What Is Your BMR And Why Is It Important

What is your BMR?

The amount of energy (in the form of calories) that the body needs to function while resting for 24 hours is known as the basal metabolic rate, or BMR. This number of calories reflects how much energy your body requires to support vital body functions if, hypothetically, you were resting in bed for an entire day.

Why It’s Important to Know Your BMR

Whether your goal is to lose weight (body fat), gain weight (lean muscle), or to just maintain your current weight, knowing your basal metabolic rate can help you attain and maintain your goals. If you are like many women who are doing all the right things, like eating healthy, exercising and still not losing weight. Knowing your BMR can be helpful for your weight loss tool-box.

The Basal Metabolic Rate calculator shows you the number of calories you burn when at rest. This is before you even get out of bed in the morning. This is the number of calories your body needs just to stay alive and function daily. It is a great way to know if you are eating too few calories. Eating too little, skipping meals and saving calories for later will all backfire on you.

** You can find BMR calculators on the internet, make sure they are taking into consideration your activity level to get the most accurate reading.

How To Calculate BMR

If you’re a woman, your BMR is equal to 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years). Example, if you’re 130 pounds, 5’3”, and 36, your BMR is 665 + (4.35 x 130) + (4.7 x 63) – (4.7 x 36) = 1,357.4 calories
Next figure out your total daily caloric requirement by multiplying your BMR by your level of activity:
If you rarely exercise, multiply your BMR by 1.2
If you exercise on 1 to 3 days per week, multiply your BMR by 1.375
If you exercise on 3 to 5 days per week, multiply your BMR by 1.55
If you exercise 6 to 7 days per week, multiply your BMR by 1.725

BMR Calculator Example

Age: 36
Female
Weight: 130
Height: 5’ 3”

Light activity 1-3 days per week 1,357. calories per/day BMR just to function before doing anything else.

Factors that affect your Basal Metabolic Rate include:

age
genetics
weight
heredity
body fat percentage
hormones
gender

Things To know about BMR

Your BMR slow down 5% every 10 years after the age of 20. This is why even though you are exercising and eating like you did in the past you may be gaining weight. Your body and your BMR is changing and you will also need to make some changes. This is a big reason especially for a woman in their 40’s. When they seem to be doing all the right things and the weight is still not budging. Women naturally have a lower BMR than men.

So Why is Your BMR Important to Weight Loss?

Your metabolism in the key to weight loss. So a well functioning metabolism is what we are striving for. Your metabolism slows down by 5% every 10 years. The good news is that lean muscle tissue burns 3 times more calories than fat. Muscle burns 300 times more calories at rest than fat!

Yo-yo dieting, starvation diets, and diets that are not nutrient dense all affect your metabolism as well as processed foods and an overloaded toxic liver. There are many calculators you can find on the internet that will calculate your BMR. Make sure they also take into account your activity level.

Remember these numbers are just a guide what I want you must understand is that you need to eat to lose weight. Cutting calories too low and starvation diets will always backfire when it comes to weight loss.