Did you know your body burns calories, even when you aren't moving?
This means that even if you lay in bed all day, your body will burn calories for your heart rate, brain function, digestion and the act of breathing. This basic rate is called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), or the rate at which the body uses energy at rest.
You will learn how to calculate your BMR in this blog post. In the meantime, here is a good baseline numbers to help you create a baseline for your sex and age.
What is a good BMR for my age?
The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculates the basic calorie amount you need for the day.
| Age | Male (calories per hour) | Female (calories per hour) | |
| 30–39 | 39.5 | 36.5 | |
| 40–49 | 38.5 | 36.5 | |
| 50–59 | 37.5 | 35.0 | |
| 60–69 | 36.5 | 34.0 | |
(I have included a link to a BMR calculator at the end of the article for you to calculate your BMR, too.)
When you want to lose a few pounds, or more, you'll want to know the basic number of calories your body burns every day so you can add in exercise and determine the number of calories you can eat each day and still have a calorie deficit.
When you add in a 15-30 minutes of low-impact exercises, you'll enjoy increase metabolism. If you start a daily low impact routine, check with your doctor or health care provide prior to beginning.
Also, to get the most of your daily exercise routine, consider adding our 100% tart cherry juice daily or tart cherry capsules. Did you know, cherries naturally reduce inflammation in the joints, muscles and the body naturally.
Weight loss is often determined by a calorie deficit, although a calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie.
This means that you can eat a few more calories when they are healthy fats as opposed to a calorie count of carbohydrates or proteins. But in any case, you have to know the number of calories you eat and the number of calories you burn each day.
You'll need to use the factors that are important to determining your basic metabolic rate in the equation. Once you've determined the basic rate you'll want to add in the calories you burn in exercise each day.
Low Impact Exercises
For instance, if you get on the ellipitical trainer every day and burn off 400 calories, you'll add 400 to the basic rate and then reduce that by a 100 or 200 in order to create a deficit each day and lose weight.
Check out our low impact exercise video series you can enjoy right at home:
Low Impact Exercise Video Series - Click Here
However, it's important to not reduce your calorie intake to less than 1200 calories in order to stay healthy. And, interestingly, your metabolic rate will actually increase when you keep your body's engine running on good fuel.
To calculate your basal metabolic rate you'll need your height in inches or centimeter and your weight in pounds or kilograms.
The equation for men looks like this:
= 66 + (13.7 X kg) + (5 X cm) - (6.8 x age)
OR
= 66 + (6.23 X lbs) + (12.7 X inches) - ( 6.8 X age)
The equation for women looks like this:
= 655 + (9.6 X kg) + (1.8 X cm) - (4.7 x age)
OR
= 655 + (4.35 X lbs) + (4.7 inches) - (4.7 X age)
Calculate your BMR with the Forbes BMR calculator - Click Here
