Basal Metabolic Rate and Your Body Weight
Nov 01, 2008
Your body needs a minimum amount of energy even when you are resting. This energy requirement is called Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR. BMR is calculated in calories and represents the energy needed by a person if he or she remains in bed sleeping for the entire day. The BMR is required to carry out natural ongoing body processes like respiration, blood circulation, regulation of body temperature and food digestion etc. Since BMR is the energy requirement to carry out natural processes that your body engages in even when you are resting, in some individuals it may even account for even up to 70% of total calories burned.
It is quite obvious that knowing your BMR is very important for you to determine your caloric intake, depending on what you weight goals are. In case you are looking to loose weight you would take lesser calories than required for your body and vice-versa your calories intake has to be more in case you need to gain weight. BMR depends on a variety of factors that are genetic or environmental. These factors are mentioned herein below.
- Genes: Some people have high metabolism rate by birth because of heredity.
- Gender: Men have a high metabolism rate because of higher muscle mass and low body fat.
- Age: Metabolism rate reduces with the age and as per a study it reduces 2% every 10 years after the age of 20.
- Weight: Higher body weight usually means higher BMR as the heavier body processes burn more calories as compared to a lean body.
- Body surface area: Body surface area is proportion of your height and body weight. Higher Body surface area indicates higher metabolism. A taller person of the same weight would have high BMR as compared to a person of short height.
- Body fat: Lower body fat proportion means a higher BMR. This is why men have more BMR than women.
- Diet: lowering your calorie intake or not eating at all can bring the BMR down even up to 30 %. Some low calorie diets may reduce your BMR by up to 20%.
- Body Temperature: Higher body temperature would cause the BMR to go up. BMR may go up by about 7% for every ½C change in the internal body temperature. Higher body temperature quickens the chemical reactions in the body causing higher metabolism.
Outside Temperature: The lower outside temperature makes the body use more heat and thus causes the BMR to go up. Similarly an excessive exposure to hot conditions may also make the BMR to go up as the energy is used to maintain internal body temperature.
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November 23rd, 2008 at 8:48 am
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