Basal Metabolic Calculator

At the bottom of this blog there area some tools, or aka widgets, on here to help you figure some things out. One of them is the Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator (BMC). Now I don't know how accurate it is but it does show something that may contribute to diet plateaus that I never thought about.

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment, in the post-absorptive state (meaning that the digestive system is inactive, which requires about twelve hours of fasting in humans). The release of energy in this state is sufficient only for the functioning of the vital organs, such as the heart, lungs, brain and the rest of the nervous system, liver, kidneys, sex organs, muscles and skin. BMR decreases with age and with the loss of lean body mass. Increasing muscle mass increases BMR. from Wikipedia

As you can see at 270 my BMR was at 2372, and now at 262 pounds, just a mere 8 pounds less, my BMR is now 2322. That is 50 calories a day less input I need just to maintain my weight. So I am going to put into the calculator that I lost 25 pounds and see what it is..... OK I'm back. It said that if I lost 25 pounds, then I would be 245, my BMR would be 2216 calories a day. A full160 calories a day less needed, therefor making it harder, not impossible, to lose the weight further. So I just have to be mindful that as time goes on, I will still need to further reduce my calories, or increase my activity to make up the difference.

OK, I am curious as to what it would take at my goal weight of 199 pounds.... It says 1921 calories a day, I upped my age one year to account for that. So that means, I will need a full 450 less calories a day, just to maintain my weight. That is something to think about. I can now see why maintenance of weight once you get to your goal weight is still hard. But I can and I will do it.

Thanks for reading this blog.

"Onesville"