Find the online BMR calculator here , which uses this equation:. The fact BMR is basically your metabolism means it plays a very important role when it comes to weight loss and weight gain. Those with higher BMRs are the kind of people who can eat an insane amount of food and never gain weight.

Your age, gender, size, height, weight, mass and even the size of your internal organs larger organs need more fuel play a part in determining your number.

The best way to increase your BMR is to build muscle. Lean muscle mass torches more calories than fat and pumps up your metabolism. Functional training will help you build muscle more than regular workouts; the latter can be limited in terms of movements.

Another way to increase your basal metabolic rate is to eat the right amount of calories. That means no semi-starved states and the low BMR that comes with it. Men need to be eating around 2, calories and women need to eat 2, calories daily, according to the NHS.

Munch on BMR-boosting foods such as hot peppers, green tea, broccoli, spices, citrus fruits and cacao. Stress is another huge contributor to a low metabolism. In fact, many macro calculators, like the popular IIFYM , incorporate BMR into their calculations for telling you about your calorie intake and macro needs based on your goals.

One common misconception about BMR is that it is the amount of calories your body burns at rest, but that is a different metric -- resting metabolic rate, or RMR. Your BMR is what energy your body needs to perform basic functions, while RMR is the amount of calories that your body burns while at rest.

Some people use the measurements interchangeably, but they aren't necessarily the same thing. There are many different calculators available online that can calculate your estimated BMR. Note that some of them will ask you to enter your body fat percentage, which many people do not know.

If you don't, you can make an estimate or use the images provided like IIFYM does to guess. Once you start learning about your BMR, you will likely also find information on total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE , since BMR is often calculated first to find TDEE.

Your BMR tells you your calorie needs, when you take that number plus how much you burn every day during normal activity and exercise, you get your TDEE.

So really, TDEE is the number that you work off of for figuring out how to adjust macros or calories for body composition goals, according to IIFYM. Weight loss is tricky , but using calculators that factor in your BMR are helpful for taking a more customized approach for your calories and macronutrient needs.

The way that most macros and BMR-based calculators work is by factoring in your TDEE with your goals. If you want to lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit, meaning the calculator will set your daily food intake to equal less calories than what you burn. Sometimes when you take an online quiz to find this number, you will be asked how fast you'd like to lose weight.

Then the calorie deficit will be adjusted accordingly. The faster you want results, the more extreme you will have to be with cutting calories. But many experts say that slow and steady is optimal compared to trying to lose a lot of weight quickly.

If you want to maintain your weight instead of lose or gain, then knowing your BMR and TDEE can help you know how many calories you should aim to consume each day to maintain your weight. On the flipside of weight loss is gaining muscle mass.

This too requires that you strategically approach your nutrition and add calories into your day likely in the form of protein and carbs to make sure you can gain muscle.

Fitness Equipment. Fitness Accessories. Fitness Tech. Fitness Nutrition. Why You Can Trust CNET. Wellness Fitness. Knowing Your BMR Can Improve Your Chances of Losing Weight and More Finding out your basal metabolic rate can be a stepping stone towards achieving your recomposition goals.

Your BMR is the minimum number of calories that your body needs to function at rest. Overall your body needs a specific amount of energy to complete basic functions like breathing, your heart rate, digestion and regulating your hormone levels.

Your BMR is calculated based on several different factors that focus on your age, gender, current weight and activity level. Although BMR is not intended for weight loss , the tool can show you information that can help you set a realistic caloric intake for yourself--whatever your goal may be.

Keep reading to learn more about BMR, how to calculate it and how it can be a guide for your nutrition and exercise goals.

Many people use BMR as a starting point to calculate their daily calorie needs and how to best adjust them to reach their goals. In fact, many macro calculators, like the popular IIFYM , incorporate BMR into their calculations for telling you about your calorie intake and macro needs based on your goals.

One common misconception about BMR is that it is the amount of calories your body burns at rest, but that is a different metric -- resting metabolic rate, or RMR. Your BMR is what energy your body needs to perform basic functions, while RMR is the amount of calories that your body burns while at rest.

Some people use the measurements interchangeably, but they aren't necessarily the same thing. There are many different calculators available online that can calculate your estimated BMR.

Note that some of them will ask you to enter your body fat percentage, which many people do not know. If you don't, you can make an estimate or use the images provided like IIFYM does to guess.

Once you start learning about your BMR, you will likely also find information on total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE , since BMR is often calculated first to find TDEE.

Your BMR tells you your calorie needs, when you take that number plus how much you burn every day during normal activity and exercise, you get your TDEE.

So really, TDEE is the number that you work off of for figuring out how to adjust macros or calories for body composition goals, according to IIFYM. Weight loss is tricky , but using calculators that factor in your BMR are helpful for taking a more customized approach for your calories and macronutrient needs.

The way that most macros and BMR-based calculators work is by factoring in your TDEE with your goals. If you want to lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit, meaning the calculator will set your daily food intake to equal less calories than what you burn.

Sometimes when you take an online quiz to find this number, you will be asked how fast you'd like to lose weight. Then the calorie deficit will be adjusted accordingly. The faster you want results, the more extreme you will have to be with cutting calories.

But many experts say that slow and steady is optimal compared to trying to lose a lot of weight quickly. If you want to maintain your weight instead of lose or gain, then knowing your BMR and TDEE can help you know how many calories you should aim to consume each day to maintain your weight. On the flipside of weight loss is gaining muscle mass.

This too requires that you strategically approach your nutrition and add calories into your day likely in the form of protein and carbs to make sure you can gain muscle.

Fitness Equipment. Metabolism is partly genetic and largely outside of one's control. Changing it is a matter of considerable debate. Some people are just lucky.

They inherited genes that promote a faster metabolism and can eat more than others without gaining weight. Others are not so lucky and end up with a slow metabolism. One way to think about metabolism is to view your body as a car engine that is always running.

When you're sitting still or sleeping, you're engine is idling like a car at a stop light. A certain amount of energy is being burned just to keep the engine running. Of course, for humans, the fuel source is not gasoline. It's the calories found in foods we eat and beverages we drink — energy that may be used right away or stored especially in the form of fat for use later.

How fast your body's "engine" runs on average, over time, determines how many calories you burn. If your metabolism is "high" or fast , you will burn more calories at rest and during activity. A high metabolism means you'll need to take in more calories to maintain your weight. That's one reason why some people can eat more than others without gaining weight.

A person with a "low" or slow metabolism will burn fewer calories at rest and during activity and therefore has to eat less to avoid becoming overweight. Lean people tend to be more active during everyday activities than people who are overweight.

They may "fidget" more — that is, they tend to be in motion even when engaged in non-exercise activities. Whether this tendency to move more or less is genetically programmed or learned remains uncertain. But it can add or subtract hundreds of calories each day.

Obese people expend more calories, on average, than lean people during most activities, in part because it takes more effort to move around.

But they tend to be more sedentary, which makes it harder to get rid of body fat. It's part truth and part myth that metabolism is the key to weight. The rising tide of obesity in this country cannot be blamed entirely on an inherited tendency to have a slow metabolism. Genes do not change that quickly.

Something environmental — particularly, changes in diet and exercising too little — are much more likely culprits. Age can be a factor, too, although new evidence suggests metabolism reaches a peak earlier in life and slows down much later than previously thought. The reality is that for most people, excess weight is not all due to bad luck, thyroid trouble or some other unexplained, uncontrollable external factor.