What is Your Resting Metabolism Rate?

Trying to understand resting metabolism rate can be confusing, especially when there are so many terms to understand, such as:

• Metabolism rate or
• Basal metabolism rate.

Your resting metabolism is the amount of energy your body needs to simply function.

Your body gets this energy through the foods you eat.

The more calories you eat the more energy your body gets.

(However, if you eat too many calories your body will store the excess as fat, which it can turn into energy later if needed. When you lose weight you are using up the fat your body has stored.)

Your body’s resting metabolism is determined by the amount of energy your body needs to simply function.

This means having your:

• Heart pump blood throughout your body
• Organs function as needed
• Your lungs process oxygen, etc.

It’s what your body needs even if you don’t move a finger all day.

Obviously if you got out and ran ten miles your body would need more calories (energy) than the amount needed for your resting metabolism rate.

Why be concerned about your resting metabolism?

If you are trying to lose weight and overcome obesity, it is a good idea to understand what your individual resting metabolism rate is.

If it is equal to 1,700 calories, you know that if you sit all day and don’t burn additional calories, you can’t consume any more than 1,700 calories or you will gain weight.

You need to consume less than that to lose weight.

Say your resting metabolism is 1,700 and you also burn 300 calories by going for a long walk. If you still choose to consume only 1,700 calories of food, you have put 300 calories toward weight loss.

If you consume only 1,500 calories and walk, you’ve put 500 calories toward weight loss.

For every 3,500 calories you “save,” you lose a pound.

Understanding what your resting metabolism is can help you plan a healthy diet and exercise plan that will enable you to lose weight.

It provides you with a starting map because you know what number of calories you need to stay below each day.

You can also look into ways to increase your resting metabolism, which would make your body use more calories each day.

You’ll find tips on how to do this on this site.

Also, here are some more tips to help you start losing weight and stay on track.

• Incorporate a proven, complete nutritional program into your daily life.
• Enhance your nutritional program with a complete mutivitamin supplement because no nutritional program is perfect.
• Use a behavior modification and motivational program that will help you stay on track with your nutritional plan.
• Exercise at home with your own:
  Treadmill

  Stairstepper

  Exercise bike

  Elliptical trainer

  Hand weights or

  An aerobic video.

• See what kinds of weight loss aids your health insurance covers such as:
  Hypnotism

  Gym membership discounts

  Nutritional counseling.

Overcoming obesity can be hard work, but understanding how your body works, and what it needs as far as your resting metabolism rate goes, can help you meet your weight loss goals.