The short answer
Your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is the number of calories your body burns each day at rest to keep basic functions running—breathing, circulating blood, regulating temperature, supporting your brain, repairing tissue and maintaining organs.
For most people RMR is the largest share of total daily calorie expenditure—typically well over half. That makes it the foundation for any calorie target, whether your goal is fat loss, maintenance or muscle gain.
Measured vs. estimated RMR
Online calculators estimate RMR from your age, height, weight and sex using population averages, and they can miss an individual by hundreds of calories a day. At Body Fat USA we measure your actual resting calorie burn with indirect calorimetry—analyzing the oxygen you use—in a relaxed 20-minute appointment for $100. About our RMR test
Related questions
Body Fat USA offers $85 DEXA body composition scans and $100 RMR metabolic tests in Denver (both for $175), with reports emailed in about 5 minutes. See all FAQs
