Choose your units (imperial or metric).Are you currently, or plan to lift weights?.Choose the right goal – weight loss, maintenance or muscle building.Here are a few key things you can do to make sure you use the calculator as correctly as possible. Once you have your BMR, it's time to take the same kind of strategic approach to the rest of your training and nutrition.Our calculator is the best starting place for determining your calorie and macronutrient needs. Being armed with this knowledge, rather than guesstimating or blindly following a plan without scaling it to your individual needs, can make or break your muscle gains or fat loss. Once you use your BMR to determine your TDEE, you can make sure that the nutrition plan you follow is appropriate for your level of energy expenditure and that it isn't giving you too many or too few calories. How Can I Use My BMR to Lose Fat or Gain Muscle? If the equation uses RMR, use our RMR calculator, which will give you a slightly higher number. If it's based on BMR, you can use the calculator above to get an estimate. The term BMR is sometimes used synonymously with RMR, which stands for 'resting metabolic rate.' The difference is that while BMR only measures basic processes of breathing, blood circulation, and temperature regulation in a completely resting state, RMR also includes energy expended by digestion and non-exercise daily movements, like getting dressed and lifting your fork to your mouth.īMR and RMR numbers are typically close enough to be interchangeable, but if you're calculating your needs in order to gain or lose weight, pay attention to which number an equation calls for. What's the Difference Between BMR and RMR? Keep in mind, though, that it's impossible to know your exact TDEE, as your activity levels will change day to day, and the only way to get 100 percent accurate BMR numbers is through laboratory testing. You can use a TDEE calculator or calorie calculator to find this number to get a more specific result. This varies significantly based on your activity level, age, and sex.

It's determined based on your BMR as well as your activity level throughout the day. The overall number of calories your body uses on a daily basis is referred to as your 'total daily energy expenditure' (TDEE). This means that when you have a lot of muscle mass, you'll burn more calories at rest. However, increasing muscle mass does increase BMR, because muscle is metabolically 'hungry' and it takes more energy to maintain more muscle. Since your basal metabolic rate is based largely on involuntary functions like breathing and pumping blood, changes in your day-to-day activity don't do much to raise or lower this number. Here's how it works:įor men: BMR = 66.5 + (13.75 x weight in kg) + (5.003 x height in cm) - (6.755 x age in years)įor women: BMR = 655.1 + (9.563 x weight in kg) + (1.850 x height in cm) - (4.676 x age in years)īear in mind that this doesn't take your activity level into account! 's calculator uses the Harris-Benedict equation, which is considered by many experts to be the most accurate BMR calculation for most types of people.

Bodybuilding bmr calculator