The Weight Loss Digest Natural weight loss at home with diet, nutrition, fitness, and training tips from theory to practice

Increase your BMR to burn more calories at rest

Your BMR can be your best friend in your battle against body fat, because it allows you to be lazy and still burn calories while you're resting. Learn how you can increase your BMR and burn more calories at rest.

What is BMR?

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. Your BMR is the minimum level of energy that you need to sustain your body’s vital functions in a waking state. Yes, your body consumes calories even if you’re not doing anything!

You can use your BMR to establish an energy baseline for constructing a sound program of weight control based on diet, exercise, or a combination of both.

So how can you maximize this burning of calories when you’re not doing anything? The simple answer to this question is: Increase whatever increases your BMR at rest.

Let’s take a look at what exactly can increase your BMR.

Ways to increase your BMR

Energy metabolism at rest is proportional to the surface of the body. This means that, the larger you are, the more heat you generate, and thus the higher your metabolism is at rest.

Basal metabolism is directly related to the amount of lean body mass you are carrying on your body, that is, the amount of muscle.

This brings us to the first way you can increase your BMR: Increase the size of your muscles.

The second factor that affects your BMR is physical activity. Most people can sustain metabolic rates that are 10 times the resting values during "big muscle" exercises such as fast walking, running, and swimming. Physical activity can account for between 15 and 30% of your total daily energy expenditure.

So the second way to increase your BMR is by doing intense exercises for the large muscles of the body.

A third way to stimulate your BMR is by eating. Yes, eating! Surprised? The ingestion of food stimulates energy metabolism. This is called dietary-induced thermogenesis.

Food activates the nervous system and has a stimulating effect on metabolism. In general, the thermic effect of food reaches a maximum within 1 hour after a meal. The effect depends on the quantity and type of food eaten.

What the third way basically means, is that you should not starve yourself if you want to maximize the effect of burning calories while you’re resting.

One last factor I’d like to mention which can increase your BMR is the climate. People living in warm places generally have a BMR that is 5 to 20% higher than those living in cold places. Unless you’re planning to migrate or move – if you’re living in a country with a cold climate – it is best to stick with the things you have more control over such as diet and exercise.

Conclusion

To increase your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), you should:

1. Never starve your body.
2. Eat the right foods at the right time.
3. Try to hang onto the amount of muscle you currently have, so lose body fat, not muscle.
4. Train large body parts intensely for an extended period of time.

Now go and find ways YOU can increase your BMR, stick with it, and never give up!