BMR Calculator | Dr Workout (2024)

The human body needs a specific number of calories each day to maintain basic physiological functions. This is called the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), or the number of calories you need to consume for bodily functions like breathing, circulating blood, regulating body temperature, and so on. Knowing your BMR can help you in your weight loss/weight gain endeavors.

What is my Basal Metabolic Rate?

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According to comprehensive research studies, knowing one’s Basal Metabolic Rate is key to maintaining your daily calorie intake in a healthy manner. However, the knowledge is still inaccessible in large parts of the world ^[1].

In basic terms, our Basal Metabolic Rate calculator tells you the number of calories that you burn each day while being in a state of rest. This limit can serve as a key milestone for your calorie goals if you want to gain or lose weight and help you improve your exercise and nutritional habits.

There are many key variables that dictate an individual’s BMR, including their body weight, dietary habits, body fat percentage, and so on ^[2]. In fact, significant variations were found in the BMR of men compared to women, with age being a small factor as well ^[3].

With so many variables involved, it is impossible to calculate Basal Metabolic Rate through estimate and guesswork. Thankfully, with our BMR calculator, you can input all the key variables that dictate the value and get a precise reading for the same.

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What is BMR?

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. It is the amount of energy (measured in calories) required by the body to maintain vital organs and other physiological functions. In such a state, the digestive system should be inactive.

That highlights the difference between Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). In the former, calories burned during the process of digestion are also counted. In the latter, the digestive system is inactive.

In most cases, your Basal Metabolic Rate accounts for around 60% to 75% of the total energy (calories) that you consume each day without doing anything ^[4].

To calculate your daily calorie requirements, BMR should always be measured first. In most cases, the BMR value is later multiplied by a factor value between 1.2 and 2.3, depending on various lifestyle factors and activity levels. The multiplied result will give us an individual’s daily calorie needs.

What’s a Good BMR?

No value for BMR can be classified as “good” or “bad” in the realm of health and fitness. That’s because it is simply a measure of how many calories your body requires for optimal upkeep and maintenance.

A high BMR value suggests that you burn more calories throughout the day to sustain yourself. A lower BMR value indicates that you have a slow metabolism. Neither is inherently bad without factoring in other details.

BMR is just one measure of your overall physical well-being and health. It can only give you one piece of information – how many calories you require each day to perform the most basic functions.

BMR varies individually. There is no universally “good” BMR.

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BMR Formulas

Many predictive equations for calculating an individual’s Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) have been introduced, each with varying levels of accuracy

The three major ones are as follows:

Mifflin-St Jeor (1990)

This equation was introduced in 1990 and was found to be the most accurate and reliable one by researchers.

The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation is generally considered more accurate than some older BMR estimation equations, such as the Harris-Benedict Equation.

However, its accuracy can vary from individual to individual due to factors like genetics, muscle mass, hormonal fluctuations, and health conditions that it does not fully account for.

The formula is defined as:

For men: 10 * Weight (kg) + 6.25 * Height (cm) – 5 * age (years) + 5
For women: 10 * Weight (kg) + 6.25 * height (cm) – 5 * age (years) – 161

Harris-Benedict Equation (1918)

The original, unrevised equations created by Harris-Benedict were published between 1918 and 1919. As such, it had many flaws in the formula, which needed fixing.

The original formula is given as:

For men: 4730 + (13.7516 * Weight [kg]) + (5.0033 * Height [cm]) – (6.7550 * Age (years)]
For women: 0955 + (9.5634 * Weight [kg]) + (1.8496 * Height [cm]) – (4.6756 * Age [years])

Harris-Benedict Equation Revised (1984)

The original Harris-Benedict formula was altered by Roza and Shizgal in 1984 by incorporating data derived from a larger research group.

The revised formula is given as:

For men: 362 + (13.397 * Weight [kg]) + (4.799 * Height [cm]) – (5.677 * Age (years)]
For women: 593 + (9.247 * Weight [kg]) + (3.098 * Height [cm]) – (4.33 * Age (years)]

BMR Variables

Even with a comprehensive BMR calculator, getting a completely precise value is impossible. According to research, there is no single BMR value that is appropriate for all adults of the same category.

That is because there are many variables that can dictate one’s BMR. Some can be accounted for, others are more elusive.

The major BMR variables are as follows:

Gender: Men tend to have a higher BMR value than women because of the higher percentage of lean body mass compared to fat tissues.
Weight: Heavier individuals have higher BMR values as it requires more calories to maintain a larger body.
Height: Taller individuals have a higher BMR as they have comparatively more body mass to maintain.
Age: BMR values generally decrease with age.
Body Composition: Muscle tissues burn more calories at rest compared to fat tissues. Therefore, muscular people generally have a higher BMR.
Body Temperature: External factors like the surrounding temperature can also affect BMR as the body will need to expend additional energy to stabilize the internal temperature in such situations.
Hormones: Hormonal imbalances like thyroid disorders can also impact BMR.

Final Words

Knowing your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) can help you figure out the optimal nutrition and workout program to achieve your fitness goals.

Educating yourself about your body should be the first step to leading a healthy lifestyle. And BMR is one of the most important metrics in this regard.

References

Henry, C. J. (2005). Basal metabolic rate studies in humans: measurement and development of new equations. Public Health Nutrition, 8(7a), 1133–1152. https://doi.org/10.1079/phn2005801
Marcus, J. B. (2013). Weight Management: Finding the healthy balance. In Elsevier eBooks (pp. 431–473). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-391882-6.00010-8
McMurray, R. G., Soares, J., Caspersen, C. J., & McCurdy, T. (2014). Examining variations of resting metabolic rate of adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 46(7), 1352–1358. https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0000000000000232
Pethusamy, K., Gupta, A., & Yadav, R. (2019). Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). In Springer eBooks (pp. 1–3). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1429-1