Know Your Basal Metabolism to Lose Weight Effectively

How to calculate your basal metabolism in order to know the amount of calories you need to lose, maintain, or gain weight.

Basal or resting metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories at rest.

In general, sedentary adult men burn 1800-2000 calories per day.

Sedentary adult women burn 1600-1800 per day.

Most of these calories, about 65%, are used to maintain basic bodily functions, such as organ mechanisms.

About 25% are used to fuel physical activity.

And about 10% are used to digest foods that you eat.

To lose weight, a person has to eat less calories than the basal metabolic rate.

To maintain weight, a person has to eat the same amount of calories as the basal metabolic rate.

And to gain weight, a person has to eat more calories than the basal metabolic rate.

As you can see, weight management is a balancing act of the calories you eat against the calories that your body can burn.

To calculate your basal metabolism, use the following formulas.

Males Divide your body weight by 2.2, then multiply by 24.

Females Divide your body weight by 2.2, then multiply by 22.

Your answer is the number of calories that your body burns at rest.

It is important to know your BMR so you can know the number of calories that you can consume to either lose, maintain, or gain weight.

Having a slow metabolism is more of a problem than having a fast metabolism.

If you overweight and suspect that a slow metabolism is the culprit, there are a number of things that you can do to speed it up.

For example, getting 20-30 minutes of cardio exercise in the morning can keep your metabolism elevated through much of the day.

Strength training can build muscles, which can make permanent increases in your metabolism.

Ark Agpalza has dedicated more than 10 years to the cause of healthy living, and is the author of the online publication Free Health and Fitness Tips.

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