What determines the rate of our metabolism?
There are four components to our metabolic rate.
First, between 60% and 75% of the calories we burn are calories we burn just to keep us alive. You can calculate your resting metabolic rate, also known as your Basal Metabolic Rate, using our Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator. These are the calories you burn to keep your heart pumping, your lungs breathing, and everything else necessary to sustain life.
Second, our physical activity is responsible for a further 15% to 30% of the calories we burn in a day. Obviously people who exercise burn more calories than people who do not exercise.
Third, we burn calories as we chew and digest food, and this component of our metabolism is called the thermic effect of feeding. After eating, your metabolism speeds up as your digestive juices go to work, and as food is pushed through your digestive system and converted to energy and waste products. This represents 5% to 15% of daily calories burned, depending on how often you eat.
Finally, our genes determine about 5% of the calories we burn each day.
From a weigh loss perspective, it’s easy to see how these metabolic factors determine whether or not we can lose weight. As our activity level increases, we burn more calories, and that boosts our metabolism, so tomorrow we will discuss activity and weight loss.