Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of calories you burn at rest. It is the baseline for the calories you need everyday in order for your body to operate and maintain daily functions. With increased lean body mass, your energy needs will increase as a result of higher BMR. If you don’t increase your daily calorie intake, but increase your lean body mass/BMR, you will create a calorie deficit – which can lead to fat loss. Unfortunately, our basal metabolic rate decreases as we lose weight. This is one reason why exercise is a very important tool in weight maintenance. At a lower BMR, our body is in a shut down mode. In other words, our body is in an energy conservation mode, and consequently, burns less and less calories. As the BMR decreases with weight loss, it makes it easier for our weight to plateau. If we maintain the same caloric intake that led to the weight loss in the first place, weight regain is very likely to occur (even without increasing our caloric intake) because our body is no longer burning calories efficiently.
Learn more about the information that the InBody Body Composition Analyzer can provide.
