Even when resting, we continue to burn calories! Depending on different factors, it is estimated that the metabolism can burn 1,300 to 2,000 calories per day without doing anything.
- Basal metabolism is the number of calories we burn in 24 hours at rest.
- Energy expenditure at rest depends on different factors (age, weight, height, sex, genetics, etc.).
- Basal metabolism accounts for about 60 to 70% of your daily calorie expenditure, according to an American endocrinologist.
When we read a book or relax on our couch, our body continues to burn calories. This mechanism is known as basal metabolism or resting energy expenditure (BMR). It corresponds to the number of calories we burn in 24 hours without having any specific activity.
How to calculate your basic metabolism?
The basic metabolism is characterized by the energy necessary to maintain our vital functions in activity. “To live, you have to burn calories (…) Your body burns calories to make your heart beat, to breathe, to think… to do everything”explained Doctor Marcio Griebeler, endocrinologist and weight management specialist, in an interview with Health Essentials.
Everyone has their own basic metabolism, which depends on different factors such as age, height, weight, gender, genetics and even muscle/fat ratio. Different calculations allow you to obtain a rough estimate of your body’s basic calorie expenditure, such as the Harris and Benedict formula or the Oxford method.
Basal metabolism: how many calories are burned at rest?
Over the course of a day, your metabolism can burn 1,300 to 2,000 calories per day without activity depending on the different factors mentioned above.
To give you an idea of calorie expenditure at rest, Doctor Marcio Griebeler made an estimate using the example of an adult man and woman of average height in the United States, at different ages. An American adult man is on average 1.75 meters tall and weighs 90.5 kg and an American adult woman is on average 1.57 meters tall and weighs 77.4 kg.
By entering these measurements into a basal metabolism calculator, often available on the Internet, we obtain calories burned at rest according to age:
- 20 years: 2,020 calories (men)/1,559 calories (women);
- 30 years old: 1,964 calories (men)/1,516 calories (women);
- 40 years old: 1,907 calories (men)/1,473 calories (women);
- 50 years old: 1,850 calories (men)/1,429 calories (women);
- 60 years old: 1,793 calories (men)/1,386 calories (women);
- 70 years old: 1,737 calories (men)/1,343 calories (women);
- 80 years old: 1,680 calories (men)/1,300 calories (women).
As indicated by the endocrinologist, the basal metabolism represents approximately 60 to 70% of the daily caloric expenditure. The remaining calories are used when we move or engage in physical activity. “If you exercise, you increase your total calorie expenditure for the day (…) But it won’t really have an impact on your basal metabolic rate”underlined Doctor Marcio Griebeler.
