Don't understand basal metabolic rate?!


Question: Don't understand basal metabolic rate?
I think I somewhat understand but am making it too difficult or something but I keep getting mixed signals with this. At the momement I don't know my weight so I can provide an example I am 5'1 145lbs and am female. I want to lose weight obviously,but I don't understand completely the concept of BMR.

Say if I exercise 45mins to an hour (with combination strength training and cardio, where the strength training pays attention to a certain muscle group each day and cardio is interval training) to lose weight how many calories would I need to eat to factor into the weight loss regimine. I aim to lose 1lb a week. Some people tell me that the exercise I did factors into the calories I eat that day, then some tell me I still need to take off 500 calories from what I eat even though I work out for up to an hour a day.

I'm just really confused at this whole concept, unfortunately I'm the kind of person who needs exact numbers in order to get something (this is why I need to get a scale XD) so somebody telling me one thing then another I'm getting confused.

Can someone help explain to me what exactly it's about, and what I should do?

Answers:

BMR (basal metabolic rate) is merely the amount of calories your body would burn if in a coma. For you (being 5ft1, 145lb) I'd estimate it is probably somewhere around 1350.

Then accounting for activity level, you multiply BMR by an activity factor of 1.2 for sedentary, 1.375 for lightly active, 1.55 for moderately active and 1.725 for highly active.

So lets assume you are moderately active, multiply 1350 (BMR) by 1.55 (activity factor) and this would total approx 2090 calories to maintain your current weight. Subtract 500 calories for fat loss and you get roughly 1590 calories to lose 1lb per week.

Hope this helps.



Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number calories your body requires to maintain function if you were doing absolutely nothing. As soon as you start walking or doing anything your energy requirements will be greater than your BMR.

Problem is there are no exact figures on this. For most people, if you were to aim to consume your BMR you should still be able to function, even exercise rigorously which should create a large enough deficit for you to lose more than 1lb per week.



Basal metabolic rate is the number of calories your body burns everyday just doing normal activities. Even sitting here typing requires some amount of calories and based on your age, gender, height and weight it is a pretty unique number. It also takes into consideration your activity level. If you are doing hard physical labor for your job on a day to day basis you are going to burn a lot more calories than someone who sits at a desk all day, obviously.

If you figure out your BMR is 1,600 calories per day, for example, and you eat about 1,600 calories on average your weight should not change. If you want to lose weight you must either restrict your calorie intake, say to 1,200 calories per day to lose about 2 pounds a week or you must increase your activity level. If you do a little of both, eat less and exercise more, you should lose weight the fastest.

Remember, working out, especially very strenuous aerobic type of work outs increase your appetite. Most people who work out a lot also feel entitled to eat whatever they want.

My friend and I have been trying to lose weight since the beginning of the year. I have been counting and restricting calories and only working out about twice a week and have lost over 10 lbs. She has been working out like crazy and eating normally and hasn't lost anything.

I'm not against going to the gym. I am just saying that you really can't just throw away the idea of restricting your calories if you want to burn fat.

Also remember you don't need to burn off your entire BMR with workouts. You would have to spend all day working out in order to do that probably, but your BMR is the number you are going to burn just doing normal stuff and being alive. Anything extra that you burn is just a bonus.



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