Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) Calculator

Calculate your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) to estimate the calories your body burns at rest and find your baseline energy needs for a healthier lifestyle.

RMR vs BMR

While RMR and BMR are used interchangeably, they are different measurements of how energy is used by your body.

• RMR measures the number of calories your body burns while at rest.
• BMR measures the minimum number of calories your body needs to perform basic functions like breathing, circulation, and cell production.

While BMR is measured under more controlled conditions (e.g., after sleep and fasting), RMR is measured during rest but not necessarily under such strict conditions (1^✔).

What is Metabolism?

Metabolism is the sum of all chemical reactions within each body cell to produce energy. This energy is used for the biological processes and the synthesis of new organic material. We obtain the nutrients and energy from our diet. Cells convert food into energy for physical and biological functions (2^✔).

What is Resting Metabolic Rate?

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is the rate at which you burn energy or calories when resting. This helps fulfill the basic requirements of the body to function optimally. Calories are required constantly to maintain essential body functions like heartbeat, respiration, elimination of waste by the kidneys, etc. On average, around 50 to 75% of one's daily energy expenditure is attributed to this resting metabolic rate.

If you wish to lose weight, your calorie consumption should be calculated so that you can take care of the vital basic body function. Your workout should help you burn more calories than you consume, exceeding your basic energy requirements. Knowing this will help you shed the extra weight sensibly.

How to Calculate RMR?

RMR can be calculated using the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation manually.

• For men:
  RMR=10×weight (kg)+6.25×height (cm)−5×age (years)+5
• For women:
  RMR=10×weight (kg)+6.25×height (cm)−5×age (years)−161

This equation uses height, weight, and age to calculate the results. The Harris-Benedict equation is primarily for RMR calculation. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is considered more accurate for both BMR and RMR in modern research (3^✔).

Factors Affecting RMR

Factors like height, weight, age, gender, race, diet, activity level, and muscle can impact your resting metabolic rate.

• Age: RMR decrease with age due to loss of lean muscle mass
• Gender: Men generally have a higher RMR due to more muscle mass
• Muscle mass: More muscle mass increases RMR
• Temperature: Cold weather can increase RMR, as the body needs to maintain normal temperature (4^✔)

How Metabolism Affect Weight

Whether your metabolism is slow or fast, if you consume more calories than your body needs to function, they’re going to be stored. It’s this stored excess energy that causes weight gain, explains Hoffman.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll need to burn fat stores, which takes nourishing your body with protein and fiber-rich whole foods, not skipping meals or restricting yourself. When more calories are consumed than the required amount, they will be stored as fat in the body. These excess calories result in weight gain (5^✔).

Facts about RMR

• Resting metabolic rate slows down as the age increases and weight decreases (6^✔).
• Genetics and environmental temperature play a vital role in metabolic rate.
• Gain in muscle mass will increase your metabolic rate.
• RMR is higher in men when compared to women.
• If you are ill or sick, your resting metabolic rate increases to fight against the infection.
• Dietary deficiencies like iodine deficiency leads to decreased metabolic rate (7^✔).
• Effective weight loss needs increased metabolic rate to burn extra calories, which can be achieved by exercising.

Did you know?

• To maintain your current body weight, your daily calorie intake should be equal to one and half times your RMR value.
• To lose weight in a healthy way (i.e. losing fat mass instead of muscle mass and water weight), your daily calorie intake should be between your minimum calories (i.e. your RMR) and your maintenance calories (i.e. 1.5 x RMR). Don’t cut the food intake below your RMR value. This results in fight back mechanism by your body i.e. decrease in metabolic rate. The advisable way to attain your ideal weight is by eating the right type of food and exercising regularly.
• To gain weight consume more calories as advised by your physician.