Q: How many calories does one pound of muscle burn? I have heard everything from 50 calories to 14 calories a day.

A: The answer depends on many factors such as exercise and current metabolism (which is affected by diet, health, age, and other factors). A pound of unexercised muscle will burn fewer calories than a pound of muscle that's been heavily exercised and is currently recovering. Instead of trying to assign a number of calories that a pound of muscle or of bodyweight burns I recommend that you stay aware of your current dietary intake versus weight. Know how many calories and what rough percentage of protein/carbs/fats you are consuming and how it's affecting your weight.

For example if you are taking in about 3000 calories daily at 40/30/30 protein/carbs/fats and your weight is staying constant, you can use that knowledge to approximate by how much you need to increase/decrease your intake to gain/lose weight. For example, if you wish to lose 1 pound (which is 3500 calories) in a week, you can cut your diet down to 2500 calories daily, thus achieving a daily deficit of 500 calories. 500 calories time 7 days/week gives you 3500 calories deficit or 1 pound lost. Or, suppose you've noticed you're gaining about 2 pounds per month and want it to stop: 2 pounds is about 7000 calories. Divide that by 30 days and you'll find that you'll need to cut down daily intake by about 250 calories to stop gaining weight.

Knowing how much you're eating and how much it's changing or not changing your weight is the only reliable way I am aware of to make specific changes to your diet aimed at accomplishing specific goals. Most calorie calculators are too generic to be anything more than a general guide. They have a very large margin of error because they're designed for a statistically average person, not for you. If you pay attention to your diet for just a month or two you will know with good accuracy how much and what you are eating and how it's affecting your weight. You can then use that knowledge to plan dietary changes designed to help you lose or gain weight.