Research

Energy balance

The non-linear relationship between Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) and Fat-Free Mass (FFM) is explained by the changing proportion of metabolically active organ mass to skeletal muscle as body size increases.

If you are larger, your resting metabolism per pound of lean tissue is lower than that of a smaller person. This is because your vital organs, which burn the most energy, make up a smaller fraction of your total body weight. Simple linear formulas often overestimate the metabolic cost of large amounts of skeletal muscle.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
The slope of REE on FFM is lower at high FFM and vice versa it is higher at low FFM. Thus, REE on FFM decreases with increasing FFM... The composition of FFM may explain this phenomenon.
Manfred J. Müller et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2002

Why this rating

Supported by regression analysis of 103+ subjects using imaging technologies.

Source

Metabolically active components of fat‐free mass and resting energy expenditure in humans: recent lessons from imaging technologies

Manfred J. Müller et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2002

DOI 10.1046/j.1467-789x.2002.00057.x

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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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