What Is Your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) and Why Does It Matter?

When you start a fitness or weight loss plan, an in-depth fitness assessment can help you develop appropriate goals and a plan to match. A typical analysis includes body composition, cardiovascular strength and endurance, as well as muscular strength and endurance. Inner Voice Fitness goes beyond the traditional assessment and measures the resting metabolic rate (RMR) of each of our clients.

Your RMR Defined
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is defined as the amount of energy expended daily by your body at rest, measured in calories. Knowing this number is critically important for anyone who wants to understand how many calories they burn each day when attempting to maintain, gain or lose weight. Your RMR can account for up to 75% of your total caloric needs.

Do You Put In The Work But Don’t See Results?
Factors that contribute to your individual resting metabolic rate include: age, gender, weight, and the distribution of weight throughout your body. To demonstrate why understanding your individual RMR matters, let’s look at an example of two people, Howard and Gary.

Howard	Gary
Age: 40 Gender: Male Height: 5’10” Weight: 175 Lbs. Goal: Lose 10 Lbs. Activity: 45 min of jogging; 4x per week	Age: 40 Gender: Male Height: 5’10” Weight: 175 Lbs. Goal: Lose 10 Lbs. Activity: 45 min of jogging; 4x per week

On the outside, Howard and Gary are nearly identical. They are the exact same height, weight, and age. In addition, they both have a goal to lose 10 pounds and will be performing the same activity to do this – 45 minutes of jogging, four times per week. Knowing their respective RMRs will provide some surprising information about how easy or difficult it is for each of them to lose this weight. Howard and Gary both had their RMRs clinically measured by their Inner Voice Fitness coach. Howard’s RMR is 1825 calories and Gary’s RMR is 1575 calories. Since Howard has a higher RMR, his body naturally burns more calories and thus, he will lose his weight faster. In fact, Gary will have to exercise for an additional 17 weeks, or nearly 4 months longer than Howard, just to lose the same amount of weight*.

Why does Gary have to exercise so much longer than Howard, in order to see the same results? You can tell from this example that the higher your RMR (sometimes called metabolism), the more calories you burn. Thus, you will lose weight faster than someone of a similar height and weight with a lower RMR. If losing weight, or maintaining your weight once you have lost a few pounds, has been a struggle for you, even if you are exercising, you should have your RMR measured clinically and develop workouts specific to it. Incorporating an RMR-based exercise training program will help you get the most out of the time you spend exercising.

Most people are not aware that it is possible to increase your resting metabolic rate. Adopting an exercise program that increases your RMR can help you burn more calories each day and experience weight loss that might have evaded you in the past. So which are you… Howard or Gary? A simple Google search can find dozens of RMR equations to calculate RMR based on age, height, weight and gender. But these random fitness website calculators don’t take weight distribution or an individual’s metabolism into consideration, and the resulting number can be grossly inaccurate.

How Inner Voice Fitness Measures RMR
Inner Voice Fitness will precisely measure your RMR with a clinically approved approach that takes a sustained sample of your expired breath. Your RMR will be measured with the most accurate portable device on the market, which has been validated with high confidence against “gold standard” clinical reference systems.

Each Inner Voice Fitness coach has a foundational education in the science of exercise and nutrition and will measure your RMR as part of our comprehensive service. Measuring and interpreting your RMR is a cornerstone of the comprehensive fitness assessment that you receive. After measuring your specific RMR, your Inner Voice Fitness coach will create exercise and diet programs that are customized to help you increase your RMR so you can obtain the results you desire.

How We Use It in Your Fitness Plan
Measuring and interpreting your RMR is part of the first step in developing a personal relationship with our clients. In addition to assessing your metabolic and physical profile, we take the time to learn about your lifestyle, your schedule, and your overall goals. We use this information to develop a health and fitness strategy just for you, including:

• Personalized workouts: We create custom workouts that build muscle, increase your heart rate, and ultimately increase your RMR. We construct workouts that accommodate your schedule and lifestyle, no matter how busy you are, so that you make progress towards your goals. Our mobile app provides video demonstrations and coach-specific instructions for every exercise to ensure proper form and to prevent injuries.
• Detailed nutrition planning: We also create detailed nutrition plans and eating strategies that take your specific RMR into consideration. Our nutrition app gives you detailed information to make smart choices at home, when eating out, or while grocery shopping. We also research healthy meal choices including restaurant options when you travel.
• Unparalleled support: Inner Voice Fitness delivers concierge-level services to support you. Reach your expert fitness and nutrition coach 24/7, from anywhere, for support, motivation, and advice by phone, email, or chat.

Inner Voice Fitness is a one-of-a-kind service that has the knowledge, training, and experience to analyze your current level of fitness, including your RMR, and then to develop a plan that helps you reach your goals. Experience this for yourself.

To learn more about a free consultation and our 3-month introductory trial offer click below. 

*All other variables are held constant in this example.