BMR 101

BMR. What is it?

It stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. It is the rate at which your body naturally burns energy(calories) for bodily functions like heartbeat, digestion, breathing and regulating body temperature.
It is the number of calories your body would burn if you stayed in bed all day and did nothing.

Why we need to know our BMR

Losing weight is all about numbers. We simply must burn more energy than we take in. Calories in vs. calories out, right? :)
We need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight. Part of that deficit comes from the calories burned during exercise, and the rest comes from our BMR and how much food we eat.

We need to know our BMR to know what our calorie limits are. Think of your BMR as your calorie "budget." Say your BMR is 1600. This means you must eat 1600 calories a day or less in order to lose weight. If you eat more than this, you are creating a calorie surplus, which is exactly what we don't want to do!

You should cut at about 300-500 calories off of your BMR to create a bigger deficit for more weight loss.

One important note: No one should ever eat less than 1200 calories per day. This does not help you lose weight. Instead, it throws your body into "starvation mode." Your body goes into a survival mode and holds onto fat because it thinks it will not get any food in the near future. This is detrimental to your weight loss. It slows your metabolism to a crawl.
Men should not go under 1800 calories per day.

To ensure weight loss, it is crucial that you eat within your calorie budget. (1200-your BMR)

You also must EAT, period!
The act of eating and digesting actually increases our metabolism by up to 10%, so eat!

How to calculate your BMR

There are BMR calculators floating around the internet that allow you to enter your info and get your number, but remember, knowledge is power! I want you to learn how to do this. Take control, and get results! :)

You will need a pencil, paper, and a calculator.

It may look intimidating at first, but it's really quite simple.

First, do the calculations required in each (example )then plug in the numbers, and do the math!

Formula For Women:

655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs)+ (4.7 x height in inches)- (4.7 x age in years)

Example - A women is 260 pounds, 5 foot 7 inches tall, and 34 years old. It would look like this:

655+1118+319-159= 1933

Formula For Men:

66 + (6.3 x weight in lbs)+(12.9 x height in inches)-(6.8 x age in years)

***Keep in mind that as you lose weight, your BMR will change. It will also change with age. Recalculate it for every 10 pounds lost to keep an accurate number in mind.

If you need help tracking calories, I highly recommend getting a calorie counter book. They are small, but packed with hundreds of pages of priceless information! There are literally hundreds of foods listed by category making them easy to find.
I would be lost without mine!