Eating more calories as your muscle mass increases? Help!
 

I would like to know if this is true. Basically, I've been told that a pound fat burns a tiny amount of calories to sustain itself, but that a pound of muscle burns a huge amount in comparison. Therefore, the more your body fat percentage drops and the more lean muscle you gain, should you be eating more calories in order to sustain that lean muscle? Effectively consuming more calories as you get closer to your goal, instead of decreasing them.
I have noticed that the same amount of calories I was consuming earlier in my journey doesn't seem to satisfy my hungry anymore.

Also, is there a way to calculate how much muscle weight you have?

Any help would be much appreciated.

I'm jumping on here because I'm interested in this too. I'm starving pretty much all the time now, and I'm 90+ pounds lighter than I was. When I first started this I could eat 1,200-1,300 calories and although I could have easily eaten more, I never woke up hungry in the middle of the night. Now I'm at 1,500-1,900+ and I frequently wake up absolutely starving at like 3:00am. I swear if I ever make goal I'm going to be one of those skinny girls that never stops eating. How is that possible?

ok, here my thought on this... I may be wrong...

It's difficult to gain a significant amount of muscle mass, as opposed to actually losing fat. Your bf will probably go down mainly from the loss of fat vs the gaining of muscle.

To calculate how much muscle you have, you'd have to know your body fat %.

The skinny girl that eats all the time probably has a fast metabolism.

I also think that losing fat can give the appearance of having more muscle.

Do you need to eat more cals to sustain lean muscle? Maybe not, unless you've gained a significant amount of muscle there may just be a need to conserve what you have.

When I was taking Casein before bed, it helped a lot with the late night cravings, casein will also conserve your muscle when in a fasted state (8 hrs of sleep).

I'm certain that my muscle mass has increased to some degree, because the measurements on my arms and calves have increased the last 2-3 months, not by a lot, but after months and months of constant decreasing, going back up in size certainly caught my attention. I also can tell you that yes I do look more muscular now that I've ditched some insulation, but at the same time I'm certain that some of the muscle is bigger than before. My biceps have always been approximately a handful, and now they are bigger than I can get my fingers around and my shoulders are considerably bigger, especially since I started PT.

I don't know what my body fat % is, and there doesn't seem to be a way to measure it around here. I've been trying to find a personal trainer to meet with once/month or once/every other month, and nadda. It's starting to look like I need to travel to a bigger city.

So when you say casein, what exactly do you mean? Cheese? Or is it one of those body building products? I have to be careful with dairy, I'm borderline allergic to it, and I've been having some mild issues since starting on the whey protein supplements.

try this Home Body Fat Test

I actually use a Casein Powder, I think it may be from cheese. I'd suggest maybe cottage cheese (I think is slow digesting) but that may not do you any good since you may have a reaction to it.

This is the Calorie calculator that everyone that I know uses http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
It asks for height and weight but not BF%, I I'm thinking it may not be that big of a concern. I'd actually think that you'd need LESS calories as you lose weight.

I've found that foods high in fiber help control my hunger as well.

I recently read in a magazine that it is next to impossible for a woman who is strength training regularly (3+ times a week) to gain more than a pound of muscle in a month. This doesn't account for hardcore bodybuilders obviously. Not sure if that information helps but it definitely puts things in perspective.

I've been at this for a year, so maybe that does help. I'm certainly not a hardcore body builder by any stretch, but I do build up muscle rather quickly, my little brother actually is a body builder.

Thanks for the links Mike, I'll take a look at them. And tonight before bed I'll have either some cottage cheese or a cup of Greek yogurt and see if that helps. I didn't wake up at 3:00am this morning, so maybe I can set a new trend for myself. In terms of calories, I also tend to think you need fewer as you drop down on the scale, but I can tell you for certain that I am eating quite a few more than I was and although the scale isn't moving down very fast it is still moving down.

I know a lot of people eat extra (bulk) to try to put on size, but not really to maintain muscle as they lose weight.

I just looked at the calorie counter that I posted and realized that FD did have me about 350 cals over. That could explain why this cut wasn't a success (besides the short time frame), and I was getting stronger. That could also explain why I gained so much extra fat when bulking (besides not being too clean).

I fixed my numbers. I'm about to bulk again next month for 3 months, I think I may just adjust my base rate up by 500 and shoot for that #. I think mentally it'll be easier than keeping my number as is and shooting for 500 over. I know it's the same calories, I just think I'll "accept" it easier. I think I need a shrink... Cassie are you out there?;)

EDITED: once I added in my sleep, my #'s look right. (I think I should have replied this in another thread... damn ADD)

I used that site in Mike's post and it says I have 22.3% BF, which is in the healthy range. Wow, how cool is it that I finally have a healthy stat? BMI not withstanding.

Mike, whatever mental games you need to play to make it work for you, go ahead and do it ;)

I have always added in sleep and it keeps the numbers just right.

I would be interested in seeing if anyone tries your online calculator and knows their actual body fat percentage, and how they compare. I did it and got 20.7; I have one of those body fat scales and it tells me 17, so who knows what the right value is. Neither is probably accurate.

About the original post, though...I know muscle burns many more calories, but when you are smaller to begin with as a result of losing, you burn fewer. I guess I just had it in my head that they canceled each other out, but it did occur to me that FitDay goes just on your weight, not on your lean-to-fat ratio when calculating calories.

And I just want to say it because it ticks me off, thanks, Mother Nature, for having smaller people need fewer calories (sarcasm font here). Somebody 4-5 inches taller than me can eat a buttload more calories at maintenance and I can't due to being a shorty. My maintenance level is what most people "diet" at :mad: