Basal Metabolic Rate

BMR is an estimate of how many calories you would burn if you were to do nothing but rest for 24 hours. It represent the minimum amount of energy required to keep your body functioning. Here’s the formula for calculating your BMR:
BMR = 655 + (9.6*weight in kg) + (1.8*height in cm) (4.7*age in years).
So your daily calorie intake to maintain your weight should be: BMR*1.15. To lose weight, cut down on this calorie count significantly.

WHAT IS METABOLISM?
Metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. Calories are burnt even when you’re sleeping and eating, because you need energy to keep you going. It differs for everyone. Factors such as muscle mass, genetics, overall weight, age and fat content determine how fast or slow your metabolism is.

HOW CAN YOU REV IT UP?

• Eat sensible, Eat healthy. Most people think that the thinner a person, the better her metabolic rate, and that this gives her a license to go on a junk food binge. Junk, oily and spicy food can slow down metabolism because these foods are tougher to digest and they add more to the fat content than to energy levels.
• Exercise will hike your metabolism levels simply because your body needs to burn more calories to sustain itself during and after a workout. “People must exercise for at least 30 minutes daily,” says a dietician. “An increased metabolism also helps in faster digestion, so even an occasional heavy meal does not make you feel bloated like it normally would if you work out.”
• Sleep like a baby. People who sleep less than seven hours a night cause their systems to slow down the next day-reflexes become sluggish and food is digested slower.
• “People do more cardio exercises because they think only these help in weight loss,” says a gym trainer. “But lifting weights and building muscle mass also causes calorie burn and weight loss.”

DON’T TAKE YOUR METABOLISM FOR GRANTED
A common misconception among people is that thin people have a high metabolism. People with high metabolism aren’t necessary thin. If you have a high metabolism, it only leads to a bigger appetite and higher calorie intake. Even the fastest metabolism hardly burns a maximum of 3000 calories in a day. So a high metabolism is of no use if you are eating more than what your body is burning.

WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE YOUR METABOLISM?
There are some factors that you can control and change, and some factors that you can’t.

Age: Metabolic rate decreases by 5% with each decade.
Gender: Men generally burn calories more quickly than women because they have more muscle tissue.
Heredity: You can inherit your metabolic rate.
Thyroid disorder: Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can slow down or speed up metabolism, but only 3% and 0.3% of the population have them respectively.

Source : Femina, oct 2011