Exercise Baby Steps 2 BMR

BMR, no it's not a short way of writing beemer. It means basal metabolic rate. Your BMR is how many calories you need to keep your body plugging along. These calories keep the basics, like breathing, heartbeat and heart rate, going. Please remember that everyone's BMR is different.

I haven't checked mine in a while and have decided to do so tonight. I use the Harris-Benedict formula.

For Adult men the formula = 66+(6.3 x body weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

For Adult women the formula = 655+(4.3 x body weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

For example my formula would look like this:
655 +  670.37 + 285.525 - 145.7= 1465.195

I'll go ahead and round that to a BMR of 1465. That means that in order to maintain my status quo, I need to eat 1465 calories a day. However, I do physical activities so I need more calories than that or my body will be unhappy with me.

Now, you may be asking yourself why this is important. If you know how many calories you take in, how many calories you burn, and your BMR, you have an idea of how many pounds you could be gaining/losing.

3,500 calories=1 lb.

That means that if you A. cut back on 500 calories a day or B. burn 500 extra calories a day, you can lose a pound a week. DO NOT go crazy with this idea. Cutting back on too many calories can be detrimental to your health goals. Losing more than 1-2 pounds a week (after shedding water weight), isn't generally good for you either.

Don't make being thin your goal. You can be thin and not be healthy. Make being healthy, being strong and/or having strong, dense bones your goal. The size your body is capable of being is determined by genetics, not your dreams.

If you are short and stocky, don't expect to lose a ton of weight and suddenly look like a tall, thin fitness model. It isn't going to happen. Just like fashion models, fitness models don't even look like fitness models. Do some research so you know what realistic expectations should be.