Learn Your BMR

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. BMR is a formula that calculates how many calories your body needs each day stay alive. (Regulate body tempurature, breathing, digestion, heart beat...) In other words, if you did nothing but sleep all day, your body would burn "X" calories where "X" = Your BMR.

The BMR formula for women is:
655 + (9.6 x weight in kilos) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x Age in years)

The BMR formula for men is:
66 + (13.7 x weight in kilos ) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x Age in years)

Once you know your BMR, you can calculate your daily caloric need by multiplying your BMR by your activity level. (Be Honest!)

Activity Level	Description	Multiplier
Sedentary	Little or no Exercise	1.200
Light	Exercise or Sports 1 - 3 times a week	1.375
Moderate	Exercise or Sports 3 - 5 times a week	1.550
Very Active	Exercise or Sports 5 - 7 times a week	1.725
Extra Active	2x a day training or Hard Physical Job	1.900

If the metric system and math are not your idea of a good time, Aaron Scott (who is the sexiest sweetheart in the whole world!) wrote a JAVA applet to automatically calculate your BMR (and BMI). You can find it here.