have a higher percentage body fat than men and men a higher percentage lean muscle than women. Because muscle requires more calories to function than fat, those with more lean muscle will obviously burn more calories and lose weight faster. Muscle also needs more calories to maintain, which means that you should not starve yourself when dieting because you will loose muscle mass.

Lean muscle is much heavier than fat which is why many erroneously don't want to build muscle when trying to lose weight, but the benefits of having and building lean muscle are numerous;

-More lean muscle changes your body composition. From a physical point of view this would mean that you have more muscle on more of the right places which means you'll have all the right curves in the right places. In short, muscle makes you look great.
-Building muscle means that you don't lose lean body mass when you diet. If your diet does not supply your body with enough energy it will take the energy it needs from breaking down muscle which will make burning calories and losing fat harder.
-Working with weights burn calories.
-More muscle means more strength, stronger connective tissue and bones.
-By building muscle you will also retain strength which will make a difference when you get older.

These are also the reasons why most weight loss programs state (albeit in very fine print) that you must engage in physical exercise in order to achieve results. If you encounter a program that does not require physical exercise in order to lose weight, rather steer clear of it and find one that does; it would be the healthier way to go and better for long term results.

The importance of muscle doesn't mean that you now have to go to the extremes of hiring a personal trainer and joining a gym. All you need to do is include a little more physical exercise into your daily routine. This way you can loose a little body fat and at the same time cash in on the numerous benefits of lean muscle.