Comments on: Dissecting the Energy Needs of the Body – Research Review

By: Wei

Wei — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:48:07 +0000

Hi Could you please tell me which paper you are talking about here? I really would like to learn more. Thanks

By: Michael G

Michael G — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:59:05 +0000

I think your metabolic chart is wrong, because on average the liver uses 27% of available energy in the human body.

By: lylemcd

lylemcd — Sun, 30 May 2010 14:17:26 +0000

I will be writing an article about that in the near future but pinning down an exact number on how many calories it takes to build a pound of muscle has been rather difficult. You might look at the Energy Balance Equation in the interim.

By: max renn

max renn — Fri, 28 May 2010 13:59:07 +0000

are there any data available on the energy required to build muscle? is it possible that enough calories are used for muscle synthesis in response to weight training to affect body fat?

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:01:49 +0000

Great read Lyle, knowledge +2 (1 from AMPK post)

By: lylemcd

lylemcd — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:46:17 +0000

I guess it depends on where you count ‘other’. But muscle and fat as per the above chart add to 26% total on average. That leaves 75% for non-fat/non-muscle.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:58:03 +0000

>> with the liver, heart, kidneys and brains contributing roughly 70-80% of total resting energy expenditure

Hi, unless I’m reading it wrong I make it 60%. Just FWIW no biggie.

By: lylemcd

lylemcd — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:24:45 +0000

I don’t have numbers in front of me but what you wrote is certainly what’s going to happen. Skeletal muscle energy expenditure can increase massively during exercise, heart should to due to increased cardiac output, etc. Energy expenditure of organs not so much.

By: Niko Segal-Wright

Niko Segal-Wright — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:28:45 +0000

The table in the article was very interesting and helpful. I would be very interested to see how energy expenditure for a person at rest differs proportionately from an active person. I would guess that the heart and muscle would use much more energy while the other organs would use only slightly more. Is this true? If you have any insight please let me know!

By: lylemcd

lylemcd — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:22:38 +0000

While all true, it’s all sort of irrelevant to the topic of this article. No one is arguing against trying to gain muscle and lose fat. I’m making the point that the idea that adding a bit of muscle will turn you into an energy burning dynamo is simply false. That bit of nonsense is affecting people negatively IMO, they think that doing a little bit of exercise and adding a few pounds of muscle will vastly jack up their metabolic rate and it’s simply not true.