A natural weight loss healthy diet program

Basal Metabolic Rate

The basal metabolic rate (BMR) is defined as the number of calories your body needs to just perform the minimum activities during the day. These include such things as breathing, heartbeat, maintaining body temperature, etc. It does not include the calories required for walking, running, dancing or any other type of voluntary exercise.

Those with a lot of muscle mass tend to have a high basal metabolic rate, making it easier for them to lose weight. Those with a lot of fatty tissue have a lower BMR, making it harder for them to lose weight. Tall people tend to have a higher metabolic rate than shorter ones. The BMR for men is usually higher than that for women.

The good news is that the non-genetic contributions to our BMR can be changed.

Fasting (such as skipping breakfast) or starvation tends to yield a lower BMR, making it harder to lose weight.

Exercise tends to raise the BMR, making it easier to lose weight.

We have all heard of people who have a thyroid problem which affect their BMR. This is heard about more often than it occurs, I believe.

Obviously, it is usually desirable to have a high BMR. One way to raise our BMR is to be physically active, the more the better. Exercise develops muscle mass, which increases the BMR.

As we get older (past 20 or so), our basal metabolic rate decreases at a rate of 2 % to 5 % per decade. We can partially ameliorate that loss by increasing our physical activity, as well as reducing our caloric intake.

It is possible to estimate our basal metabolic rate by calculation. There are equations, called the Harris-Benedict equations, which provide a rough estimate, based on weight, gender and age. These are presented here:

Men

BMR = 66.473 + (6.238 x wt in lb) + (12.708 x ht in inches) - (6.755x age in years)

Women

BMR = 655.0955 + (4.338 x wt in lb) + (4.698 x ht in inches) - (4.676 x age in years)

The BMR obtained from these equations would be only a rough estimate of the calories needed per day to just survive, with no voluntary exercise.

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