BMR Calculator

About Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

BMR is the amount of calories that your body burns in a day to sustain itself on a base level. BMR also means the same thing as Basal Energy Expenditure of BEE. Meaning this amount of calories is what you would burn if you laid still in bed all day doing absolutely nothing. The actual amount of calories you burn each day will vary based on activity but can be estimated by using a multiple of your BMR based on your typical activity level.

Your true BMR can only be calculated by very formal tests or in a testing facility but the calculator above can help you to get a fairly good estimate of your BMR. Once you calculate BMR and use it to find your actual metabolic rate you can then determine how many calories you need to consume to lose or gain weight. The basic idea is that a pound of fat holds 3500 calories. So if you wanted to lose 1 pound per week you would reduce your daily calorie intake by 500 calories per day below your actual metobolic burn rate.

Please remember that this only works to a certain extent and trying to lose more than about 2.5 pounds per week can be very unhealthy. There are base calorie requirements that your body needs to take in on average each day or it will go into what is called “starvation mode.” If this happens your metabolism will slow down and stop burning calories at it’s normal rate because it thinks that you are running out of food and to stay alive it must do this. You will also become very tired and cold much of the time because of your lower energy burn. It will become very difficult to lose any weight at all and much of the weight you do lose will be from the body destroying it’s own muscles which is also very bad. This is many times how people will achieve what some call “skinny fat” where the numbers will say they are not overweight but will still look overweight.

To keep your body out of “starvation mode” the typical minimum amount of calories recommended is 1500 for males and 1200 for females. It can also depend on your body type so if you’re a more naturally muscular build this number would be higher because muscles will naturally burn calories while fat will not.

If you would like more information about Basal Metabolic Rate please see the wikipedia page here.