Defining Basal Metabolism

When it comes to burning calories most people believe that one needs to be doing some sort of activity or exercise. While it is true that getting up off the couch and moving around or going for a 5 mile jog will burn a certain amount of calories (how many depends on the activity and the persons fitness level) it is also true that the body will burn calories even while it’s at rest. This is known as basal metabolism and it refers to the energy needs or calories required by the body to function. 

Basal metabolism is the measure of the number of calories needed by the body to maintain life while at rest. Examples of a body at rest would be sleeping, watching TV, reading a book and sitting on the beach. While the body is at rest it still has to function to maintain itself. Breathing, healing, the heart beating, these functions continue even while asleep and it takes energy, or calories, to do this. So the body is always burning calories, even when at rest, but if one lives a more sedentary life the calories needed to keep the body functioning are much les then for someone with an active life style. 

The fact that we are always burning calories, even when at rest, is important when it comes to loosing weight. Most everyone knows and understands that consuming more calories than are burned leads to weight gain. In theory if ones basal metabolism is known then losing weight would be as simple as cutting calories to below this level. The problem is that basal metabolism is burning just enough calories to keep us functioning. If any activity or exercise is thrown into the mix the caloric requirement goes up. Basal metabolism gives us a good base starting point for weight loss, but unless one spends their whole day doing nothing other than sleeping or watching TV calculating calories for weight loss has to take into account calories burned throughout the day, even those needed to walk from the bedroom to the living room.