Basal Metabolic Rate 101
Basal Metabolic Rate 101by onerepmaximum
Have you ever heard the saying, “Work smarter, not harder.� The purpose of this article is to help you do just that. In these next few paragraphs I will discuss what a basal metabolic rate (BMR) is, how you find out what your BMR is and how you can use it as a road map to successful fat loss.
Basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum caloric requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed asleep all day. Calories are burned by bodily processes such as respiration, the pumping of blood around the body and maintenance of body temperature. Obviously, most of us don’t spend all day asleep in bed, so you will burn calories in addition to your BMR by going about your daily business.
There are factors that will affect your BMR. Age will affect how many calories your body burns at rest, the older you are, your BMR will steadily decrease. The more lean tissue in the body, the higher the BMR, the more fatty body tissue, the lower the BMR. (The more lean body mass or LBM a person has, the more efficient their body is at burning calories).
Fasting, starving or malnutrition all result in a lowering of BMR. This lowering of BMR can be one side effect of following a diet and nothing else. Solely dieting, i.e. reducing the amount of calories the body takes in, will not be as effective as dieting along with increased exercise. The negative effect of dieting on BMR can be offset with a positive effect from increased exercise. This means that just “not eating†will cause you to retain fat. Your body will go into a sort of self-preservation mode. It will try to stay alive as long as possible with what it is being given, and that means storing as much fat as possible.
There should be extra emphasis on the statement:
“Your BMR increases in response to increased physical activityâ€
Not only do we use up calories doing exercise, metabolism is raised by physical activity and the BMR spike it causes continues even after we have done our exercise, often for several hours. The amount of increase varies from person to person but even a modest increase should counteract the body's tendency to decrease BMR when we cut calories. The exact reason why physical exercise leads to an increased BMR is not known. The present consensus is that exercise preserves more of our lean body tissue. Remember, the higher our proportion of lean body tissue the higher our metabolic rate will be.
What else can be done to increase your BMR? Your body also burns calories by digesting food. The amount of food and the time it is eaten can be conducive to burning fat with less effort. Once your BMR has been computed (which you learn to do later in this article), you should divide your total allowance of calories into five or six smaller “mealsâ€. You should eat one of these meals every 2 ½ to 3 hours. This will cause a thermogenic effect because your body will expend energy during the digestion process. In addition to the thermogenic condition that is created, the increased number of smaller meals will make your body less likely to store fat as a means to prevent starving, even though your total number of calories may be reduced.
One more key thing that can be done to increase your BMR is to increase your water intake. This is a pretty easy thing to do that can make a big difference in the rate at which your body will lose fat. If your body is lacking in water, your BMR will be slowed because your liver will have to spend more of it’s energy storing water and less energy burning fat.
Now that you know what a BMR is and why it is a good thing to know for dieting purposes, how can we find out what our BMR is? The mathematical equation for calculating BMR is a two part process and is as follows:
Calorie requirement
BMR= (Weight in kilograms) x 24 kcal/day
Activity requirement
Heavy Activity -----Ã BMR x 50%
Moderate Activity -----Ã BMR x 40%
Light Activity -----Ã BMR x 30%
If you are reading this, you obviously have the ability to use the internet (thank you Al Gore). You can also go to your favorite search engine and type in the words “basal metabolic rate calculatorâ€. A plethora of links will be returned what will allow you just to type in your stats and activity level and the computation will be done for you.
Going on a diet without knowing what your body’s calorie requirements are, is a “best guess†scenario. Once you know exactly how many calories your body needs to sustain its current form, you can begin to reduce or add (depending on your goals) to your calorie intake to help you achieve the physique you desire. Knowing is a big part of the battle. You can use this knowledge as another tool in your toolbox that will help you on your way to your well being.
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