08/12/2022 / Health and Fitness
Basal Metabolic Rate is the most popular factor whenever discussing weight gain or fitness level. Learn to calculate your BMR here!
Calories have always been the talk of the town since the day fitness took over the front seat in the minds of people. If you are a fitness enthusiast, you would have probably heard BMR, BMI or RMR almost repeatedly. Here you would know what these words mean to your fitness goals. Read on to know these to level up your knowledge of fitness and health.
Basal metabolic rate is the number of calories that are burnt when you perform basic activities (ie., while resting). Knowing the BMR helps you in knowing the calorie requirements of your body for performing the most sedentary activities. A higher BMR indicates that you have an active metabolism and need more calories to sustain yourself.
Below are a few of the factors that affect basal metabolic rate,
Age: Your metabolism slows down as you age because of the loss of muscle tissues, and also due to molecular changes that occur in neurological and hormonal systems. Thus, you would find having low BMR as you age.
Muscle mass: Having high muscle mass increases calorie usage due to high surface area and therefore, you need high BMR with increased muscle mass.
Body size: People with larger bodies and high weight have high BMR because they have big organs and fluids to metabolize and support.
Gender: Men usually have a faster metabolism than women and hence have BMR higher than women.
Physical activity: Physical activity increases your muscle mass, hence more calories would be required in carrying out simple metabolic reactions, therefore raising your BMR.
Environmental factors: Extreme environmental conditions like high hot or cold temperatures can make your body work harder to maintain the normal temperature, thus increasing BMR.
Hormonal factors: Hormonal imbalances like thyroid disorders can increase or decrease your BMR.
Diet: Foods highly affect your metabolic rate - "You are what you eat"! While some foods increase your BMR, others would reduce it.
Drugs: Drugs like caffeine, and nicotine can increase your BMR as they power up your metabolism.
Genetics: Some people have higher BMR due to their genes and also many genetic defects.
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) and Resting metabolic rate are both ways of assessing the calories used by your body to perform various metabolic activities. The BMR is a more restrictive measurement of the energy your body uses for basic functions (such as breathing, blood circulation and organ functions) whereas the RMR is your energy expenditure during a normal resting or non-exercising state ie. during sleep. To measure your BMR at home, you can use your weight, height and age data in the formula given below.
Finding BMR in men,
BMR = 88.362 + (6.251 x weight in lbs) + (12.189 x height in inches) – (5.677 x age in years)
Finding BMR in women,
BMR = 447.593 + (4.203 x weight in lbs) + (7.869 x height in inches) – (4.330 x age in years)
Basal Metabolic Rate - Ideal Values
Traditionally, the ideal basal metabolic rate is calculated based on gender and age. Here is the table below which can help you in interpreting the BMR of your body.
Having an ideal BMR for your age and gender indicates that you have an optimum metabolic rate for all biochemical processes in your body. Knowing the BMR would help you in losing weight and cut down on unnecessary calories. Since BMR is the minimum calorie requirement, you should have a calorie intake just slightly higher than BMR to lose weight. That's the reason why fitness enthusiasts are highly interested in BMR!
Here are the ways you can maintain a healthy basal rate. By having a good BMR, you can lead a healthy, happy and active life.
Have a healthy and regular breakfast every morning.
Do cardio with strength training for at least 20 minutes.
Include sources of lean protein in your diet.
Eat regularly without starving yourself for long hours.
Eating enough calories (more than 1200 KCal/day)
Basal metabolic rate is the speed at which your body performs basic metabolic functions.
Age, muscle mass, body size, gender, physical activity, environmental factors, hormonal factors, diet, drugs and genetics are some of the factors that affect BMR.
The resting metabolic rate is the speed at which your body carries out metabolism in sleep.
Basal metabolic rate is the number of calories burnt by the body in the state of rest ie., after a full night's sleep.
Your basal metabolic rate should be high if you want to have a robust metabolism, fit body and active lifestyle.
Having a high BMR means that you have faster metabolic mechanisms.
After calculating BMR through calorimetric techniques, you can eat just a few more calories to sustain yourself throughout the day. If you have high BMR, you can lose weight even while eating more but should be cautious if you have low calories.
Weight gain, thinning hair, difficulty in concentration, difficulty in losing weight, general weakness and dry skin are some of the common symptoms of low basal metabolic rate or slow metabolism.
The average BMR of women is around 5900 KJ per day.
Yes! The basal metabolic rate decreases linearly with the age of people.
Having a good muscle mass backed by strenuous exercises can burn kgs of calories even at rest. So, try to exercise regularly.
You can know your basal metabolic rate with blood tests.
Vitamin D deficiencies would cause slow metabolism as less sun exposure would signal the body's response to spending fewer calories.
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