My BMR Calculator

What is BMR?

Your BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate is a measurement of how many calories you burn to maintain your minimal body functions (e.g. breathing). The BMR assumes you are being at rest for 24 hours. You use energy no matter what you are doing, even when sleeping, BMR calculates how many calories you would burn if you were in bed all day.

How can you Calculate your BMR?

You can calculate your BMR by using the BMR Calculator. Once you know your BMR, you can combine it with the Harris Benedict Equation to calculate how many calories you should eat each day to reach your desired weight goal.

How does BMR change over time?

If you've noticed as you get older it becomes harder to eat whatever you want and stay slim. You've also learned that your metabolism slows with age. Likewise, depriving yourself of food in hopes of losing weight also decreases your BMR.

The BMR calculator uses the variables of height, weight, age and gender to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate. The only factor the BMR calculator omits is lean body mass and thus the ratio of muscle-to-fat your body has. Remember, leaner bodies need more calories than less leaner ones. Therefore, this equation will be very accurate in all but the very muscular (will underestimate calorie needs) and the very fat (will over-estimate calorie needs). Now that we have calculated your BMR we can use the Harris Benedict Equation to apply your activity factor to determine your total daily energy expenditure in calories.

Resting Metabolic Rate and Basal Metabolic Rate are usually used to mean almost the same thing. Both the BMR and RMR are used to measure your body's calorie requirements at rest, the RMR simply adds minor activities like stretching and eating. Knowing how many calories your body uses can be important for guiding accurate weight loss and weight maintenance. The basal metabolic rate (BMR) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) both tell you how many calories your body uses at rest just to support organ function. Energy used by the brain, heart, diaphragm, and liver are examples of energy included in RMR and BMR. It may be surprising to know RMR/BMR is the largest calorie expenditure for adults - both are part of you total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

Differences between BMR and RMR

BMR is based on being at rest for 24 hours.
The RMR calculator includes movement of light activities. These activities include eating, using the restroom, walking, stretching, etc