Same Weight, Different Results.

We all have a number that we burn every day. If you are taller, you require more energy. More weight, also more energy. It takes energy to fuel your body. When someone is tracking their energy, a tool we can use is the various BMR equations. Basal Metabolic Rate with activity levels. The basal metabolic rate is the amount of energy you burn at rest. These are based on height, weight, age, activity and sex.

We are all told that muscle cells burn more energy at rest than fat cells. This is the argument for strength training. Lifting weights to get stronger is the best thing you can do to increase your metabolism. By increasing your muscle cells and increasing the amount of energy you burn. Muscle also takes up less space per pound than fat cells, so one would look smaller at the same weight.

We are all told that muscle cells burn more energy at rest than fat cells…. Factoring in my body fat gave me almost 200 more calories a day!

If you think about these arguments, the more accurate math equation is one that also factors in your body fat. Take two people, both 6 feet tall and 300 pounds, but one has 20% body fat and the other has 40%. With the basic formula, they will get the same number but when you factor in body fat, there is a bit of a difference. The Katch Mcardle formula factors body fat in and is available at the link below.

Here is a link to a calculator that has more than one equation to look at your numbers. If you think about how this is calculated, you would need to know your lean muscle mass, taking the percentage of body fat minus 100 to get lean pounds of muscle. In the website below, the equation doesn’t look right for Katch Mcardle. That is because it is missing some numbers. It says 1 when it should say 100. Google the Katch Mcardle and you will see what I mean.

https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html

I found it helpful to use that number to calculate my TDEE after. This is the equation that factors in activity level. Factoring in my body fat gave me about 200 more calories a day. I found the TDEE on this website:

https://www.calculators.org/health/bmr.php

In the previous example of both people at 300 pounds, there is a difference of about 500-600 calories in the BMR. (without factoring in activity.) Katch Mcardle says at 40% body fat and 300 pounds one is burning about 2133 calories for the BMR. At 20% body fat and 300 pounds one is burning just over 2700! See for yourself. Understanding how this works will help you factor in your calorie burn. Without factoring in body fat, the other calculators would put someone 40 years old, 6 feet and 300 pounds at 2300-2600 calories a day. (just factoring no activity level.)

You can see how an overweight person with high fat may need to test out these numbers on their own and look at a number of different equations. That is at least a 200 calorie plus difference every day! This may be why you are not losing weight if you have a higher body fat and have been tracking calories.

It is always a good idea to be patient. Make sure you are accurately tracking your calories, see the difference the calorie goal makes on your weight, and give it enough time. If you have given it enough time and you are not losing weight, increase your activity or decrease your calories by about 200. You are going to figure out your number with real application on your body!

You can also get your BMR tested at a facility that tests body fat and BMR.