Ever hear that a pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day? Forget that stat: It’s a myth. When we asked Jeff Volek, Ph.D., R.D., to roughly estimate the metabolic activity of muscle, his ballpark number surprised even us here at Men’s Health. Dr. Volek’s calculations: One pound of skeletal muscle burns about 6 calories a day, while one pound of fat burns around 2 calories a day. “Many factors are at play, so call this my best educated guess,” says Volek, an exercise-and-nutrition professor at the University of Connecticut, who is one of the top muscle scientists in the world.
 
Now let’s put this in context. Suppose you compare two guys: one is a 200-pound obese man with 30 percent body fat; the other is a 200-pound NFL player, with 10 percent body fat. Based on body composition, the football player would burn just 20 more calories a day—from extra muscle tissue alone. Disappointing, huh?
 
Here’s the good news: Even though muscle tissue itself doesn’t provide much of a metabolic boost, the physical work that you need to do to build and maintain new muscle can have a dramatic effect on your overall metabolism. This is actually where the idea that one pound of muscle burns 50 calories came from in the first place. It’s the result of a combination of factors.
 
Think about it: All that lifting burns tons of calories when you’re in the gym. What’s more, research shows that a single weight training session can spike your calorie-burn for up to 39 hours after you lift. And finally, the more muscle you have, the better your body’s ability to use the nutrients you eat, instead of storing them as fat. That’s not only good for your belly, but for your health, too. So forget the myth, but remember the message: Muscle is your secret weapon against unwanted body fat.