Written by Temitope Alao-Sanni, RD. July 2020

Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

Eat. Sleep. Repeat. “Wow! I weigh less today, than I did yesterday”….is this how it works? Emmmmm not quite, but your body does burn calories even when you don’t ask it to.

Have you heard of the basal metabolic rate (BMR)? While at rest, there is a particular amount of energy your body burns as a result of involuntary activities like blood circulation, food digestion, breathing etc. The number of calories or amount of energy required for all these activities is your BMR. (check yours here). There are several factors that influence your BMR, one of the most important is your activity level, that is, are you sedentary? Moderately active? Or very active? Similarly, if you take a lot of caffeine or nicotine, you could have a higher BMR than someone who does not take as much. Again, some studies show that tall and thin people have a higher BMR than their shorter counterparts, even if they have the same weight, this is because the skin of the former has a larger surface area.

If the number of calories in your food is less than your BMR plus the number of calories you use up in your daily expenditures, you will automatically lose weight. please speak to one of our registered dietitians to find out more about how to loose weight in a healthy and sustainable way.