Your Basal Metabolic Rate?Why it's important to know your BMRBMR or Basal Metabolic Rate is used to estimate how many calories your body burns at rest and to maintain your present weight. Our body is always burning calories. Even the act of breathing and sleeping requires energy expenditure - and that energy expenditure is measured in calories. Your height, weight, age, sex and present lifestyle will influence and affect your BMR number. Our body type, lifestyle and caloric needs are all unique to us, so there really isn’t a magic number that’s going to apply to everyone. That's why it's a good idea to calculate your own personal BMR number. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have an estimate of how many calories your body uses to maintain your present weight. The goal then will be to reduce your caloric intake and/or increase your activity level so that you’re burning more calories than you’re taking in. This is the only way to effectively lose belly fat. You've got to expend more calories (energy) than you take in. Now follow me on this – there's a good reason to know what your BMR is (at the bottom of this page). I’ve broken the calculation down into bite size pieces so that it's easy to follow. Take out your calculator, sharpen your pencil and follow me in this simple, step by step process. Let’s use this opportunity to exercise our brains a little in the process, shall we? BMR Formula For Adult Women :STEP # 1 - Calculate your BMR using this formula: 655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years) (Be aware that this BMR formula applies to adults only.) To show you exactly how this works, let’s use our friend Mary’s stats from the BMI page as an example. Mary weighs 155 lbs., is 5’4” (64“) and is 40 years old. 655. + (4.3 x 155 lbs.) + (4.7 x 64”) - (4.7 x 40 yrs.) 655. + ( 666.5 ) + ( 300.8 ) - ( 188. ) = 1,434.3 Do the same calculation using your own weight, height and age stats. For Adult Men the Basal Metabolic Rate formula is 66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years). STEP # 2 – Choose your present activity level percentage then multiply it with your BMR number. Which of these activity level percentages best describe how active you are on a daily basis? If you’re sedentary, multiply your BMR x 20 % (desk job, no activity) If you’re lightly active, multiply your BMR x 30 % (exercise 1-3 times a week) If you’re moderately active (exercise 4-5 days a week.) multiply your BMR x 40 % If you’re very active (intense exercise daily) multiply your BMR x 50 % If you’re extra active (hard physical labor or an athlete): BMR x 60 % STEP # 3 - Multiply your BMR x your present activity level percentage. The third step is to incorporate your present activity level into your BMR number. So, let’s say that our friend Mary has a sedentary job and sits most of the day. She isn’t physically active at all. Her activity level percentage is 20% according to the percentages above. 1,434.3 x 20% = 286.86 Her BMR total was 1434.3 and when it’s now multiplied by 20%, we get 286.86. Do the same by multiplying your BMR number X your chosen activity level percentage from Step # 2. STEP # 4 - Add the total from Step # 3 above to your BMR number from Step # 1. The result of the calculation you did in Step # 3 is now added to your BMR number. 286.86 + 1,434.3 = 1,721.16 In Mary’s case her activity level total (286.6) is now added on to her original BMR total (1,434.3). We now get a total of 1,721.16. This is Mary’s BMR number. Mary’s body needs approximately 1,721 calories daily to maintain her current weight based on her current lifestyle. Do the same by adding your activity level percentage (Step # 3) with your BMR from Step # 1 to arrive at your final BMR. The basal metabolic rate formula we just used is based on the Harris-Benedict formula. It's meant to be a rough estimate of the number of calories needed daily to maintain your present weight. Congratulations! You’ve calculated your Basal Metabolic Rate and you now know how many calories your body needs daily to maintain your current weight...but... Your Basal Metabolic Rate is your 'starting point'. What you need to know now is how to use your Basal Metabolic Rate to figure out how many calories you’ll need daily to lose belly fat. That's the next step, so let's continue on with
'How To Calculate Calorie Intake for Weight Loss.'
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