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What Is Human Basal Metabolism?

Whether you are looking to lose or gain weight, watching your basal metabolism rate is very important. Raising your metabolism rate is the key to controlling and maintaining a healthy weight.

  1. What Is Human Basal Metabolism?

    • The human basal metabolism is the rate at which your body uses energy when you are at complete rest and is the minimum amount of energy that your body needs to burn calories and stay healthy. The more calories you burn, the more weight you will lose.

    Use of Basal Metabolism

    • The basal metabolism rate is typically used for designing weight loss plans. Knowing your BMR helps you tailor your plan to your specific needs based on how much energy you use daily.

    Factors That Can Lower BMR

    • If weight loss is your goal, you will want to raise your metabolic rate, not lower it. Some factors that can lower a person's metabolic rate include age, gender, medications, starvation diets or overeating.

    Raising the Basal Metabolic Rate

    • Some keys to increasing the metabolic rate include eating healthy and exercising regularly. Raising the metabolic rate helps to burn more calories and lose weight. The higher your metabolic rate is the faster you will burn the calories that you consume. The more energy you use, the higher your metabolic rate will go.

    Clinical Measurement of the Basal Metabolic Rate

    • To measure the metabolic rate in a clinical setting, the patient needs to fast for 12 to 14 hours and be at complete rest for 30 minutes. The basal rate is determined by the amount of oxygen consumption in the patient.

    Basic Measurement of BMR

    • To estimate the basic basal metabolic rate at home, use these simple equations.

      For men, BMR = 66 + (6.22 x weight in pounds) + (1.96 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)
      For women, BMR = 655 + (4.36 x weight in pounds) + (0.71 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

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