kevin_in_ga
January 22nd, 2008, 05:32 PM
We all can go online and find a BMR calculator that asks us our age and weight, and activity level, and spits out a number of calories.
I have read that muscle mass is 8x more metabolically active than fat (this seems like a reasonable assumption). In fact, there is a HUGE number of posters here that swear by this idea - how many posts say that you need to lift more to burn fat because it increases your metabolism?
But all of the BMR calculators I have seen use only weight, and do not segregate muscle mass from fat mass. Therefore, someone who is 200 lbs and 30% BF has the same BMR as one who is 200 lbs and 10% BF?? Is the overwhelming factor just keeping our body mass at 98.6 degrees F?
This seems wrong - does anyone know of a BMR calculator that takes this discrepency into consideration? I am willing to have this measured aerobically at the gym by indirect calorimetry, but for most people it would seem to be better to simply develop a better BMR calculator.
Any feedback is welcome.
Kevin
I have read that muscle mass is 8x more metabolically active than fat (this seems like a reasonable assumption). In fact, there is a HUGE number of posters here that swear by this idea - how many posts say that you need to lift more to burn fat because it increases your metabolism?
But all of the BMR calculators I have seen use only weight, and do not segregate muscle mass from fat mass. Therefore, someone who is 200 lbs and 30% BF has the same BMR as one who is 200 lbs and 10% BF?? Is the overwhelming factor just keeping our body mass at 98.6 degrees F?
This seems wrong - does anyone know of a BMR calculator that takes this discrepency into consideration? I am willing to have this measured aerobically at the gym by indirect calorimetry, but for most people it would seem to be better to simply develop a better BMR calculator.
Any feedback is welcome.
Kevin