What’s my metabolic rate?

Your basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories your burn simply trying to staying alive; simply put your BMR is the amount of calorie you’d burn laying in bed doing nothing all day.

Your body needs calories to keep your organs functioning; 60% of you daily energy expenditure will be used keeping your body ticking over.

Your BMR decreases as you get older which is why people gain weight easier when they age. Dieting can also decrease your BMR. If you deprive yourself of food your inbuilt survival mechanism in the body kicks and it starts burning fewer calories in a bid to conserve energy in case it doesn’t get feed again.

Regular exercise can increase your metabolic rate especially if you include resistant and weight training into your weekly exercise plan. Having more muscle mass increases your metabolic rate as muscle uses more calories than fat.

Illness, the amount and type of food and drink you consume and your stress levels can all have an impact on your basal metabolic rate.

You burn calories for three main functions:
Your BMR - this is just to keep you alive and well
Burning calories for activity: this is energy used for your daily movement
Dietary Thermogenesis: this is meal induced heat production which is the calories burnt for the process of eating, digesting, absorbing and using food.

There are a number of formulas you can use to calculate your BMR:

English BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Metric BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

or

Calculate calories for basic needs.
Multiply your weight in pounds by 10 (for women) and 11 (for men). ___ lbs. x 10 = _____ calories for basic needs

This only calculates your resting metabolic rate and does not take into account your body type, the amount of muscle mass you have, your physical activity levels and the type of food you eat. In order to loose weight you need to minus 500 calories per day. For a very accurate reading you can go to a laboratory and have the metabolic testing done professionally.