When people think of burning calories, they think of exercise. The fact is that even when we are sleeping, our body is always expending energy. We must maintain our basic system, digestion, respiration, cell division, circulation and many more. It all costs calories.
The number of calories our body needs to maintain itself is determined by a formula called the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). BMR is a measurement of calories burned at rest. It does not take into account any physical activity that we engage in. You know people who eat what they can, don’t exercise and maintain a trim, fit body. Those people have been gifted with a high BMR.
The primary method of determining BMR is known as the Harris-Benedict formula. The formula for determining BMR works pretty well for most people. The two exceptions are extremely muscular individuals and those who are extremely overweight. The Harris-Benedict formula will reduce caloric needs for those who are overweight and will reduce caloric needs for those who are extremely muscular.
Since caloric expenditure is different for men and women, the formula is different for each gender. Here’s the formula for both men and women:
Male: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x ht in cm) – (6.8 x age in years)
Female: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) – (4.7 X age in years)
Here’s a real life example of how to calculate it.
Take a man who is 33 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall (172.7 cm) and weighs 172 pounds (78 kg). The formula would look like this:
BMR = 66 + (13.7 X 78) + (5 X 172.7) – (6.8 X 33)
BMR = 66 + (1068.6) + (863.5) – (224.4)
BMR = 1707.4 cal/day.
So it would take our example 1707.4 calories a day just to maintain the essential body systems if they are constantly at rest.
Source by Robert Trempta
