Tips to keep your BMR High

As we all try to stay fit and trim the most important controlling factor we need to understand is within our bodies. Basal metabolic rate. This is the rate at which all the organs, tissues, cells, glands, etc. function inside at a resting state. That is the tick, tick, ticking of the body without including any voluntary muscle movements and without the activity of digestion.

So when we consider how our calories are burnt every day we say 10% is burnt by digestion. 25% is burnt in activity starting from opening of our eyes to brushing, bathing, walking, etc. and shutting our eyes at night. And 65% is spent as basal metabolic activity, which happens non-stop for 24 hours. The biggest secret of staying trim and fit is to keep your basal metabolic rate high. Those who eat a lot and are still trim and muscular are those who have a high metabolic rate. Their body is ticking at a much faster pace than that of their overweight neighbors.

Let’s look at factors that contribute to keeping the ticking up and those that bring it down. The biggest controlling factor is how much fat tissue you have deposited in your body. If the muscle mass is 55% and the fat mass is 15% the remaining 30% is bone and fluid. However if the fat mass becomes 25% and the muscle mass is only 45% that means that the fat tissue has increased while the muscle mass has gone down and this will lower your BMR. Fat cells are inactive or sleeping cells. Where as if you have more muscle tissue which is always active then you will have a higher BMR and will be burning off all that you eat and staying slim.

The second biggest factor is how much fatty food do you eat. If your diet is mainly fatty foods then you will be building fatty tissue and causing your BMR to go down. Many people tend to eat a lot of fatty food and skip their meals to stay trim. In the long run this will catch up with you and you may then be into a weight problem because you have messed up your body composition.

Eating healthy balanced meals with every meal a combination of carbohydrate and protein foods (carbohydrates- bread, rice, roti, plus protein, dhal, channa, milk, curd, egg, poultry, fish) is vital. Protein builds and preserves muscle tissue. For every unbalanced meal and skipped meal your body breaks and uses some muscle cells and less muscle cells means lower BMR. The same happens every time you do fasts, trips to health farms, where they give only papaya and lime juice or boiled veggies and roti, etc. or when you go on soup/ salad/fruit diets. The BMR goes down and then you put on weight with a vengeance.

Last but the most important is exercise. Regular exercise helps to build muscles and this keeps your BMR up. We recommend regular walking because walking exercises 90% of the muscles in your body at one time and helps to build muscle tissue so it is invaluable for keeping the BMR up. Thus the secret is to never skip meals, cut down fatty food, eat balanced meals (carbs & protein), and walk everyday.