Why is the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) Diet Effective?
After reading the previous content, many people might ask: “Dr. Qiu, I want to lose weight, and I’m not afraid of the hassle, but I want to ask, if I’m eating enough to meet my basal metabolic rate, why am I still experiencing an ‘energy deficit’?” When I first introduced the BMR diet, countless followers asked me this question. Some people who didn’t understand this deliberately ate less than their basal metabolic rate, only consuming 70% of it. While this might lead to rapid weight loss initially, it results in plateaus and weakened immunity later on.
To understand why the BMR diet is effective, we must first understand how the body burns calories. The body’s calorie expenditure has three main parts: basal metabolism (approximately 70%), daily energy expenditure (approximately 20%), and the thermic effect of food (approximately 10%).
This means that 70% of the calories a person burns each day are used for basal metabolism, maintaining the normal functioning of vital organs.
Do you remember the definition of basal metabolism I mentioned earlier? According to this calorie expenditure chart, if your daily calorie intake equals your basal metabolic rate, then you’re only consuming 70% of your total calorie expenditure. In other words, you’re creating a 30% “energy deficit” every day.
If you’re a woman whose daily calorie expenditure is approximately 1800 kcal, then using the basal metabolic rate method would create an “energy deficit” of 1800 x 30% = 540 kcal. Doesn’t this approach closely align with the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the American College of Sports Medicine? Now you believe that the basal metabolic rate method is a very scientific weight loss method, right?
Let me show you another example. A 22-year-old man came to me with hypothyroidism. As everyone knows, people with hypothyroidism lose weight more slowly because their metabolic rate is lower.
I told him not to worry, as long as he used his medication correctly and maintained normal thyroid function, weight loss would be fine.
His body fat percentage was 27.4%, and his basal metabolic rate was 1441 kcal, meaning his overall health was basically normal. Therefore, it’s clear that as long as thyroid function remains normal, basal metabolism won’t be affected.
Since it doesn’t affect metabolism, it naturally won’t affect weight loss.
Since his basal metabolic rate was 1441 kcal, based on the basal metabolic rate weight loss method, I recommended he consume around 1400 kcal per day. One month later, he came for a follow-up appointment, having lost 9 pounds, a very significant weight loss result. I was concerned that he might lose too much muscle due to rapid weight loss, so as shown above, his weight decreased from 68.3 kg to 63.8 kg, a reduction of 4.5 kg; body fat decreased from 18.7 kg to 14.6 kg, a reduction of 4.1 kg; and lean body mass decreased from 49.6 kg to 49.2 kg, a reduction of 0.4 kg. In other words, he primarily lost fat, with only a small amount of muscle, which is a very good result. I asked him if he had any experience to share with his followers, and he said:
1. I now feel that hypothyroidism isn’t scary at all; proper treatment is all that’s needed.
2. I strictly followed the basal metabolic rate (BMR) diet plan for weight loss. I weighed every food item I ate and calculated its calories. I consumed about 1400 kcal per day.
3. I maintained a regular sleep schedule and exercised regularly.
His second point is the core of the BMR diet. He calculated the calories of every food item he ate, consuming about 1400 kcal per day, which is his basal metabolic rate.
In other words, since basal metabolism accounts for 70% of the body’s total daily calorie expenditure, the BMR diet requires that daily calorie intake equal 70% of daily calorie expenditure, which is equivalent to eating until you are “70% full.”
We all know that eating until you are “70% full” is a very healthy way of eating, but in the past, we relied purely on feeling when we ate until we were full. Since some people have large appetites and others have small appetites, it’s difficult to determine whether you’ve actually eaten enough. Now, by following the BMR diet plan, you can achieve the most precise and modern way of eating until you are “70% full.”
The body’s calorie expenditure is divided into two parts: 70% for basal metabolism, 20% for daily activities, and 10% for the thermic effect of food. The 20% for daily activities means that someone trying to lose weight can’t just lie around at home doing nothing; they need to maintain normal daily activity levels. For those who really don’t like to move, I have a twelve-word mantra for weight loss: “Sit if you can, stand if you can, walk if you can.” This means that dieters should try to keep their bodies in an upright position as much as possible. This allows them to burn more calories unconsciously, which is very beneficial for weight loss. If we were to add four more words to this twelve-word mantra, it would be: “Go fast if you can, go slow if you can.”
The 10% thermic effect of food, simply put, refers to the energy consumed during eating and digestion. In other words, eating is also a way of burning calories, so you should never starve yourself to lose weight. Of course, different foods require different amounts of energy to digest. Foods rich in protein have the highest thermic effect, so it’s generally recommended that dieters eat more foods rich in high-quality protein.
