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Know Your Metabolism
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BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate; also called BEE: Basal Energy Expenditure) is a measure of how many calories you would burn if you were to lay in bed and not move for 24 hours. In other words, if you did no exercise, this is how many calories you'd consume just staying alive!
Sometimes the terms RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) and REE (Resting Energy Expenditure) are used too. Although technically they are a little different, any of these terms are used when referring to metabolism.
So call it what you want...BMR, BEE, RMR, or REE...let's agree we're talking about metabolism.
Even when you are at rest, your body is not resting. Your heart is beating, your lungs are breathing, and your body is carrying out other functions without you even having to pay attention!
This is the "work" your body does to keep you functioning, and it's commonly referred to as your metabolism. Of course, work requires energy (calories), so measuring metabolism means determining approximately how many calories your body requires to do all this keeping-you-alive work!
Use this handy BMR Calculator to predict your metabolism
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Obviously, testing is not practical. Therefore, formulas have been developed to predict "metabolism," and that's how this BMR calculator came to be!
The calculator doesn't take into account body composition and is therefore less accurate if you have an above average or below average amount of muscle.
Height, weight and age are factors in determining your metabolism. If you were to play with the BMR calculator, entering different height, weight and ages, you would find:
- As your age goes up, your metabolism goes down
- As your height goes down, your metabolism goes down
- When your weight goes down, your metabolism goes down
Translation...
... as you get older and/or lose weight (or height!), your metabolism will go down. You will need to either eat less or exercise more to maintain your current weight.
Bummer, I know!
Here's the good news: metabolism usually accounts for only 60 to 75% of your total daily energy expenditure - the amount of calories your body burns at rest. To determine how many calories you actually burn in a day (by being up and around!) an addition needs to be made to reflect your activity level.
To estimate this rate we multiply your metabolism (your resting rate) by an activity factor. My Calories Calculator will do this for you. Use it to find out how many calories you need to eat in order to maintain your weight.
Once you know your metabolism and your activity level (the Calorie Calculator result), you can estimate how many calories your body will burn per day and adjust your consumption in order to maintain, lose, or gain weight. Have some fun playing with the Calories Burned Calculator to get an idea of how many calories you burn in various activities.
Please don't try to eat less than your metabolism in an attempt to lose weight. Eating too little can actually hinder weight loss efforts.
Read more about weight loss and metabolism.
If your metabolism results seem low, read more about what you can do to boost metabolism naturally.
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