What’s Your Resting Metabolic Rate?

Nancy Cole, a personal trainer in South Florida, shares the following information on calculating your resting metabolic rate on HeraldToday.com. Your resting metabolic rate is the number of calories your body needs each day just to exist.

Why is this important to calculate? Because once you know how many calories your body needs to function, you can begin to figure out how many calories you need to cut from your daily diet (either by a reduction in food intake or increased exercise.) to lose weight at your desired rate.

You can calculate your resting metabolic rate by using the following formula:

1. Your weight in pounds divided by 2.2 equals weight in kilograms.

2. Multiply your weight in kilograms by 0.9 to get your average hourly calorie burn.

3. Multiply your average hourly calorie burn by 24 to get your resting metabolic rate. (Your resting metabolic rate is the number of calories your body burns just to function.)

4. Multiply your resting metabolic rate by your activity level. Use 1.2 for a sedentary activity level, 1.5 for a lightly active level, 1.7 for a moderately active level and 1.8 for a highly active level. This number is the approximate number of calories you are burning per day.

To lose a pound of weight a week, you must reduce your calorie intake by 3,500. This 500 calories-per-day deficit can easily be achieved by adding a little exercise and making a few small changes to your diet.